Col Regs question - sails and paddles

Mr. Bayliner
Mr. Bayliner - That guy is dangerous and unpredictable. I also am unfond of his son Johnny Jetski.

I love jet skis
I rode one to Alaska solo unsupported from Washington. Loved that trip. Also paddled the route years earlier. Gotta say jet ski was more fun and in weird ways more meaningful. How could a paddler ever say that!!!??? That’s a discussion not for this board.

It’s never the tool.
I know I am wrong in sweeping generalizations, and of course it is never the fault of the boat when the operator is irresponsible.



It does seem to me, though, that most of the dangerous driving I see on the water is done by people on PWC’s. Tugboats can be dangerous, but I’ve never seen one operated in that way.

sounds cool
Sounds like a neat trip. Like driving a motorcycle across a desert or something. I could enjoy that.



But how the hell did you carry 1000 miles worth of fuel, food, and water on a unsupported jet ski trip?

Custom fuel tanks, and
I fueled up 4 times along the way. Honda had 16.6 gallon capacity and each saddle tank was 10 with a siphon unit. Carried emergency gear and food in a dry bag strapped to the rear platform. Went straight through and as I’ve done the route many times in various craft didn’t even look at a chart. 25 hrs running time. I ended up using about 100 gallons of fuel, as I never got too low before top-ups.

Shouldn’t be loopholes in law
ALL vessels have general principles and when one

runs over another boat it violates everyone’s sense

of fair play upon the waterways - fresh and saltwater.



Every vessel shall at all times maintain

a proper look-out.



Every vessel shall at all times proceed

at a safe speed so that she can take proper

and effective action to avoid collision

and be stopped within a distance appropriate

to the prevailing circumstances and conditions.



Alterations of course and speed taken to avoid

collision shall be large enough to be readily

apparent to another vessel



Any vessel overtaking any other shall keep out

of the way of the vessel being overtaken.



A vessel of less than 20 meters in length or a

sailing vessel shall not impede the passage of

a vessel which can safely navigate only within

a narrow channel or fairway.



Due regard shall be had to all dangers of navigation

and collision and to any special circumstances,

including the limitations of the vessels involved,

which may make a departure from these Rules

necessary to avoid immediate danger.



Human-powered boats are never specifically

called out as either stand-on or give-way vessels,

it’s up to the operators of any boat that may be

at risk of collision, including human-powered boats,

to do whatever seems most sensible to avoid a collision.


Celia, were you racing?
I’ve sailed saltwater 40 years now, and have come across maybe 3 people who were super aggressive about enforcing their right of way. I had lots of clearance when I passed through our theoretical intersect point, and that may have been what ticked them off.

Heck no
I would never take the tiller in anything bigger than a Sunfish in a race, even if someone was foolish enough to offer it. I’d be way out of my league. I have a decent feel for the sail as long as someone gets me going right to start and I am in an area where I have a good sense of the channels from kayaking, but all of that operates at a slow speed.



That said, the captain of both of the larger sailboats that I’ve had the tiller/wheel of raced in their younger days, and one of the boats has a very fast hull for its era. The racing boats have changed since, but if this boat gets fully onto the rails it can run into something very quickly. The situation in the other boat also had international flavor - it appears that there are some rough spots between French Canadian and US captains in northern marinas where they end up sharing space. Of course I was told that it’s the French Canadians who are annoyingly clueless… I have no opinion. I didn’t hit them so I never had to find out.