Re: [Paddlewise] Jetskis

Although I loathe them, I have to say that I've never had a problem with them.  My problems have always stemmed from idiots in powerboats.  Several years ago, I was nearly run down while paddling on the Current River in southern Missouri.  Although it's a National Scenic Riverway, one concession NPS had to make to secure the riverway was to allow locals to run their jetboats in certain reaches.  One of them passed within two feet (literally) of my boat heading downstream.  Several hundred feet later, I watched a large party of canoeists throwing stones at him from a sandbar; they were paddling in a very large group (30+ boats), and he'd nearly swamped the rear boats and didn't consider that half their party was already up and out of the water.  Not that I condone these kinds of actions, but....

Myself and two friends also recently had our sea kayaks out on a local river one evening after work, and were repeately circled at close range by another powerboat full of teenagers, obviously trying to create waves and tip us over.  Since we all have good rolls, we were unimpressed.  One of our guys had picked up a rubber ball he'd found floating earlier in the river, and managed to hit one of the passengers of the boat in the back.  Not much, but it gave us a good laugh, at least...

----------
> Here's a new topic - Jetskis.
>
> Paddling my Navarro canoe in the Oakland Inner Harbor in 1997, two jetskis
> began to harass me.  They made a series of fast runs by me.  At first I
> thought they were just inconsiderate fools, but on the fourth or fifth pass,
> they pointed at me, said "Let's get him" and ripped by me at their closest
> yet.  One came by about 7 or 8 feet away, and the other was on the other side
> a little further away.  I decided that the next pass, if they were within
> reach anyhow, I would do my best Mark McGwire on the first one by.  It didn't
> come to that -- they got bored with me and moved on to something else. 
>
> Luckily, my open boat is pretty hard to tip.  (I have a kayak now but won't go
> anywhere near there alone again.  No sense tempting fate or baiting fools.)
> All this was within about a mile of the Coast Guard station.
>
> I did not carry either a cell phone or marine radio at that time (I do now).
> I felt pretty damn helpless out there and still think about that day anytime a
> jetski comes within sight or sound of me.  I really hate those things. 
>
> Have others had experiences like this?  I can't imagine I'm the only one.
>
> jerry.
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