> << Nowadays sometimes if some one is doing a rescue or rolling class, > dozens of skaters and bicycling passerbys get on their cell phones and > call 911. The poor practicioner rolls up to a surprising close up view > of the hull of a police boat!!! >> > > Shouldn't the local authorities be notified prior to such a class? > Might not limited resources be diverted from a person that is truly in need? > I agree they should for a class. But there is a difference between the Coast Guard and the Police. It is fairly easy to call the Coast Guard to alert them at the Vessel Traffic Service, which can be reached by VHF radio or a phone call and avoid getting the Coasties out unnecessarily. I am not certain about the police and EMS. I don't think 911 is set up to reserve non-emergencies in their computer. So a call to 911 would alert squad cars, fire dept and ems and the harbor police. The latter might know about the rolling class going on if they follow VTS alerts but the other emergency units might not. In one incident an individual was practicing her rolling alone. I doubt if she would have thought to alert the authorities. We also have had incidents in which a public program kayak goes over in the Downtown Boathouse embayment. While our volunteers were effecting the rescue, some body called 911 on a cell phone. Park police, city police, ambulances etc. all showed up. I rather that they come than not come because a call may be for a real emergency instead of one under control. But still.... The problem is with the public and cell phones. Some people have itchy dialing fingers and go for 911 without thinking. If you see a group of kayaks around and one is over, a person should wait and observe the scene for a second where they can realize that the situation is under control. If a bunch of kayakers are around and one of them is overboard and the setting is instructional, a person should be observant enough to see it is not an emergency. On Sunday as our group of kayak escorts were working their way down river to where the NYC swim event was to start, one of our kayakers went over in the extremely rough conditions we were experiencing. We quickly went to help her get back in her boat in less than a minute. But we were directly in front of the World Financial Center with hundreds of people watching. I was crossing my fingers that no itchy 911 fingers were thumping away. Luckily no one did or the authorities, keyed into the upcoming swim event, were more selective in alerts and responses. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Aug 24 2000 - 09:30:17 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:30:31 PDT