Re: [Paddlewise] Sea Kayaker - Feb

"Craig Jungers

"Moses Lake, WA wrote:

"This is all absolutely right both from a legal standpoint and from a
logical standpoint. But it's not just sails in the way of visibility for
a sailboater. The bows of a large sailboat can be quite high and reduce
the ability of a helmsman to see anything relatively close to the boat.
And on a tack the helmsman sits on the high side of the boat so objects
on the leeward side might be hidden by a jib sheeted close-in.



Now, what about a sailor-mum?



This summer I entered our local small harbour with a rookie kayaker just
in front of me. Ahead of us was the yacht harbour and to our backboard
side was access to the fishers' harbour.



A 30' motoryacht came from behind on our starboard side and passed us
with a small difference in speed. No sails, just the engine running
slowly. The captain of the boat was at the helm, from where he could not
see much (I could see his head) but up front was his wife standing with
the hand on the stay glaring right ahead as she took care of the watch.



Now suddenly the skipper turned the wheel to make a 90 degrees turn and
enter the fishers' harbour.



Our rookie was in the way but not for long before the yacht hit him.



I was at most 5 meters away from the yacht and the "watchman" and I was
blowing my whistle as much as at all possible.



But she just kept staring into the horizon. More or less paralyzed. Even
after they hit the kayak.



Well: calm weather, low speed, close to shore, no real problem. I got
the victim up and he had suffered no personal damage. He was only a
little confused.



Afterwards I "spoke" to the skipper. He had of course had no intentions
of any kind.



I could only advise him to get some proper training for his wife. And to
reflect a little bit about the kind of support he could expect if he got
into trouble and suddenly depended on her abilities.



Jens Viggo Moesmand

Denmark
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