Happily, we are not all LDS commercials, whatever that has to do with it, but we still have to work together to get along safely. Reminds me of the book, "Everything I needed to know, I learned in Kindergarten." NYC XYZ snip snip I feel for the child that you would talk to the way you yell and curse on this NG! Makes we wonder if you ever had a good paddling experience, or are you here just to complain. I would like to hear from you a paddling report where you had a good time and came back refreshed and refreshing! We had a hit and run here in Denver recently, where a small child was hit, the driver stopped, looked back, and then took off! The boater in this incident was hardly hit and run. He stuck around, rendered aid, and saved three people. The captain of a larger boat would not have even known that he hit a small craft. So these folks were very lucky to have been rescued at all, and hence the necessity of small crafts to avoid collisions! Moronic? Hugging the shore, is not necessarily the responsible thing to do, especially if it put your vessel in jeopardy of not being seen in the visual noise of the city lights. One small light is probably not enough. It may meet the minimum legal requirement, but it is neverless the minimum. The regs say that it is your futher responsibility to be sure you are seen. Obviously you were not seen, and these scullers were not seen. Also whenever a vessel conducts a maneuver such as a turn, the vessel loses the claim to right of way. That is just as much a part of the regs as the part you are presenting that gives the right of way to a paddled craft. The scull was in the process of turning, hence was responsible to avoid a collision. Also they were responsible to post a forward watch, which if they had, they should have seen the slow moving power boat. If one is moronic, it is the one that would claim that the power boat is responsible to see the low profile scull, poorly lit, silently lost in the background of city lights, and harbor shapes, when the scullers evidently could not or did not see the powerboat, and crashed into the side of the boat. I have no sense from the story, that the powerboater chased down and ran over the scull. It was purely an accident, and all are responsible to avoid a collision. A moron would expect the powerboater to avoid a collision that he could not forsee was going to occur. snip Unfortunately, whenever a firearm is introduced into a situation, there are no more accidents, hence the law looks dimly on the one who introduced the firearm into a public arena. Road rage is increasingly occurring, and though you are irritated, I doubt that you could claim self defense, when your first responsibilty is to avoid collision. You should spend your time getting the hell out of the way, not slapping leather! Because guaranteed, if you are in a small craft, your last act of defiance, will be just that! We will be left to talk about it, but you will likely be history! snip So you paddle around with your flare gun chickened and ready to fire! I usually have trouble finding my waterbottle when I get thirsty! Why do you even bother paddling, if you feel so threatened? I would suggest that if your waterway is that dangerous, it would be much more theraputic to go somewhere else, or take up knitting. You would not have to worry about being run over by a motorist unless you are knitting in rush hour traffic, which I saw the other day, while coming home. I saw a lady knitting in the car next to me while momentarily stopped in rush hour traffic. I am sure that she was totally aware of the other traffic around her, and diligently watching to avoid an accident! Yeah right! No one gets the benefit of the doubt, and I am sure the captain of the powerboat feels badly, and will spend many restless nights thinking about the man who lost his life. There is no indication that he was some sort of powerboat buttbuttin, but a regular working guy, who now has to deal with a tragedy. Guns don't Kill people, people kill people kill people! Similarly, engines don't kill people, and accidents happen. You have a right to carry a firearm, though in NYC I am not sure that carrying a handgun is approved, and a public display of firearms discouraged. And of course for a law abiding, regulation supporting and enforcing type as yourself, I am sure you would not want to be breaking the law by packin' Iron! TnT
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