As a rule of thumb, I pretend that I am invisible. Not only am I paddling
a stealth craft which cannot be detected by any known means, I also have a
Cone of Silence around me, so that no noise, no matter how loud, can ever
leave my boat. It worked for me riding motorcycles, and it has worked for
me so far paddling boats. I used to drive much larger sailboats, I lived
on a 35 foot sloop for a number of years. While almost every set of
nautical rules I have seen have some reference to the duty to maintain a
sharp lookout, in practice there are far too many folks out driving boats
who would hit something even if it had a flashing orange warning light and
a warning alarm. Not only that, I pretend that every other boat out on the
water is out to "get me." I want to expose myself to the possibility of
being run down for as little a time as possible and I keep my eye out for
any boats that may even have a chance of hitting me. It's kind of a
contradiction, believing on the one hand that I can't be detected and then
believing on the other hand that I am easily targeted, but, like I say,
it's a concept that has worked for me so far.

Galen Hekhuis NpD, JFR, GWA
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