I had a wonderful time Sunday kayaking with my 9 year old daughter along the Columbia River here in Oregon. We launched using the public access boat ramp near St. Helens, Oregon. Unfortunately, a serious and potentially deadly incident occurred involving a vehicle backing up to unload a boat. Being that there is no other launch facility at this particular site for kayaks, I used the boat ramp to unload the kayak (as is common practice for the many kayakers there).... being very careful not to cut in line, and staying to the far side of the ramp... I was trying to stay out of the way of the boaters. It was not possible to use the docks as there were other kayakers and boaters using up all of the space on the docks. I unloaded all the stuff successfully keeping everything in the kayak, and quickly parked the car. On the way back as I quickly walked back to the ramp, a person in a vehicle towing a large boat asked if I was launching the kayak to go out. I said, yes.. indeed I was, and just needed to get a few things ready and we would soon be gone and out of his way. I went back down to the kayak and began to snap up my daughters PFD. Suddenly -- without ANY warning -- the guy with the big boat began backing down the boat ramp. His wife was right near the boat (she was apparently suppose to give him directions)... but never gave any signs of trouble. The boat went over the top of my kayak and the blades of the propeller were going right towards my daughter. I yelled and waved my arms the whole time, but the guy seemed to ignore my warnings!! FINALLY he stopped (thank God) when the blades of the boat were only about a foot away from doing some serious injuries to both me and my daughter ... however my new kayak sustained a major slash on the top from the blades of the boat. The boater didn't seem very concerned nor did he seem very sorry.. however he did blame his wife for not telling him when to stop. Now, I've been into water sports for over 15 years... been around enough wacko boaters, sneaky barges, intrusive ships, kooky jet skiers, and crazed windsurfers to know all of the dangers out there.... I've seen 'em all, and I know what to watch out for. However, this was something that was something out of the Twilight Zone.... something so odd that it would have even amazed Rod Sterling. This was WEIRD STUFF !! *************************************************************************** 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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