Re: [Paddlewise] Sea Kayaker - Feb

This is an interesting discussion.  Having stepped partially over to the 
dark side, I think I'm understanding the head set of power boaters better 
... and that understanding is making me very much more cautious when around 
power boats under way.

I agree with Nick's assessment:  anybody piloting a power or sailing vessel 
_in_open_waters_ who complains "kayaks just are not visible" is not 
maintaining a proper lookout.  In the waters where I paddle (Columbia River 
and coast of BC, basically), logs (full-floating and deadheads alike), 
sawmill debris, and flotsam of the plastic persuasion are abundant. 
Boaters who do not maintain the needed lookout visit the yard frequently 
... and the remainder seem more attuned to the need to look out for stuff. 
  Other waters, not so much, with some cultural slants certainly 
applicable, typically of the jet ski mentality.

[Piloting in narrow channels or marinas is another story ... read on for a 
personal anecdote, very embarrassing to me, but worth detailing.]

The crux of it, however, is that most power boaters focus on detecting and 
avoiding vessels that are likely to cause injury _to_them_, and not on 
vessels they are likely to injure:  in other words, they are attuned to the 
notion that tonnage rules.  "Canoe, kayak, rowboat?  Wish they would go 
away and quit clogging up the marina lanes!" might sum up the prevalent 
attitude.  Boating xenophobia at its zenith, I suspect, although our 
ability to suddenly change direction, seemingly (to the power boater) 
without reason or rhyme, makes them very nervous near us.  Read on ...

That said, I have been the "victim" of a near-collision, within a marina, 
after fueling my power boat, in which a couple for-hire doubles rounded a 
blind corner behind me as I was inexpertly trying to back away from the 
float, and within seconds were less than 10 meters from my stern. 
Fortunately, I saw the paddlers and slammed the boat into forward gear, 
which forced me into the fuel dock:  one ding on my boat, but no blood in 
the water.  The "guide" overseeing his covey of paddlers was at the tail 
end of this entourage and only saw its resolution, giving me a cold, dirty 
look as he passed.  I was shaking, not in rage, but in fear of what I might 
have done.  Later, I realized that if the roles were reversed, I would 
_never_ have attempted to pass any power vessel, powered up, that closely, 
whether paddling or steaming ... the paddlers were rank novices, and had no 
understanding of the hazard of their behavior.  It is incidents such as 
this one which generate an attitude toward paddlers on the part of the 
power boat crowd.

As to collisions in which sea kayakers have been injured or killed, I do 
not have data, only anecdotal information, and no incidents come 
immediately to mind.  I did a little ineffectual Googling and could only 
come up with this incident from Wavelength (down a ways; Sproat Lake 
incident after dark; kayaks wee unlit): 
http://www.wavelengthmagazine.com/1998/on98sar.html

Someone must have data, somewhere.

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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