In article ,
Lee Bell wrote:
ComandanteBanana wrote

Well, I'm not going to speak in defense of the sardine in their
eternal quest to survive the big fish...

Glad to hear it since you do not appear to be competent to defend your
position on the issues you did address.

The issue here is, WHY A KAYAK OR CANOE MUST GIVE THE RIGHT OF
WAY TO THE MOTORBOATS?

Here is is in a nutshell. It's called "The Rule of Tonage." I outweigh you
by . . . well, by a lot of times. In an encounter between my boat and
yours, yours, and you, will be crushed. If you aren't, you'll be turned
into hamburger, or fish chum if you prefer, by the propellers on the back,
that are turned, slow or fast, by more than 300 horsepower each. It's call
survival. Ignoring it is commonly referred to as testing Darwin's theory.
They have awards, issued poshumously, for thost that do.

Other than that, here's another anwer. You don't have to give right of way.
Generally speaking, non powered vessels, operated with a bit of common
sense, have the right of way over powered ones.

With modifications.

If you are in a defined VTC area the vessels in the "motorway" have
right of way to anything crossing. These are clearly marked on any
chart. Dates from the Copenhagen protocol of 1859, with later extensions.
Flag states have authority over the VTC, even in international waters.
(Was never ratified by the confederate states, though).

The VTC operator is king. Listen to VHF on the VTC channels to get
updates.

Ferries and other officially scheduled traffic comes next.

Then there are three conflicting sets of rules.

1) The "seamanship" rules.

* Everyone yield for special signs, like dive flag, trawler, etc.
* Planes under landing and takeoff have next right of way.
* Overtaking boat yields for the overtaken.
* Propelled (including rowboats) yield for sailboats and planes.
* Planes yield for sail (until Jun 1st 2006 this was the other way around)
* Engine yield for non-engine
* Sailboats with the wind from port yield for other sailboats with the
wind from Starboard.
* Sailboats yield for other sailboats with a higher angle into the wind.

2) The "useful" rules.

* Boats carrying payload have first rights.
* More payload = more right of way
* You shall not disturb a vessel that cannot manouver as well as you can.

3) Biggest carries the day.

* I am bigger than you are.

Interesting point is that you must yield for planes, even if they
are overtaking. With sea planes it can be hard to distinguish the
transition from plane to vessel some times.

As of June 1st 2006, military or SAR vessels with blinking blue
lights have first priority over all.

Every weekend the intracostal waterway of Miami becomes a parade of
motorboats of all sorts, from the very big (the owners of this town)
to the very small (the noisy jet skis), often driven by intoxicated
drivers (I guess you call them "drivers," though seldom they are
accountable to the standards as vehicle drivers, like DUI), and almost
always running (or should I say "flying"?) up and down (again, with no
speed limit restrictions like regular drivers). So the task of
crossing these sea highways by paddle becomes something like a duck
crossing the hunting grounds, and you are the sitting duck...

But, if convicted of wrongdoing they can have the book thrown at them.
DUI, reckless driving, endangering ship traffic, violations of a score
of SOLAS regulations etc. We have a couple of cases each year where
skippers end up with a year or more of hard time.

They're called Captains or pilots, not drivers. If they intoxicated, report
them. There are, in fact, laws controlling that very much like those for
automobile driers. There are speed limits posted all over the place and
quite a few that apply even when not posted. On top of it all, there are
maximum wake and other requirements you've not bothered to notice.

Crossing the channel, whether by paddle or by motorboat, is a lot like
crossing any other highway. You would be ill advised to pull out right in
front of a boat operated by a captain with more knowledge and experience
than your appear to have, operating at a legal speed, not intoxicated, just
like you would be ill advised to push your skateboard out in front of
traffic traveling at the speed limit on I-95. You're the one entering the
channel. You're the one responsible for doing it safely. Imagine that.

Big difference between VTC and non-VTC areas. VTC is more like a
runway for planes. You really _should_ listen to the traffic controller,
even in a canoe. Especially in a canoe.

We have done many dives in VTC areas; they are usually very cooperative,
and we have to follow a given timeslot, and report in as all other VTC
parties do.

But the ocean is also hunting ground. The other day (it was weekday,
hardly any boats out there), I went to out in my tandem kayak, which I
chose as bright as it could be (sunrise) with the paddles to match
(they could be more visible than the kayak itself), and out of nowhere
came this boat that passed us right in front, so much so that my
partner stopped paddling. The ocean was absolutely flat and it was a
nice sunny day, so the driver must have chosen to make it a close
call...

You don't know that at all. There are rules for who has the right of way on
the ocean as well. Have you bothered to research them?

While it is possible that the boater chose to make it a close call, that's
not certain at all, particularly if he did not change course. For all you
know, he would have been on autopilot or, possibly, following a GPS course
from one point to the next. Your assumption that he chose to bother you is
a bit off the mark.

I can confirm than going off autopilot is a definate hassle. If he
was following a marked sea lane he would probably think of you as a
nuisance; and have the law on his side.

I will grant you that it would have been nice for him to give you a bit more
room. I make a habit of doing that for vessels small enough that going
behind them, through their wake, is not a problem while forcing them to go
through mine might be. On the other hand, if you were paddling into his
path, you also had the option to give yourself more room.

Also, signal your intensions by making course adjustments if you have to,
and do it early. BTW, the really large vessels run anti-collision systems,
and have to log collision alarms. If they behave like a**h*les you can
buzz them a little by triggering those alarms. You can do so at a safe
distance, you just need to set a colliding course, and stay there for
a minute or two. The radar and anti-collision systems will pick you up.

-- mrr