In no way do I wish my story to imply a lesser seriousness to the assault story underway, but I wanted to share another perspective on jes skiers. My basic feeling is that jes skiers are the "mosquitos" of the open water and wish I could just "swat" them away. But, my favorite encounter with a jet ski was in the Susquehanna River, just below Holtwood Dam, where I came upon a jet skiing couple in the water, because they had carelessley smashed a rock. The guy was trying to push his ski in from about 100-150 yds. off-shore, not an easy task His girlfriend was swimming along. To make a long story short, I towed him in with my kayak - one of my two most rewarding kayaking moments (the other was when I passed a VERY fancy bass boat in a no-wake speed stream in Maine). Somehow, these moments are even more rewarding than seeing that elusive eagle in Maryland or winning a race! 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. Regards, Ellis *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wes Boyd's Kayak Place http://www2.dmci.net/wesboyd/kayak.htm Kayaks for Big Guys (And Gals) | Trip Reports | Places To Go | Boats & Gear --------------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
----- 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 *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
At 08:00 AM 4/14/01 -0400, Craig MacKinnon wrote: >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. Right. It would have been tempting -- if available -- but considering everything, it would have caused a lot more trouble for us, and not helped in the long run. I mean, who could get to the phone and call the cops first? Then where would we have been? >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. I wouldn't mind it a bit if publicizing of this incident adds a log to that fire. -- Wes --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wes Boyd's Kayak Place http://www2.dmci.net/wesboyd/kayak.htm Kayaks for Big Guys (And Gals) | Trip Reports | Places To Go | Boats & Gear --------------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
If I may speak as both a lawyer and a kayaker and a former male teen-ager, that is exactly how to handle such an incident. Tom Joyce > > 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 . . . > *************************************************************************** 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 have been cycling around 200 miles a week recently and a couple of weeks ago my 15 year old and I crashed due to a tourist come straight at us, the wrong way in a one way turning lane. We weren't seriously hurt, and the damage was repairable, although my son's new racing bike wasn't rideable because wheel was trashed. The police arrived and took a statement from the witnesss and driver first, then my sone them they came to me. The first question was: "Were you pounding your fists on the driver's car? He seemed more interested in my response to the accident than the accident itself. Luckily, he assessed that it was a reaction to the potential harm that could have come to my 15 year old, and he left it off the police report. I have often though it would be a good idea to carry a collapsable baton in my jersey pocket for cars that intentionally or unintentionally come too close, but in retrospect, it would acomplish nothing and just predjudice my case with the the police. I did carry a Glock in my deck bag for a while after being attacked by some drunks in a ski boat on one of the canals, but never encountered the yahoos again. In retrospect, it was not a real smart idea. Apart from the probable criminal investigation, the civil litigation would have been a nightmare. cu *************************************************************************** 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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