"Jeff" wrote in message
...

The 2002 numbers are quite quirky. In the several years before,
and several years after, the number of auxiliary sailboats is
about 140,000, or 1.2% of the fleet. How 75000 sailboats
suddenly appeared in 2002 and then disappeared in 2003 is beyond
me.

Sure , take your word for it.

And certainly, in a discussion about propeller strikes,
including unpowered vessels isn't fair!

Didn't intend that . Agreed. My thesis, earlier in the thread, was
tackling the comparative risks between Autos, Aviation and Boats.
So I jumped into a discussion on a different beam.

Remember, if your guess of 250 hours is high by a factor of 2,
then boats are more dangerous (by the hour) then cars.

Sure. Except in UK. We seem to have very safe roads; heaven knows
why, they're so crowded!

It was the Aviation stats that interested me. An earlier argument
in this forum contended that Genreal Aviation flying was safer
then whatever. The imputaion was that the insurance hikes in
general aviation may invade boating if boating third party boat
insurance was made compulsory. I couldn't swallow that, so I went
home to do the work. You can see the numbers. It's not often you
see two orders of difference in the risks. Trivialises other
activities. I'll go with the idea that boating risks are similar
to car risks. That's why insurance premiums per capital value are
similar.

Private aircraft? Whoa there! different game! 10 times the risk?
100 times the risk? Who cares about the odd 20% here or there.
Definitely dodgy.

Perspective - which you have. Picks up stupid errors.
--
JimB
http://www.jimbaerselman.f2s.com/
Describing some Greek and Spanish cruising areas