Re: [Paddlewise] Licensing [was Crab Pots Rescued]

In a message dated 7/23/00 1:27:22 PM, snorkler_at_juno.com writes:

<<  The CIT lets the rest of us vote on the idiot. >>

Sounds like an old Star Trek episode.

    I have to admit it is a temptation for most people to just make yet 
another NEW law to limit a danger/nuisance. It clearly doesn't work in a free 
society. It didn't work in my family as we grew up. Dad would make a new rule 
every time something happened. I'm glad he mostly forgot them a few days 
later.
    You can't legislate common sence. We ALL know that. We can mandate that 
people honor the space and safety of others but if there is not enough 
enforcement, who cares about yet another new rule? Deaf drivers still drive 
down the road or park in from of you house with the music at 100 dbl! They 
still run red lights unless the camera at that intersection if REAL obvious. 
    I'll bet the jet skier who zipped around me at a very good clip, thank 
you very much, thought he was being nice in not getting any closer. Slowing 
down so that his spray didn't drench me wasn't even an option in his mind. 
That was just this afternoon! That was after I went to the aid of a PWC that 
was DIW. I paddled over and the fellow, 55+, says he had too much water in 
the bilge for him to mount the thing. I started to go get a tow rope but 
managed to flag a passing motor boat that took him back to the other side of 
the cove. The driver of the boat wasn't thrilled but couldn't figure out how 
to get out of it.
    Point is that we will help each other, even when we don't want to. We 
have different perceptions of what is the best or safest course of action. I 
kind of like some boat wake to play on. So, for all boats to drop down so 
there is no wake isn't what I'd choose all the time. I don't think the Jet 
Skis have a very good wake. This butthead today was maybe 15 feet from me in 
one of their hairpin turns. I got soaked with spray but the wake was nominal. 
I hardly rocked. If I had any intentions of staying dry I would have been 
even more pissed. I just had to wipe my eyes because I started out soaked 
from rolling. I was less upset than the couple in front of me would have been 
if he's gotten them. They had no spray skirts and were wearing glasses with 
no holders.
    Do I think education is essential to the safety of people using things 
that can hurt them or others? I spent yesterday helping out in an informal 
class for new paddlers just because I was asked to help out. The 6 people we 
worked with learned a lot. I SAW the results of the time we spent. It was 
great fun for me. I like teaching and I like learning even more. Everyone 
isn't like that. I have some politically incorrect ideas of how I'd deal with 
non-learners but until I have a James Bond car I'll just have to use the web 
to vent to the choir.
    Like others, I see more legalistic paperwork only as a restriction for 
those who already obey the existing regulations. Who is going to pay 
for/provide instructors for prospective paddlers in the middle of nowhere? A 
license is more like official sanction for being stupid to those so inclined. 
I see nothing good out of more restrictions.

Joan Spinner
   * * *
Trying to paddle on the Chesapeake Bay 
watershed-a red, CD Breeze and 
a yellow/white CD Gulfstream

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