RE: [Paddlewise] Summoning the USCG (Boat Vis: USCG Answers)

> I'm not advocating that not bringing a radio is a good idea, and I
> don't want to start any kind of holy war here; I'm intrigued by their
> response that says they're more expectant of dealing with the symptoms
> of poor boating, rather than encouraging that the average joe out on
> the water have good boating skills.
> 
> I realize that this is one person's opinion, but it could be indicative
> of a general attitude in the Coast Guard.  I wonder if that's their
> bias toward sea kayakers, or toward all pleasure boaters in general. 
> I'm sure they're keyed toward the lowest denominator, which is probably
> the area of folks they need to rescue most anyway.
> 
	The following is certainly not my opinion, nor is it (I hope) the
opinion of the CG in general, but....

	I have (had) a friend who was an Officer at the CG training station
in Yorktown, Virginia.  He once commented to me "...if he has a boat,
chances are he becomes an idiot as soon as he leaves the dock, and I'll meet
him under unpleasant circumstances sooner or later."

	Other than that, my friend was a pretty decent person.  Maybe he was
trained to expect the worst but hope for the best. Maybe it was just his
history of many, many rescues for situations caused/created by dumb people
or dumb mistakes. Maybe anyone with less skills than his was viewed (by him)
as inferior and therefore "dumb".

	I have to admit, though, I've seen a lot of "dumb" boaters.  A few
months ago, a teenager in his dad's boat threw me a wake that was no big
deal.  He wasn't satisfied, so he turned around and tried again, a little
closer this time. Still didn't effect me, so he turned again, and came
closer.  I'm confidant that he was trying to capsize me for fun.  He tried
again, and finally stopped when he noticed another boat headed in our
direction and only a couple hundred yards away.

	At the end of the day (about two hours afterwards) I spotted him as
he was finishing loading his boat onto the trailer.  He saw me paddling in
his direction, and suddenly got in a real hurry, and left before I got
ashore.  Can't imagine why - I wasn't going to do "permenant" damage to his
face  :-)   Nahh, I'm non-violent - I was just going to have a little chat
with him.

	Anyway, in this area, the CG  does little to no training for the
general public.  But, the CG Auxillary seems to constantly conduct various
levels of Boater Safety courses, courtesy boat inspections, etc etc.

	Just my 2 cents for a quiet Friday afternoon....

	Rick (...Virginia) 


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