Rich's point about the noise pollution goes to what I was getting at (or trying to) in my earlier post: many paddlers object to the jet ski's themselves, not just the pollution, and there are aspects of this that trouble me. I do not care for the noise and the "hot dogging" antics myself, but I do feel we need to make common cause with other boaters, not set ourselves up as a class apart. Pollution is partly a technical problem, and like other technical problems can often be solved or ameliorated through newer designs. The new two stroke outboards, for example, are vastly cleaner than the old two strokes. But they are also very expensive. Requiring the new motors would instantly eliminate thousands of boaters from the waterways, people who really love to fish, gunkhold, etc. There are far more of these people than jet skiers, and they can add two and two together and see where jet ski bans on this basis can lead. If we get too out in front of the rest of the boating public on these issues we will simply antagonize everyone. Already I have heard that paddlers in some states have found "trailer parking only" signs at launch sites. We need more access, not less. I guess my (rambling) point is that we are boaters, we have interests in common with other boaters, and we need to work with, not against, other boaters. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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