[Paddlewise] Paid rescues?

In spite of wonderful fall weather, great for paddling, I've been grounded
the last few days, thanks to a blown fuel pump in Smoky Joe, my kayaking
van. Out of sheer boredom, then, I've been doing some net surfing, mostly
revisiting pages than I've seen in the past, just checking to see if
there's been any updates or anything I missed.

One of my favorites is Tasmanian Laurie Ford's home page, 

http://www.tassie.net.au/~lford/

Ford has been at it a long time, and has a reputation for being a cranky
son of a gun, a little outside the mainstream, perhaps. I'd like to meet
the guy some time; maybe someone organizing a symposium sometime might give
some thought to bypassing some of the usual English imports and go for
someone exotic . . . but I digress.

One of the things that caught my attention is Ford's rescue proposal. He's
concerned, nay, incensed, at "adventurers" that take off on various
harebrained expeditions with inadequate preparation -- and this includes
novice kayakers that get in over their heads. Simply stated, his proposal
is that if someone calls for a rescue, via radio, flares, ERPIB, or
whatever other means, their kayak is impounded once they've been returned
to land until they pay a $2000 rescue fee. If not paid, the kayak and gear
siezed is auctioned off to pay the fee. If someone else calls in the
authorities, like a bystander seeing someone "in trouble", the charge
doesn't apply.

Ford's position is that if you have the fee hanging over your head, you're
going to be a lot more careful about preparation and decision making; if
you do everything right and still need help, then $2000 is a small price to
pay.

My own theory is that having a fee like that hanging out there is going to
make people more reluctant to call the coast guard until it is far too
late. But, it's an interesting thought, and charging for rescues is a topic
that has frequently come up in several venues of late.

Thoughts, anyone?

-- Wes



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