Great post John...the fact is that there is no real distinction between
pwc'ers and boaters, the first are simply a subset of the former (with
lots of people in the intersection of both groups - in other words they
have and love both pwc's and larger boats). Both groups have an
enormous amount in common (both love the water, the outdoors, the
beach, cruising, and both have responsibilities on the water, must
learn navigation and the rules of the road, how to maintain and repair
their vehicles and operate them safely, all safety procedures and
precautions, how to use equipment like vhf's, gps's, charts, both have
to avoid going aground, know the tides and watch the weather, it goes
on and on). Furthermore, both groups contain mostly responsible,
intelligent recreationalists and also lots of stupid, reckless,
inconsiderate idiots who don't know or care about the rules, the law,
the right thing to do, or their fellow boaters. Even further, BOTH
groups have to deal with stereotypes, ignorance and jealousy from
outsiders who don't really know much about the except that they don't
like 'em. The only real guaranteed difference between a pwc'er and a
non-pwc boater is in the size and shape of their vessels - you can't
tell anything else about 'em as people from just that.

richforman