Re: [Paddlewise] Jetski incident

The interchange regarding Wes Boyd's hairy encounter with some dangerous
jetskiers has had a lot of food for thought.  Here are some of mine:

1.  I was happy to see in today's NY Times that a court has basically upheld
the ban on jet skis in national parks, most importantly the extention of the
ban from currently a large number of national parks to _all_ national parks
next year.  It would take quite a setback for this ban not to go into effect
fully.  The importance of such a ban in national parks should be clear.
This action on the federal level should embolden states in their efforts to
curtail jetskis and give them some good arguments to do so.

2.  Not all jet skiers are bad.  We tend to lump them into one big pot but
many are responsible and generous in incidents.  Last year we got a reminder
of this from one PaddleWise couple in which they cited an incident in which
the wife was having symptoms of cardiac problems while on the water and a
jetskier happened along and whisked her to shore faster than they could ever
have hoped to do via kayak towing kayak.  Around here except for one real
major incident near the Intrepid carrier museum, most of us have found
jetskiers not to be much of a problem.  They tend to give us a wide berth
(one tends to thread lightly amongst ourselves in NYC encounters anyway as a
part of street survival savvy: watch who you mess with...they may react with
a surprising fury and not be mid-West or Canadian polite about things).  I
have actually had them slow down as they pass a group of kayakers.  And they
do wave in a fellow sharer of the waters gesture and I wave or nod back.
Jet skis themselves however are inherently bad because of noise, air and
water pollution.

3)  The legal enforcement problem.  At least around here, law enforcement is
on the watch for violators in what happens on the waters by speed boats, jet
skiers and others in how they interact with other traffic.  We meet with
them in some harbor committees and they stress the problems of dealing with
offenders is not just in apprehending them but in also what happens when the
cases come before a judge.  Local judges are simply not versed in maritime
legal codes and often a person gets away with a light reprimand.  If it were
a violation on land, i.e. a road traffic offense, the offender would have
the book thrown at them but in a maritime the situation gets fuzzy in the
mind of the judges.  There is an effort on the city and state level to
improve the courts' perception of maritime offenders.  I guess the problem
stems that for centuries maritime violations were on a grand scale of
interstate commerce and international law in which jwell-versed jurists and
jurisprudence exist.

4.  Turf sharing.  Increasingly our waterways and bustling maritime shipping
ports are seeing more recreational users of the water and greater commercial
ferry and dinner cruises.  Everyone has a right to use the water (although
jet skiers may be on the slippery slope toward losing it starting with all
national parks).  My suggestion is to treat every other user with respect.
I know it is hard to do this when you are launching at or near a busy ramp
where motorboaters and jetskiers are crowding the area.  I know kayakers who
get snooty and turn their noses up about their fellow water-users, an
attitude of looks and body language that shines like a neon sign.  I think a
friendly attitude at that common meeting ground (ramps) is a good thing to
foster.  For example with jet skiers, a smile, a question about the
equipment they use and its commonality with ours (PFDs, safety tethers,
docking lines, etc.), kidding about the differences in power (1 human power
vs. 40 HP) go a long way to making us all recognize that we are all human
beings out there trying to enjoy the waters.

ralph diaz
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Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter
PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024
Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com
"Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag."
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