Re: [Paddlewise] kayaks and .50 cal......

>Steve and some others have been back channel about things... and I 
>had already replied to him when I decided that it really has enough 
>for the group. So here it is. :)
>
>On Sat, Jun 5, 2010 at 5:03 AM, <Nole4ever_at_aol.com> wrote:
>>Yes, it is down.... a clean kill..... right between the "K and the 
>>A" of Kawasaki.

<snip>

>I am, in general, not happy with jet skis except when I'm driving 
>one. (Which is also, come to think of it, pretty much the way I look 
>at flying.) Well, when I'm driving mine. But as far as I'm concerned 
>the stories of kayakers capsized by the wakes of jet skis have 
>either been written by people who have never seen those itty-bitty 
>wakes or by drunks. Because a jet ski wake is the most puny, dinky, 
>unusable wake there is. My dad had a 3-hp Evinrude on a 12-foot 
>aluminum fishing boat and that made a better wake than any jet ski 
>I've ever seen.
>
>Why do so many people buy them? I mean even their WAKES are 
>useless!!! Almost every other type of vessel has some redeeming 
>qualities but I've yet to find any for the jet ski. Except for mine, 
>of course..... it's fun and if you get tired of doing something with 
>it set up one way, set it up another way and give that a try.
>
>Otherwise, aiming between the "K" and the "A" seems reasonable to me.
>
>Craig Jungers
>Moses Lake, WA
>http://www.nwkayaking.net

I loved Craig's message. I consider kayaks and jet skis to be natural 
enemies and diametrically opposed states of mind (you know like 
Heavan and Hell). However I do disagree with Craig on one item... 
where on a kayak would you mount a 50 caliber? Not to mention the hot 
casings flying back in your face if the wind is wrong...

No, I have thought of another approach that could be deployed from a 
kayak -- the bolo. Now I'm remembering this from a book I read in 
junior high school so I might be a bit fuzzy... but the Argentine 
cowboy "Gaucho" (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaucho) used them 
as weapons and for sport. I believe some native people of the far 
north as well. Basically it's an arrangement of rock and ropes that 
you swing in a circle over your head, then let fly. Think of a sling, 
except there you hold onto the rope and hurl the rock, whereas here 
your throw the whole contraption away.

Apparently the thing is supposed to open up in flight and become a 
rotating circle as it flies in a straight line (probably takes a lot 
of practice). The fun part happens when any one of the stones at the 
end of the rope hits an object - the whole thing collapses around the 
struck object and tangles it up. Fun! Apprently the is how gauchos 
have sport after imbibing massive amounts of alcohol - one guy gets 
his horse up to a full gallop, the other guy tags the horse with the 
bolo, and the rider has to launch off the horse so as not to be 
crushed when they go down. I don't remember anything about whether 
the horses found it fun or not.

Anyway, these are the kinds of revenge fantasies that I come up with 
when the quiet majesty of my kayaking route is invaded by noisy 
smelly useless-wake-producing machine from Hell. Not that I'm 
prejudiced or anything!

Paul Hamilton
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