Most definitely. None better.
And Phil Ochs.
Where have all the folk singers gone?
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It seems remarkable, but nobody finds it odd that an anti-gun administration approved the device that the guy used to kill 56 people. That device has absolutely no practical value but to spray destruction on a crowd. It effectively converts a semi-auto to a full auto weapon suitable only for mass shooting. Two punks in Boston converted pressure cookers into dangerous devices.
What does a society think will happen when you bombard a generation of boys with the label “Toxic Masculinity”. Maybe somebody should take them fishing or boating, but instead they have games where they can mow down crowds. So then every stste is opening dope shops so we can live in a cloud of government sanctioned crud and venerate stoners like Cheech and Chong as a comedy act. At least the elected officials can BS us into thinking that crime is down when we’re stupified.
I wonder how many close calls between paddle boats and power boats involve people who are dope up and think running over a kayak is funny. Maybe its Chinatown Syndrome. Maybe we should consider cops as evil and get rid of them. That would eliminate crime if nobody was arrested. It’s actually a theory. We deserve what we get.
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… or camping or beachcombing or hiking or to a farm during harvest or to a minor league baseball game where a bunch of young guys are working their tails off in pursuit of a dream.
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Or in the gym (or dojo), where you confront your own fears/demons day in and day out, vent your anger against the heavy bag, control both your anger/fear against an opponent in the ring, learn that even controled violence is painful for you and the opponent, thus you hone your ability (spirit) to struggle, endure and perservere, and come to understand that your opponent (and training partner) is a but mirror for you and is to be appreciated and respected for that gift.
For many over time, the “casual violence” outside of the gym is regarded as foolish, unpredictable and to be avoided if possible.
PS - Many paths for Asian sisters, beyond being a sterotyped demure “inscrutable” wallflower:
sing
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@Buffalo_Alice, you’re on it. There’s gain in pain or a challenge. The best feeling is one where you accomplish the unexpected and push yourself to the limit. Albeit, some have a greater limit than others.
Excellent post. I cannot emphasise it enough. It evokes the words of my coach from back then: “If you do get into a real fight you have already lost.”
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Unless you’re minding your own business and somebody is trying to kill you. A friend once told me that “War is not the answer!” I told him that’s narrow minded, because “Sometimes war is the only answer!” Just ask Adolf! He thought he could control everybody. Somebody smart once said, you’ll only have peace after war. . . Not sure who said it. Probably the guy who said “its always darkest before dawn.”
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Yup. Those were the days of bare knuckle and feet sparring, which allowed full contact to the body and “light” (relative) contact to the heard. Padded equipment was still not in use. USA professional kickboxing was inaugurated about about 10 years after this. The first UFC/MMA match was also about 15 years later.
This “friendly” sparring match took place in 1975 (a year after the movie, “Chinatown”). But, because we were on an elevated stage in front of thousands of folks, the adrenaline was pumping for all involved. This was the annual August Moon Harvest Festival. The veil of “inscrutability” surrounding the Chinatown community was lifted. Tens of thousands of people of all backgrounds came and got a glimpse of a community that was hardworking, family and community oriented, and celebrated our collective wellbeing. (That is what a “Harvest” celebration is all about after all!) Many of the visitors found the community welcoming, despite some of the stereotypes. (And, we can actually communicate pretty well in American English too!) Here is a glimpse into that time (from the lens of an “outsider”):
sing
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Sure. There are exceptions and extreme situations. But this advice was more about those 99.99 % of everyday life. Don’t look for trouble. Don’t feel overconfident. Observe your surroundings and if you, for instance, aren’t sure about crossing that park etc., pick a different route. Martial arts and guns are similar in this one aspect: If you don’t practice rigorous mental discipline they tend to give you a feeling of false security. Our coach was emphasising exactly that.
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Folks who haven’t trained consistently in “adrenaline based” context, or engaged routinely in street violence (i.e. thugs), go one or two ways – They admit to fear and retreat, or they overestimate their ability to engage in casual violence and pay a price.
Two examples from my son, former MMA fighter and now MMA coach. He was going home and saw a thug threatening and shaking down some business type. With my warning in his head – Don’t engage unless you feel you have to – he initially thought to just turn a blind eye. He couldn’t do that so he walked up to the thug and the victim and said, “Hey, enough.” And, of course, the victim took off in fear, leaving my son with the thug. (This happened to me as well in a subway station.) Thug angrily said to my son, “You think you’re BAD, I’ll get a gun and shoot you!” My son replied, “Ok… but what are you going to do now?” The thug turned and hurried away. Reflecting the recent rise of anti-Asian hate, my son encountered a white guy standing over and abusing an elderly Chinese man on the train. My son walked over and told the white guy to cut the crap. The white guy said, “Yeah, who is going to stop me!?!” and reached into his pocket for something. My son cold cocked the guy with a right cross (My other warning - you don’t stop until you neutralize the threat). He escorted the elderly guy off the train at the next stop.
sing
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I hit “like” but it’s a hard read tbh.
@Jabberwocky, you’re describing the mindset of the premier executive protection services like the USSS and Department of State/Diplomatic Security Service. Evidence is the few incidents involving gunfire, and in those instances, gunfire is typically neutralized by physical contsct rather than returned fire. Protection results from planning, course selection, minimizing exposure, and profiling, as you pointed out above.
The failings of most concealed carry training is a lack of attention to the areas that you mentioned. Quality marshal arts training would include your sentiment. On the other hand, typical range training mostly ignores the first rule of a deadly confrontation, which is take advantage of available cover, and where possible distance yourself from the threat or put an object between you and the threat. In many cases, a lethal threat will be in your face before you can react by drawing a gun, yet typical training doesn’t prepare adequately for such situations or cover weapon retention. During the 80s, statistics showed 80% of police were killed with their own firearm and 90% of fatal shootongs were within 9 ft. I dont know if retention holsters improved the odds, but it seems that ambush style events are more prevalent and the style of our new society of normlessness.
How many rounds a second does it fire, are you trained in any stick fighting martial arts with it, how does it figure in your walk down memory lane? No? Then take it somewhere else. 
But, on the off-topic topic of GP, owing to a number of logistical issues I was finally able to finish mine. WRC with five coats of pure tung oil. It has some flaws that I’ll revisit but from a distance with an uncritical eye, I’m pleased with it.
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I hear you (or think I do). Some unpleasantries being discussed. But, the OP was about an “incident” on the water and how to address it in the aftermath. The thread has wounded in different ways to things posted, as often happens in these forums. But, as you noted, the original topic was never about the type of boat, Euro vs GP, PFD or not, solo vs group, and the other usual PNet items ad infinitum.
sing
@RC51Mike, I’m curious. Does your mind ever drift off topic and find yourself thinking of unrelated things, such as Greenland paddles on a thread about Paddling in Traffic.
Great looking paddle. I plan to make one with shoulders like that someday, even though I prefer carbon Euro paddles. The one I made just has tapered blades that followed recommendations from @sing, thanks sing. Can’t have enough paddles, especially pretty ones.
I still feel sorry for paddledog since I also struggle with letting go of a disrespectful incident. Dwelling on it or mulling it over may be the worst part.
I feel lucky in that I’ve had a great year so far regarding traffic. I’ve had dozens of pleasant experiences with powerboaters (!) and some charming experiences at put-ins. Lots of noteworthy positives and zero negatives. But for some reason the positives don’t seem to get burned into memory the same as the negatives. It’s been over 20 years since I was rammed by a U of M scull and about the same since the time I was shot at yet I still feel agitated if I think about those incidents. Good luck PD!
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I’d like to point out that my take may be shaped or even distorted by the fact that I’ve never been to the US and that I live in an ex-Eastern Bloc country in Central Europe. My everyday experience may differ substantially from yours. Sometimes I’m rather shocked by things described here.
Unfortunately I have to excuse myself from this interesting debate. It’s public holiday here in Czechia (St. Wenceslas, the same one whom you know from the Christmas Carol) and we have a major family outing. No paddling but plenty of nature and I’m one of the few blessed people who don’t have to be online all the time 
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@sing, agree about darkntopics, however, it is a dark topic that conjurs dark thoughts. My mind was focused on dark thoughts from the OP, because I feared there would be no equitable resolution to the issue. Worse yet is the OP and the rest of us could fsce the same disappointment in the future.
The Greenland paddle, or even a picture of bunnies, would be welcome to sweeten our thoughts.
Ok. I’ll go “off topic” and go a bit controversial (for folks who may take a dogmatic approach). I started with shouldered GPs and understand when folks say they appreciate the “indexing” provided by the shoulders. However, over time, especially in surf, I find the shoulders distracting. Rather, depending on what is happening on the wave, I appreciate shoulderless so my hands can slide readily up and down the paddle as needed. For me, the blade edges provide more than enough indexing, especially for the vaunted (bombproof) laid back roll with an extended GP.
Now back to the topic of aftermath.
sing
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I’ve reached the same conclusion (re shoulders). My first GP 15 years ago was a custom ordered shoulderless made to my metrics so that was a random choice (more aesthetic at the time than related to potential function.) So I presumed it was just what I was used to and didn’t give much thought when I searched a few years later for a breakdown GP to take on the airlines when traveling with my folding kayaks and the first carbon model that was commercially available to me was the Northern Lights 3 piece, which was only offered shouldered. I really hoped I’d like it and even scoured on line videos to see how paddlers with that style utilized the abrupt flanges at the shaft to blade transition. But I was too set in my ways, which included often using a sliding motion to extend my GP out for wide sweep turns and using balance bracing. I kept feeling like the shoulders were in my way and that it even left my hands feeling a little bruised a couple of times from sliding over the bump under load . Sold the NL paddle to another folding kayak paddler overseas and he was thrilled to get it. Eventually got a GearLab carbon and recently an Eastpole laminated wood, both two piece and unshouldered.
Since the oval looms always put my hands in the right position to achieve the proper angle, I don’t feel the need for the shoulders for that positioning purpose.
The two piece paddles make the center balance point of the paddle obvious at the connector so it’s easy to center on the loom longitudinally and even rotation-wise (since the lock button is obvious and on the same aspect as the blade faces). With my unshouldered wood one-piece, I did sometimes find after my sliding around on the loom that I was holding the paddle off center, so I took brown Sharpie and drew a line around the middle so a quick glance could tell me where to balance my grip.
I’d have been appalled to imagine I would ever “graffiti” my paddle when I first got that gorgeous handcrafted cedar and spruce 5 lamination beauty from the master artisan who made it, with it’s lovely graining and “baby’s bottom” flawless satiny oil and varnish finish. But by now it’s as dinged up and weathered by loving use and regular refinishing that a line of brown ink only adds to the “patina”. Kinda like when you got those fresh white new Keds at the beginning of the school year and struggle to keep them pristine for the first few weeks of classes. Then you survive mourning the first scuffs from gym class and hallway bullies and the dripped ketchup from the cafeteria line. Eventually you just throw them in the washing machine when they are too crusty, douse them with Scotchgard, adjust to the stains and wear them for washing the dog or playing full contact sports in wet grass
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