Re: [Paddlewise] paid rescues? and Affordability

"Fred T, CA Kayaker" wrote:
> 
> A well thought out and written commentary by Mr. Paxton.
> 
> [snip] Hindsight is always 20/20 and who better to tell the poor
> soul (victim) that they could have done better after the fact than a giant
> bill for a rescue.  You can only get as much justice (or should it read:
> rescue) as you can afford.

> At 11:51 AM 10/3/2000 -0700, Mark Paxton wrote:
[we will]
> >dive headlong into the same quagmire that represents our civil judicial
> >system if we began to try to assess degrees of responsibility after the fact.

Normally I resist "me, too!" endorsements.  I can't resist this one, however.
 
Mark's post really nailed the negative aspects of an "admiralty inquiry"
focused on a person's need for a rescue.  Yet, in casual conversation with
non-boaters (including folks who have kayaked some), the almost universal
response to the question  "Well, who determines whether there should be a fee
for the rescue?"  is:  **A committee.**

AFAIK, the CG around here is not assessing a fee for rescues.  However, if they
discover after the fact that the rescued boater was in violation of some of the
safety-related rules, they seem to make sure the boater is cited for those
violations (re:  PFDs on board, etc.).  I have several friends who are
commercial fishers who had to be rescued (mostly from collisions with
freighters), and assessment of their vessel is one of the normal components of
the CG's report.  'Course, when the vessel sinks, it's tougher to do that!

In most cases requiring a tow, the CG points boaters in a non-emergent
situation to a commercial tow.  However, they do tows often, the mouth of the
Columbia River being a high-hazard area.  We get our money's worth from the
local CG.

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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