Re: [Paddlewise] Jet Skiers

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wes Boyd" <boydwe_at_dmci.net>
To: "Ellis Andersen" <ellis_at_magnus.net>; "PaddleWise"
<PaddleWise_at_paddlewise.net>
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 11:06 PM
Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Jet Skiers


> At 08:01 PM 4/13/01 -0400, Ellis Andersen wrote:
> >
> >The moral of the story is, rather than go packing heat, consider your
> >fellow human being, whether the mosquito or the fellow kayaker, with
> >respect.  When we can hold the "upper hand" we can be in the right.
> >Perhaps, we can even defuse an a**hole bent on our peril without putting
> >him at peril.  Therein would be my challenge to the kayaking community.
>
> The thing of it is as the incident turned out, we came out of it with the
> "moral high ground". I mean, who looks like the bully, and who looks like
> they can keep their temper and do the right thing? Violence would have
been
> easy, especially after we located the punk the second time. But there's an
> advantage to maturity, and biding our time. We can now use nastier
weapons:
> lawyers . . .
>
> -- Wes

Thanks to Wes and Ellis for making this point more articulately than I ever
could. Again, I commend Wes for the way he handled the situation. I
sincerely hope no one else on paddlewise is ever terrorized and assaulted
like this by a PWC. Just as importantly, I hope I never have to read a
report of a kayaker waving a weapon at or shooting at another water user--no
matter the circumstances.

As a side note:

PWC have been recently banned from the Cape Lookout National Seashore. The
AP article states that, "...the small crafts disrupted the
aesthetic qualities of the area and threatened the safety
of visitors." Sorry, I don't have a link.

There seems to be a tremendous amount of popular support for banning PWC
from many waterways. Certainly, the reported behavior of the PWC operator
who assaulted Wes doesn't help PWC proponents. A broad range of folks are
starting to understand the hazards presented by PWC, both to PWC users
themselves and to other innocent water users. I agree we should respect all
water users, but unless PWC operators start regulating themselves, someone
else is going to step in. The hazards of PWC are well documented.

Craig




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