Mike Euritt wrote: > Thanks Dave, for the excellent example. > > 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. > > This may well go back to the point made, was it in the article or the > first go around on this topic, that many kayakers, not knowing the > COLREGs, assume they have right of way by virtue of their being paddle > craft. I bet of they were on foot, they wouldn't walk behind a backing > UPS truck. Thanks, Mike. I am still enormously embarrassed about this, and definitely feel I failed to maintain an adequate watch, despite their inattentiveness. Side note: in Oregon, pretty much everybody below the age of 80 who operates a powered vessel (even sailboats, if they have an engine over 10 hp) now must earn a Boater Education Card. Typically this is done by passing an exam at the tail end of a Power Squadron course. That's what I did, with the assistance of the local PS crowd. Because of the many years I have paddled, I know a lot of the stuff needed to pass the exam, but not all, for sure. And, despite some resentment at having to take the class, I learned quite a bit of useful stuff. It was a worthwhile experience. I am NOT advocating a similar requirement for paddlers; in fact, because we have the potential to harm mainly just ourselves, I see no need for such a requirement, as a way of "ensuring public safety." But, I am a strong advocate for training for paddlers ... as a means of self-protection. Believe it or not a woman contemplating a long coast-wise paddle down in South America took the PS course a year ago as preparation! Definitely, I see the requirement on powered vessel operators as more or less the equivalent of testing and certification for driving a motor vehicle. But, we are more like bicyclists, who are hard pressed to hurt others, but easily able to hurt ourselves. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Jan 28 2009 - 13:02:10 PST
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