why?
of ‘particular interest’?
Any idea of how much C4 you can
conceal in a kayak? And bring it undetected into major shipping ports and channels? … that’s some of the interest from Homeland Security.
plus
They are virtually invisible—unlike small motorized boats they have no radar signature, are low to the water and if are in neutral grays or blues really cannot be seen more than 1/4 to 1/2 mile away on a clear day—in any kind of fog or haze much less. Just a word of warning however there is a hefty fine and possible jail sentance for taking your kayak close to certain structures like ferry docks etc. Best not to tempt fate(or the Coast Guard). A couple of years ago some kayaker in the Pacific northwest got in serious trouble for getting too close to a dock–I don’t know what eventually happened with the case but he was looking at a 30,000 dollar fine.
Of very high interest
In 2002, the Connecticut Legislature debated a bill in committee that would require that all canoes and kayaks be registered and the operators be licensed under the guise of “Homeland Security” — the argument was that someone could put a large amount of C-4 in a kayak, and blow up someone’s seaside mansion with it, and be virtually undetectable until it was too late. (No kidding - the sponsor’s own words).
The bill’s sponsor was called on the “undetectable” point by yours truly and several others in a public hearing, and was forced to admit that because of that fact, that the bill would likely not save any lives even if the boat was registered. He made some CSI type argument that “We could use the registration numbers to find the evildoers after the fact” as a justification to continue with the bill. It failed to leave committee both in 2002 and 2003, thankfully.
and I’m going to
smuggle Mexicans into the country using the Tasman canoe/kayak.
Very much so
We have several Auxiliary members in our local club, one of whom is very active within the club as a liaison to the Aux. They’ve been really great to us.
When I was president of the club, we worked extensively with the CG District 1 MSO and state boating authorities on safety programs. Our club’s safety demo and publications were considered to be so good that they were incorporated into the CT safe paddling program.
My experience with that and with challenging proposed laws restricting paddlers freedoms has come to make me a firm believer that paddlers need to work WITH boating authorities as partners if we don’t want legislators restricting our freedoms, and forcing us to register and get licenses to paddle. If “the man” doesn’t know you and what you’re about, it’s easier to make laws against you in ignorance.
Further to that
The stats don’t always reflect what really happened.
3 years or so ago, a paddler died near my home in flatwater while wearing a PFD. He actually died in his kayak of a heart attack, and then capsized, but when the stats came out, he was just another paddler who died with his PFD on. In that case the PFD was not relevant to the accident, but reported anyway.
Even so, the correlation between wearing a PFD and living through a boating accident is overwhelming once you look at the circumstances of individual accidents, and not just at simple statistics. I’d venture to say that cold water (#1) and lack of floatation (Close second) are the two biggest killers in my area.
how
many do you think it would hold? And are you planning on going into the farming business?
they
tried the same thing in Mass and here in Maine—luckily here everybody saw it for what is was—a money grab by the state.
Agreed
As a sailor, I appreciate whaqt the USCGA does for us. But it is easier to legislate against the unknown.
kayakers as fish food
well…the stats if you dig into a different set included:
Non traditional kayakers, people who use kayaks incidental to their hobby - hunters, fisherman etc
White water - goes with out saying
Age - amazing how this catches us
hypothermic - read the people who go float wearing jeans and a tee and a life jacket and decide swimming is in the offing