07-11-2021, 06:25 PM
Therapist made reference to my "interactions" with proximity violations over the years. Yea, verily. I have had more than a few. Some have included retaliation...with the projectile casting of sinkers or multihook crankbaits. Others featured my proficiency with a wrist rocket. Marbles off the boat windshield serve as a deterrent too. Don't ask me how I know.
Sadly, the predominant mindset of the power squadron seems to be that the biggest and most powerful craft always has the right of way. Anybody in a smaller craft...or fishing from shore...has no rights whatsoever...the law be damned. And it is not a matter of the offending boat operator not knowing the law. More often it is simply a matter of "boat bullying". There have been more than a few on-the-water potential encounters...with a boat bearing down on my float tube location...in which I raised my camera to record the bow numbers of the approaching offender...only to have them suddenly kill the speed and/or veer away from me when they saw the camera. Seldom a matter of "forgive them for they know not what they do".
Greater publicity and repetition of the law will doubtless educate a few more boaters. But as my buddy Ron White has established..."You can't fix stupid". And as much emphasis is given to alcohol being a bad thing upon the waters, I maintain that just a bit of gasoline and a boat can bring out the worst in folks.
But sometimes all it takes for a small craft to ward off the high-powered doofii (plural of doofus) is something visual that can be seen before they get close enough to do any damage.
Sadly, the predominant mindset of the power squadron seems to be that the biggest and most powerful craft always has the right of way. Anybody in a smaller craft...or fishing from shore...has no rights whatsoever...the law be damned. And it is not a matter of the offending boat operator not knowing the law. More often it is simply a matter of "boat bullying". There have been more than a few on-the-water potential encounters...with a boat bearing down on my float tube location...in which I raised my camera to record the bow numbers of the approaching offender...only to have them suddenly kill the speed and/or veer away from me when they saw the camera. Seldom a matter of "forgive them for they know not what they do".
Greater publicity and repetition of the law will doubtless educate a few more boaters. But as my buddy Ron White has established..."You can't fix stupid". And as much emphasis is given to alcohol being a bad thing upon the waters, I maintain that just a bit of gasoline and a boat can bring out the worst in folks.
But sometimes all it takes for a small craft to ward off the high-powered doofii (plural of doofus) is something visual that can be seen before they get close enough to do any damage.