From a news story about the opening of boating season in Seattle:

" But before boaters hit the water, the Coast Guard has issued a number of
rules for boaters to follow.

They.re requiring boats to maintain 100 yards between their boats and
large vessels, including ferries, and operate at a minimum speed within
500-years of those vessels. Violators could face up to 6 years in prison
and a $250,000 fine. The Coast Guard is also advising boaters to operate
cautiously near naval vessels. "

If I can't operate my boat within 500 years of a ferry, when the hell am I
going to use it? I don't think I'll live that long.

Dan


--
If addiction is judged by how long a dumb animal will sit pressing a lever
to get a "fix" of something, to its own detriment, then I would conclude
that netnews is far more addictive than cocaine.
-- Rob Stampfli

Marshall Banana wrote:
From a news story about the opening of boating season in Seattle:

" But before boaters hit the water, the Coast Guard has issued a number of
rules for boaters to follow.

They.re requiring boats to maintain 100 yards between their boats and
large vessels, including ferries, and operate at a minimum speed within
500-years of those vessels. Violators could face up to 6 years in prison
and a $250,000 fine. The Coast Guard is also advising boaters to operate
cautiously near naval vessels. "

If I can't operate my boat within 500 years of a ferry, when the hell am I
going to use it? I don't think I'll live that long.

Dan



It's the Bush-**** Administration. It can't do anything to protect us
from terrorists, but it wants to keep its fraudulent war against
terrorism uppermost in your mind.

Don't vote for the Bush-****ter this fall.

Also Sprach Harry Krause :

It's the Bush-**** Administration. It can't do anything to protect us
from terrorists, but it wants to keep its fraudulent war against
terrorism uppermost in your mind.
Shove your blustering diatribe up your butt, Harry. Regardless of what
you think of the Bush administration (And personally, I think they're a
bunch of crooks and profiteers) the 100/500 yard reg is a good idea, both
for the safety of the ships, and the small boaters. I'd say most
reasonable boaters wouldn't have approached within 100 yards of a ferry
even before this reg, for their own safety. Last year, I saw a 14' dingy
capsize and sink because he tried to fish under a ferry dock, just as the
ferry went to depart.

Dan

Well, they may have misspelled at least one other part of the regulation.

When boating within certain areas in and around Seattle, the biggest challenge
is to avoid coming within 100 yards of a fairie.
I've got nothing against ferrys, (or fairies). They go about their business, I
go about mine and there's plent of room for all on the waterways. Steering
clear helps insure that one won't be climbing up your transom when you least
expect it.

But hey, even with my speedy new engine
(I can now hit 10 knots if I lean on it really hard).....I got the minimal
speed thing down pat.

((No Opening Day raft up for this hombre this year......deadline weekend.
Drat!))

The total number of international terrorist attacks in 2003 -- 190
incidents that killed 307 people -- was the lowest since 1969,

And all surely because we were staying 100 yards away from ferrys. :-)

Those poor folks in Madrid should have stayed 100 yards away from the trains.
That's going to blow hell out of next year's
terrorist statistics. We've got to be ahead of 2003's 307 already- and it's
only April.

One death a year is one too many.

What sad frickin times we live in, that there are people so amoral or so
desperate
or both that they kill innocent people to advance a particular agenda. How sad,
as well, that so many people try to use the suffering and death of others
(after the fact) to promote one political party or the other.

All reasonable people agree that we need to solve the "terrorist" problem.
Reasonable people will continue to disagree about the best means to do so.

Cruised to Port Orchard last weekend, across the bay from the Bremerton Navy
Yard. They've got a serious security barrier floating out in the bay all along
the row of warships being fitted or overhauled there.
There's no doubt we'll see more and more evidence of being "at war" as we use
our boats this year.

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 22:11:03 +0000, WaIIy wrote:


LOL !

http://www.iwar.org.uk/news-archive/2004/04-29-8.htm


The annual report, "Patterns of Global Terrorism 2003," shows the number
of attacks last year was down slightly from the 199 attacks reported in
2002. At the same time, the 2003 figure is a 45 percent decline from the
346 attacks in 2001.

Let's see, 150 fewer attacks worldwide, $38 billion additional spending
for Homeland Security, = $250 million per attack stopped, or $125 million
per death worldwide. I feel safer, poorer, but safer.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...0020124-1.html

Gene Kearns wrote:
No.... not necessarily. I traverse the Cape Fear River and there are
stretches where two ferries are plying the waters. One leaves for
Point A headed for point B.... at the same time another leaves Point B
headed for Point A. Depending on waves, tidal current, wind, phase of
the moon, whatever, it makes a 5 mile stretch of the River legally
un-navigable.... and that is an area traversed by *ALL* of the
ships... pleasure and commercial (including barges and container
ships) headed for Wilmington,

Yeah, but the ferries won't pull out of their slips if there's a big
ship imminent in the channel. And the 100 yard / 500 yard rules are for
pleasure boats, anyway.


... the only deep water port in NC.


The city fathers in Morehead are going to be very displeased to hear that.


Couple this with the fact that most of this traffic passes close to
Brunswick Nuclear Plant and this simply gets silly.

Yeah but there's no way to actually drive a boat up *to* the nuclear
plant, is there? I mean short of taking a midget sub into the emergency
cooling water tunnel?


Net result is.... no boating allowed....

But surely, the if the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, and the
price of safety from terrorism is eternally greater restrictions on all
citizens, then for all of us to give up boating is only a patriotic
sacrifice, right? Surely if President Bush demanded that we give up
boating, you'd comply readily

Regards
Doug King