Watery p 4 Sunday; Atgust 25,'1985 - North Shore News MY HEART goes out to poor George Kwok, the boater who lost his wife and two sons in a colli- sion with the Queen of Cowichan in the channel between West Van and Bowen Island. But now he’s suing for a million bucks. Rights of small boaters my ass! I’ve been out in those par- ticular waters hundreds of times. I have also travelled all over this coast and through the Gulf Islands in small power boats, sailing boats, fishboats, cruisers and ferries. My sympathy for the small boater is close to zero. Most of them should have been grounded a long time ago. - Quite apart from rocks, riptides, storms and naviga- tion charts in metric, the biggest hazard to boating in our waters is the small boater. I have seen them pull such awesomely stupid stunts that the wonder is more of them don’t die every day than do in a year. HAZARDOUS | A Red "Cross official describes boating as the most hazardous recreational activ- ity there is, iacluding skiing and mountain climbing. At least . skiers: and - mountain climbers are: trained. _Most boaters ‘couldn’t tell a keel from a helm, let alone figure out the tides. or be able to tell. you-who. has the right of way .when two.. vessels: are approaching head or. “'L-Rave.a small boat of my own, a.19-footer with a 50 hp outboard, so it isn’t as though .I’m.. prejudiced in favor of: big ships: 1 also happen to be one of the very. ’ few .owners. of- a pleasure craft..in B.C. who has a license to operate a vessel. I obtained ::, the. :license.: in- - ‘Australia,-where you aren’t -: allowed to. head:‘out to sea without. having taken a test similar to a driving ‘test here. It only; takes an evening or. two of ; Studying, . -plus . an hour .of--testing.At. the end - of.it, you. at ‘least know.. what’s port and what's star- board,-: when . you’ have to give. way, and when. you ought to “maintain your - courses)" 22 KILLED: an ; . Te are 120, 000 pleasure craft in B.C., with a total of 6 million boaters in Canada. Some 1,200 died last year on the water. So far this year, 22 have been killed in B.C., including the Kwok family victims. It seems the height of ab- surdity to insist that motor- ‘cycle riders not only wear helmets but drive with their headlights on, yet we allow absolutely anybody to crank an outboard engine wide open and head off like a _ seagoing Heill’s Angel at : whim. It is bad enough that there are anv number of beaches where I, for one, hesitate to swim for fear of being run over by some idiot screaming along at. top speed. in his overpowered craft, looking backwards at the water- skiier he's pulling along. But the real threat to. life. and limb comes if you. venture out on the water.in’a canoe |. or kayak or rubber dinghy. DIVERS aT RISK ivers, too, are at cons- tant. peril. from outboard | if they aren’t jocks who, nalin: rushing’ restrain ~ their: acadlons weekend plunge.” “The-fact: that B.C. Ferries: , manage.to get the ferries in and ‘out of Horseshoe Bay at ‘all. represents an almost im- possible feat of navigation, given..the: number of lazy, insolent,’ stupified and -just plain: juvenile boaters in‘the.. way, many.of whom are ob- viously: getting their rocks off playing chicken. ' The same applies in Active North Shore convictions for. RECENT — CONVICTIONS in North Shore courts have resulted in the following fines and penalties for drink- ing-driving related offences. Mandatory. license suspen- sion is in addition to published penalty. WEST VAN COURTS: Lawrence George Seeland, 1280 Ottawa Ave., West Van (impaired -driving, . $500 fine); Gary Wayne Whitson, Apt. H-203 West 2nd St., NEWS Classifi drinking, driving North Van (impaired driv- ing, 15 day intermittent jail term) NORTH VAN COURTS: Thomas Owen = Smith, 214/ 260 E. 12 St., North Van (over .08, $500 fine); Jeffery Paul Dean Baker, 210 Jacobs Rd., North Van (impaired driving, 5 month jail term, $300 fine); Andrew Jack . Powers, 949 - Lillooet Rd., North Van ( over .08, 4 month jail term). sds fs Jetting : across’ the © layground a killer Pass, where the boaters, mostly fishermen, sic there in the direct path of the ferries until the last possible mo-.. ment, virtually giving the.: ferry skipper the finger. The, . attitude seems to be: ‘“‘Ga ahead, I dare you!”’ MIGHT IS RIGHT The basic law of the sea, strictly personal by Bob Hunter in reality, is that might is tight. 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