This is scary!
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Be prepared for the unexpected!
That doesn’t look good for the paddler.
I hope the OPP did a breathalyzer on the offender.
There are a lot more inexperienced boat owners on the water now compared to pre-COVID. My head is on a swivel when I am paddling in areas with lots of powerboats.
Also interesting to see the failure modes of what appears to be a thermoform kayak. Crunchy!
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Some paddlecraft are indeed crunchier than others. And always the underdog when up against a power boat.
As waterways get more crowded, I’m considering extra precautions: I already have bright clothing, but thinking about flags, reflectors, lights, and air horns.
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Air horn is definitely a good idea. You can get smaller ones that are easy to keep at hand, as they would need to be.
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That is scary stuff.
Most idiot boaters would never hear the horn.
SOLAS tape on anything that moves, like paddles, and in my case simply do not paddle some pipular lakes in July or August. The drunks in motor boats way outnumber me.
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There are definitely places I avoid during busy times (summer, and Feb/March here). Agreed some would not hear an air horn, but they are inexpensive and easy to have on board. The Coast Guard mandated whistle is next to useless in most situations.
In Florida it is often relatively easy to find very shallow water which at least eliminates the larger powerboats, although not always the smaller ones.
Boaters can take these risks on themselves and have the boat injure themselves. Here is a new report of a guy who was “bow riding” and fell off his boat and was hit by his own propeller. If you watch video compilations of stupid boaters, bow riding is often shown as a stupid act just because of this risk of falling off and getting run over by your own boat.
I’ve also noticed a big surge in stupid new powerboaters, some of whom must never have practiced backing a trailer, or slowing safely when returning to launch areas.
Worst of all: most of them got wakeboats.
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He’s lucky there were people on the boat that were able to get him back in the boat and to medical attention.
I’m reminded of this old VW ad when I see the boat trailer newbies trying to get their rigs lined up on our narrow launch ramps.
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Hey, that’s me! I wondered what was wrong with those horses.
shallow water doesn’t eliminate jet skis and they can be the worst.
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I witness something a few years ago that if I had a camera I’d be a You Tube millionaire. A young couple on jet skis were roaring up the South River near Annapolis to near the headwaters. Unbeknownst to them there is a wide area where it looks like the channel is in the middle. However there used to be an island there that eroded away a few years previously leaving a barely submerged mud flat. The boyfriend was in the lead and he piled up on a the thick, black, deep, malodorous mud. The motor was killed as it sucked up mud , weeds, and dirt. The girlfriend stopped in time. I mentioned to the girlfriend that the tide was running out, and if they didn’t free the jet ski soon they would be there a while.
The boyfriend managed to contact a friend with a jet powered ski boat. He soon arrived and managed to get close enough to throw a line to the jet ski. When they got the boat secured and positioned the boyfriend said to hit it.
This immediately let loose a geyser of thick black mud that knocked the boyfriend on the jet ski on his butt and almost off of the jet ski. With the noise of the jet boat, the operator couldn’t hear the boyfriend screaming bloody murder until he looked back and saw what was happening.
They finally got the jet ski, now covered with mud from bow to stern and the boyfriend from head to toe, free.
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True. But unlike cigar boats, at least they always see us paddlers.
Anyone use with a flag? I’m thinking they may be useful because I can always make out the little guy in silhouetted distance when they have a fishing rod.
They briefly considered making flags mandatory on kayaks in Maryland a number of years ago, but there were concerned that a flag may interfere with rolling and be affected by the wind.
they don’t see anything many times. come flying around in the marshes. i wave my paddle when i hear them.
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