You are NOT the typical PWC operator. People who cruise on
a PWC are a small subset of PWC users. A very small subset.

True, and I think the same is true of every segment of the
power-boating and boating
world. Most people with bigger boats that I see and know around here,
have just one or two
favorite little destinations, a beach or fishing spot, that they motor
to and hang out all day at. I really
haven't known anyone on bigger boats who does the same kind of
adventurous/ambitious touring
and multi-day distance riding as my friends and I do on our pwc's.
Nothing wrong with any of that of course.

But what I'm wondering is, did you know that ANY pwc riders do this
kind of stuff before I started telling you about it? If not, then I've
already expanded your knowledge of what is possible and in fact what
happens more often than you obviously think. (There are riding groups
in every area with water, people organizing big group rides,
weekend-long family and recreational events, charity runs, clubs that
plan and promote long trips, I mean, believe me it's not like I"m the
only one doing it. I probably never would have thought of it myself
except that I got brought into it by all the established pwc'ers I met
and encountered when I bought my first one back eight years
ago.....pretty much all of them were doing things like this and that's
how I got into it.) Maybe the more you learn, the more you'll be
surprised.

but I think at this point the public has had 40 years to figure out
that Doctors, Lawyers and other sedate groups also enjoy rif=ding Harleys.

....and of course there are still lots of people out there who have
never figured it out and still believe in the ancient stereotypes.
Like I say, it's really YOU who can't erase the real-world knowledge
that when I am out cruising the Great South Bay, the Peconic River, the
Atlantic Ocean, the Long Island Sound, the Connecticut River, Block
Island Sound, Barnegat Bay, New York Harbor, of course the Hudson,
every weekend, I just do not encounter these prejudices, negative
attitudes, from fellow boaters and water recreationists I see and hang
out with on beaches, islands, restaurants, coves, docks, ramps,
marinas, boat shows,....that I do from some cranks on the (usually
perfectly friendly) rec.boats.cruising. Nobody seems to have anything
against a pwc as long as we are obeying the rules, operating safely and
courteously...people like it. They see They wave from other boats,
especially their children, who are always very happy to see the.
Sometimes their jaws kind of drop when we tell them where we've come
from, it just makes them respect us more, when they see us geared up
properly in our dry suits if necessary, or with our gps' mounted and
massive storage bins loaded up with every kind of line, anchor, vhf's,
change of clothes and shoes, picnic lunches, charts, whatever.
Especially Coast Guard and cops, always very friendly, many of them
that we've stopped and talked to have pwc's themselves and we'll talk
shop about that. When they see that we obviously know exactly what
we're doing, have our safety certificates, have all our flares and
documents and required safety equipment on board, they can tell we know
what we're doing and I don't think it matters to anyone one way or
another that we're on pwc's. If we screamed through a no-wake zone or
were drunk and rowdy on the water, they'd dislike us (to say the least)
whether we were on pwc's or bigger speed-boats; if we're not causing
any problems and boating safely, everybody likes everybody else just
fine, the fact that my boat happens to be a pwc is really a completely
neutral factor, I think, to any reasonably open-minded, friendly,
positive person without some kind of elitist stick up their ass.

richforman