"Jeff" wrote in message
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Bill McKee wrote:
"Capt. JG" wrote in message
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"Bill McKee" wrote in message
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"Edgar" wrote in message
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"Jeff" wrote in message
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I'd be curious to see the numbers. Canoe deaths were 80 last year,
over
10% of the total; while kayak deaths were 34, or 5%. However, Kayak
sales
are about 4 times canoes, so there is a discrepancy. The two
together
have been selling about half a million a year recently, though
falling off
last year. So its quite possible that the number of "paddle boats"
out
there are equal to the number of small open power boats (or at least
a
significant percentage of them) which were involved in 350 deaths
last
year.

So I could believe that canoes are responsible for a disproportional
number of deaths, but not kayaks. My hunch is that most kayakers
wear
PFDs, but many canoe users are actually fishing and don't think they
are
at risk.

Although I often wear a PFD while kayaking, I have trouble convincing
my
wife to do so, because we almost always kayak in very protecting
fla****er, often only a few feet deep.
I would expect a number of any deaths reported from canoes and kayaks
are
due to them being run down by fast power boats in the hands of idiots.



Actually it is the paddler that is most often the idiot. I almost ran
over a shell in a light fog in San Francisco Bay a couple years ago.
Guy is in a white shell, wearing a white shirt, and is in the middle of
the channel area. Luckily it was me, going maybe 20 mph and not the
ferryboat doing 35 knots. You could hardly see the idiot at 30'. Is
why my next yak is going to be a bright color. And I wear a bright red
PFD when paddling. Sort of the same mentality as a lot of sailboaters.
I am in a sailboat, I have the right of way. My wife got hit by a
sailboat in Mission Bay, SD. while in a yak. Could not get completely
out of the way. He is in the back, f'n around with something and the
tiller is locked and he is doing 10-12 and is not looking at all where
he is headed. I did not have the VHF with me at the time or he would be
explaining the hit-run to the police and lifeguards. Could not get his
numbers and the other witness didn't either. I have had sailboats with
the motor running turn directly in front of me with a 90 degree term.
And other sailboaters say, maybe he was not under power and only
charging battery. BS. Motor running, is a power boat. Same as I
heard a sailboater claim he had the right of way over a large tanker
entering SF Bay. He will be both dead, and wrong.
Technically, the engine needs to be engaged for it to be under power,
but I agree with you. If I turn on my engine, even if it's in neutral, I
consider myself a powerboat. I figure that the other guy is going to see
the raw water coming out, and that might be enough to fool him. Why take
a chance....

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com




You get in a crash and and the motor is running and claim you were not in
gear, and are a sailboat, you are going to lose! As long as the motor is
on, your are technically a power boat.

Nope, you're a sailboat.

You could reach over and put it in gear.

Yup. That's the important part: if putting it in gear was all that was
need to avoid the accident then the sailboat would have at least partial
blame.

Same as if just before the crash you pop it into neutral. If an anchored
powerboat is considered a powerboat when anchored,

If its anchored, it isn't "underway" and therefore has no particular
obligation as a "power-driven" vessel. (Unless, of course, you anchor in
a channel.)

you think the court will let you get away claiming under sail status when
the engine is running?

But what if it wasn't the engine but the genset? What if the engine was
running but the transmission was broken. Or not warmed up enough to put
in gear? If the sail is drawing you have to treat it as a sailboat. (And
yes, I've seen a sailboat powering into the wind with the sail luffing,
insisting the he has right of way over other sailboats!)

Motor running power boat. Not warm enough engine? Same could be said for
any motor driven boat. Someone stated Americas Cup boats could run a
generator during a race. Races are controlled areas, and AC boats do not
have props as far as I know. Plus there is no right of way in maritime law.