(This is a contribution by the very same person who sold me the last
kayak. Reporting from the watery jungle)

Flex 029 wrote:
hi folks, first time here .. met Sr. Commandate Banana at my shop ..

one way of dealing with this problem is to NOT paddle in these areas
on weekends.
when i go on any given week-DAY, there’s usually nobody around -
EXCEPT for all that damn trash~


Howdy Flex, good to see you here so we can discuss how best to survive
out there. I totally agree with you, and in fact I stay away from the
waterways on weekends. The weekends belong to the predators, so to
speak.

I also canoe at night (which you told me you do too), which not makes
for far fewer motorboats, but also hides the mountains of trash (yes,
including batteries and mattresses) left behind by the said
motorboats. (I have a bright kayak for daylight, and camouflage canoe
with proper lights for night time.)

As you know, the beautiful kayak I’ve got from you is as bright as
sunrise (that’s the color), as well as the lights and flag I’m getting
from you. So if the superfast, superbig boats don’t see me is because
their drivers (I deny them “captain” status) are superdrunk and
superhigh.

Hey, we’ve developed the same strategy for survival! Actually it was
developed by the early mammals at the time the dinosaurs ruled the
earth.

That’s kind of metaphorical, isn’t it?

I also canoe at night (which you told me you do too), which not makes
for far fewer motorboats, but also hides the mountains of trash (yes,
including batteries and mattresses) left behind by the said
motorboats. (I have a bright kayak for daylight, and camouflage canoe
with proper lights for night time.)

In all my years of boating and kayaking, I've never, ever seen a battery
floating by. As far as I know, boaters aren't really well known for dumping
their mattresses in the water either.

Perhaps you'd like to explain why you crossposted your complaints about
boaters in the Intracoastal to rec.scuba and a UK group, all of whom are
extremely unlikely to even know what the Intracoastal is, let alone care
about boats in it.

Lee

In rec.boats.paddle Lee Bell wrote:
I also canoe at night (which you told me you do too), which not makes
for far fewer motorboats, but also hides the mountains of trash (yes,
including batteries and mattresses) left behind by the said
motorboats. (I have a bright kayak for daylight, and camouflage canoe
with proper lights for night time.)

In all my years of boating and kayaking, I've never, ever seen a battery
floating by. As far as I know, boaters aren't really well known for dumping
their mattresses in the water either.

Perhaps you'd like to explain why you crossposted your complaints about
boaters in the Intracoastal to rec.scuba and a UK group, all of whom are
extremely unlikely to even know what the Intracoastal is, let alone care
about boats in it.

We have a canal here called the I&M canal. Around 1996 a dam rupture caused
the canal to drain exposing all sorts of stuff. We were on the bike trail
the following weekend and were looking at all the recliners, washing machines
and stuff in the canal. The canal is only open to canoes and kayaks and I
don't think many canoeists or kayakers were taking washing machines or
recliners in their boats... course, I could be wrong...

Most of the larger garbage was concentrated near bridges...

--
John Nelson
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