Re: [Paddlewise] warning

|For those of you who think that not tying the bow or stern of you kayak to
|your bumper is a SIN be fore warned that I am driving up I-95 from Fla. to
|the Charleston Symposium with just straps across my racks. I drive a white
|van w/ Fla. plates and a Arctic Hawk in the rack. DO NOT FOLLOW BEHIND
ME!!
|if you are concerned. I take full responsibility for my actions. If you
|read this and end up with my kayak in your face you have been warned.
|I will leave at 6AM est. north on I95 to Hwy 17 to Charleston SC.

|You have been warned

Sigh, this equine has been beaten into a MessyMoldyMorrass.  I stayed out
of this before but......

Asked yourself  the following questions.  No reply is needed.

Have you ever been "questioned" by a hostile lawyer in court?

If so, did you find the event pleasurable?

The chances of having a boat fly off a vehicle are slim.  It happens but
slim.  The chances of said flying boat hitting someone/thing are even
slimmer.  The chances of injury or death are even closer to zero.

However, I can cite at least two accidents in the last six to nine months
where three people have been killed by stuff falling off of vehicles.

IF a boat flies off of your vehicle have YOU done all that you could do to
prevent the accident.  Would a REASONABLE person, i.e., a JURY,  believe
YOU made a REASONABLE effort to prevent the accident?

Uppercase is not yelling but for emphasis.

"Mr. Decker, when you were throwing you heavy, 18 foot long boat up on your
van did you ever think that the boat could fly off and kill my client's
daughter?"  asked the family's attorney.

If you say no, and he has found an archive of this list.  He has you by the
proverbial jewels.

If you tell the truth and say "Yes..."

"So, sir, you thought that the your 18 foot long boat could possibly fly
off your vehicle.  We won't argue that you exceeded the speed limit with
your overburden vehicle, so how did you try to secure your boat to your
large van?", asked the lawyer who has all the advantages.

You answer that you had the boat strapped down..... YadaYadaYada

The lawyer then asks, "Is this ALL that you could have done to prevent that
heavy, 18 foot boat from flying off of your van and into my clients family
car where it killed their little 4 year old daughter?"

If you say yes, the lawyer has you.  If you say no the lawyer has you.

"Why did you not simply tie down the bow and stern of your heavy boat?  It
would have taken you, what, Oh, 2 minutes?  5 minutes?  Maybe 15 minutes?
You were in such a hurry to go out a play with your toys that you could not
find a few minutes to make the simple precaution to tie down your 18 foot
long boat.  A boat that YOU KNEW would be travelling down the PUBLIC
HIGHWAYS at 60 or 70 miles per hour!  You further knew YOU had NOT done all
YOU could to prevent YOUR boat from flying off YOUR vehicle.  Because YOU
had not simply tied down your boat my clients swee,t innocent little child
is in a box.  Why, because you did not take a few minutes to tie down your
boat.  Why, Mr. Decker did you not fully secure your boat to your van?
Why?"

The jury is sure gonna think that tying down the bow and stern is a
reasonable thing to do.

Again, the odds of any of this happening are very close to zero.  But is
the few minutes it takes to make reasonable precautions, precautions that
really drive the odds even closer to zero that much of a trial?

I used to carry my canoe on top of my truck using foam blocks and straps
running into the cab.  Not the best system but it worked.  I also, as now,
attach bow and stern lines.  It takes far more time to run the straps than
the bow and stern lines.  I had to do an emergency stop from 65 mph.  The
stern lines kept the canoe on the truck.  Period.  The foam blocks
certainly provided more friction than how I would carry the canoe with the
current roof rack.  My kayaks, riding in saddles are always secured with
bow and stern lines.

A decent lawyer is going to ask how much your boat weighs, how long it is,
its shape, and what is it made out of.  They will then use this to drive up
the imagery to your disadvantage.

I did not take the time to write this to start up a new thread.  The equine
is splattered all over the place.  If your boat did happen to fly off and
injure someone, or &diety help us, kill someone, you will be in Criminal
and Civil court.  It won't be fun.

In the time it has taken me to write this note I could have attached my bow
and stern lines on my two kayaks 10 or more times.

The odds might be in your favour but the penalty for losing is severe.

Later....
Dan McCarty


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