> 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) *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
> 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) *************************************************************************** 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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