This author believes canoe & kayak manufacturers are liable for the
"murder" of 1,000 paddlers because they don't install an "emergeny
life raft" on their crafts. What a bunch of BULL****! I can just
see a slew of class action lawsuits being filed and this guy being the
plaintiff attorney's "expert" witness against canoe & kayak
manufacturers, paddling schools, dealers, instructors, etc. Just like
those overweight plaintiffs who are trying to sue or "blackmail" fast
food companies to compensate them for making them fat.

I sometimes have to shake my head and scream at all this nonsense in
the USA about blaming someone else for their own stupidty. I read
somewhere that in Mexico, when you step in a hole, they call you
"stupid." In the USA, they call you a "millionaire." The personal
injury scam fueled by crooked attorneys in this country has just run
amuck.

Whatever you do, don't buy this guy's book.

************************************

Canoe and Kayak Scam Kills 1,000 Americans -- New Book Details
Ineffective Canoe and Kayak Safety Measures Perpetuated by
Manufacturers

PENETANGUISHENE, Ontario, Canada, July 29, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- The
waters of life are filled with financial sharks. The public is
generally protected against commercial scandals, however, author Tim
Ingram feels there is a very important scandal occurring that is going
unnoticed in the rushing waters filled with Enron scandals. In his
book, Canoe and Kayak Scam Kills 1000 Americans: US Coast Guard
Studies Device to Save Victims (now available through 1stBooks),
Ingram discusses the inefficient safety measures and scam rescue
training that has cost many people their lives.

"This book specifically documents the murder of U.S. citizens in
canoes and kayaks through an instruction scam to make money and kill
innocent victims in the water. This book documents the method to lure
victims into cool waters from which they cannot escape," Ingram
states.

This book is an expose and a postulation of an easy remedy to right
the situation. According to Ingram, nearly 1,000 people have died in
the United States from canoe and kayak accidents. Most of the victims
died in the water from hypothermia because they could not get back in
the canoe or kayak.

"Canoes and kayaks are the deadliest boats in the world. They are
extremely vulnerable to capsize and flooding," Ingram says.

The fault, he notes, lies with the manufacturers. He feels they should
have an emergency life raft attached to the kayak or canoe. He details
how this device is easily and economically possible. Instead, he says,
companies offer a cornucopia of rescue classes, which he finds
ineffective and difficult. Many people are unable to perform these
rolls, he notes, and remain in the water until they succumb to
hypothermia, even in warm weather and wearing a lifejacket or other
floatation device.

"This book documents the selling of canoes and kayaks with reckless
disregard for human life. Canoe and kayak 'safety' is Enron-style
fraud, sold to make money for instructors and to sell all sorts of
paraphernalia that increase the risk of death. Enron did not kill
anyone," Ingram states.

Ingram was a YMCA camp counselor and canoeing instructor nearly 40
years ago and owned numerous boats, canoes and kayaks. He has a number
of U.S. patents for devices that effectively overcome hypothermia.
Canoe and Kayak Scam Kills 1000 Americans is his first book.

Wow, its real:

http://biz.yahoo.com/pz/030729/43212.html

FWIW, we know a lot of kayak tours (etc.) take a somewhat optimistic
attitude.

It's pretty scary (for instance) to see kayak tour ads that show somebody
paddling next to alaskan ice without even a sprayskirt.

On that subject, most people would suggest a drysuit to battle that
hypothermia, rather than a liferaft for your sea kayak.

A lot could probably be said for kayak safety without a) "scam" hyperbole
and b) translating into any one patented solution.

"Bobo" wrote in message
...
This author believes ---big snip--- Scam Kills 1000 Americans is his first
book.

Oh my God. Please, no. No, no, nooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

Bobo wrote:

big snip

I take it that this is your introduction to Timmy the Sponson Boy. He's
been spewing the same crap for years in an effort to scare people into
buying his worthless "inventions". Apparently, he's "invented" a life raft
now. He's a lyar, a complete psycho and beneath contempt. Fortunately,
he's also nothing but a windbag and no one takes him seriously.

Thanks a lot for advertising his book for him here. You've done him a
great service. Then again, perhaps that was your intent?

--
Regards

Brian

Brian Nystrom writes:

Bobo wrote:

big snip

I take it that this is your introduction to Timmy the Sponson Boy. He's
been spewing the same crap for years in an effort to scare people into
buying his worthless "inventions". Apparently, he's "invented" a life raft
now. He's a lyar, a complete psycho and beneath contempt. Fortunately,
he's also nothing but a windbag and no one takes him seriously.

Thanks a lot for advertising his book for him here. You've done him a
great service. Then again, perhaps that was your intent?

Probably not; it sounded like the standard tone of amazed outrage
that is the usual reaction to Sponsonboy's nonsense. For any other
Sponsonboy newbies, you are encouraged to do a little research --
just google "sponson" in this newsgroup over a period of several
years -- before weighing in on this issue. It's all been said
before.

Anyone happen to know if his "publisher" is the local Staples?

--
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::
Mary Malmros
Some days you're the windshield,
Other days you're the bug.

Looks like Timmy's back.

Bobo wrote:

This author believes canoe & kayak manufacturers are liable for the
"murder" of 1,000 paddlers because they don't install an "emergeny
life raft" on their crafts.

WOW! Why haven't we heard about this in RBP?


--
//-Walt
// Seerch-a zee veb:
// http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=xx-bork

(Yes, I'm being sarcastic, in case you didn't know...)

(Bobo)

[snup]
I sometimes have to shake my head and scream at all this nonsense in
the USA about blaming someone else for their own stupidty. I read
somewhere that in Mexico, when you step in a hole, they call you
"stupid." In the USA, they call you a "millionaire." The personal
injury scam fueled by crooked attorneys in this country has just run
amuck.
[snip]

This well-known crank is not from the USA [1]. He brought r.b.p to
its current low level [2] by his remorseless spamming [3] before
complaints to abuse@his_ISP brought him down. No-one who has ever
heard of him would ever consider wasting money on a book by this
semi-literate nutcase.

[1] He is a Canadian, originally from England.

[2] There used to be many, many more active, knowlegable participants
in r.b.p.

[3] He would paste his stock diatribe as a reply to nearly every
message posted.

--
-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty

================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net 1-301-775-0471
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll.
rhople[at]wfubmc[dot]edu 1-336-713-5077
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters.
================================================== ====================

Sadly, however, this is the type of publishing crap that the media will tend
to grab and run with. Soon, you will be hearing the media print and say
that, "the kayaker was not using sponsons," the same way we hear, "the
cyclist was not wearing a helmet." These types of things gather momentum and
often are not anlayzed to determine whether the safety device would have had
any mitigating effect whatsoever. For example, a cyclist was killed a while
back in San Jose by a truck that passed the rider at speed (I won't go into
the details, but it is a well documented event). The cyclist died from a
variety of injuries, any of which were likely fatal. The news article cited
his lack of helmet as though it could possibly save one from injuries
incurred from being hit by a 20 ton gravel truck moving a 50+ mph.

Sigh. Tim was simply annoying and useless, now he's dangerous and useless.

Rick


"Oci-One Kanubi" wrote in message
om...
(Bobo)

[snup]
I sometimes have to shake my head and scream at all this nonsense in
the USA about blaming someone else for their own stupidty. I read
somewhere that in Mexico, when you step in a hole, they call you
"stupid." In the USA, they call you a "millionaire." The personal
injury scam fueled by crooked attorneys in this country has just run
amuck.
[snip]

This well-known crank is not from the USA [1]. He brought r.b.p to
its current low level [2] by his remorseless spamming [3] before
complaints to abuse@his_ISP brought him down. No-one who has ever
heard of him would ever consider wasting money on a book by this
semi-literate nutcase.

[1] He is a Canadian, originally from England.

[2] There used to be many, many more active, knowlegable participants
in r.b.p.

[3] He would paste his stock diatribe as a reply to nearly every
message posted.

--
-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty

================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net 1-301-775-0471
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll.
rhople[at]wfubmc[dot]edu 1-336-713-5077
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters.
================================================== ====================

"Rick" writes:

Sadly, however, this is the type of publishing crap that the media will tend
to grab and run with. Soon, you will be hearing the media print and say
that, "the kayaker was not using sponsons," the same way we hear, "the
cyclist was not wearing a helmet."

I doubt this very much. Biking is a popular sport, one that most
people do at some point in their lives. In contrast, most members
of the media and the general public barely know what a kayak is,
much less a sponson. To think that general awareness of sponsons
could ever approach that of bike helmets is, well, bordering on the
absurd.

I will be beyond astonished if this book has a real publisher.
Commercial publishers are interested in making money, and even if an
editor were to believe every word Sponsonboy said, their business
instincts would kick in before they spent any hard cash on such a
project. Specifically, they'd probably spend, oh, at least a couple
of minutes researching these "thousands of deaths", which haven't
exactly been making front-page news. This research would quickly
reveal two facts: 1)that the phrase "thousands of deaths" is an
exaggeration of at least an order of magnitude, even if you added up
all whitewater deaths over several decades, and 2)that the lack of
sponsons had fsck-all to do with any of 'em.

Nope, a real publisher won't spend a dime on this turkey. OTOH,
there are "publishers" who will be more than happy to take your
money to "publish" your unacknowledged and unappreciated work of
genuine original genius. So you can spend a chunk of our own change
and end up with a stack of _real published books_, which you can
then try and sell to anyone who gives a damn, or give away to your
friends, or use to start a fire in your woodstove, or whatever. It
all reminds me of that bit in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" when
Hunter S. Thompson becomes alarmed at the idea that any lunatic with
$3.98 to spend can have his/her image appear on a giant display over
downtown Las Vegas, with a very large sound system broadcasting
his/her message to the world. There are a lot of messages out
there, though, so in considering which ones are worthy of your time,
it's good to look at whether the access to the medium was
legitimately earned through the merit of the message, or simply
bought.

--
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::
Mary Malmros
Some days you're the windshield,
Other days you're the bug.