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Sea Kayak Trips Bulletin Board
Re:I'm a macho,macho man
Posted By: lee In Response To: Macho babysitter's club (Shawn Baker)
Date: Monday, 4 October 1999, at 1:01 p.m.
> You know, the more I think about the original thread: I'm not so sure a
> lawsuit wouldn't be in order. I don't think any monetary damages would be
> in order for a former client who wasn't injured, but the guide does need a
> wake-up call as to how negligent they were.Beat this dead horse lee... whip it good
so i'm going down to the boat house for a private lesson this morning recovering from crt eyeballitis and 8 hrs of lessons yesterday. Figuring the person probably cancelled due to the rain and wind and we can reschedule. After phone call and pleasantries with the nice voice on the end of the phone,,,"well maybe next year when the weather warms up.." me-" no problem , your judgement is right on, although the area is protected it would be a very wet and chilly 4 hrs., ..." close up the shop and there's a smiling person about to ask directions. We're chatting about the weather and boats (she's off a sailboat anchored in the creek, down from Ontario). I give her a ride up to the shopping center for provisions. The conversation drifts from boatbuilding to the topic of liability so I mention this board and my particularly thin skin on the issue. She is french canadian and her husband german, she immmediately mentions the legendary mcdonalds coffee suit, but more to the point is her experience in insuring her boat for travels through the US. The premium for $2 million dollars worth of liability for the rest of their travels in other waters buys them $500,000 liability coverage here in the USA.
The stick up my spine has to do with flaming someones business in this forum when none of us know the particulars. It serves no constructive purpose when directed towards CLC or Pygmy and won't with some unknown guide. Pete's off the cuff comment about lawsuit would make sense were he to tell how he had been misled in a similar context.
Others may have benefited because they may not have considered that a guide may not be what he purports to be. For me this is a neccessary reminder of the legal issues that factor into grown-up play.
ok,ok more stories.....last year coming back to the creek there are people,some in emt suits on the dock hovering around a skiff tied up. People on the dock are waving frantically at powerboats to slowwww way down. I'm leading a group of paddlers back from an excellent lesson, bird watching and little <1ft. waves. Theres a man in the skiff with his jet-ski tied up to the skiff, he has a big fracture of his femur, boys in the skiff found him out from shore,they didn't have a radio so they brought him in the skiff and to the dock. For 45 minutes it took for the emts to transfer him to a litter, 45 minutes of moaning, I would have thought the guy would have blacked out at some point. Nope, just wailed at 3-5 minute intervals as the ambulance guys tried to position his bone. ouch
no there's more,,stop him.......
After collecting $5 that will make us all rich beyond our wildest dreams, a fit strapping 30 year old dude rents a sit on top signs the "waiver, not worth the paper its printed on" that says where he may paddle he is handed a paddle and pfd and TOLD WHERE HE MAY PADDLE AND NOT PADDLE AND WHERE THE DEMARCATION IS, I find him leading his friends on a sit on double with kid on board out past that 6mph marker into the entrance where 40ft. motorcruisers kick up 3 ft. wakes.
I ask my group that is about to practice rescues the next cove over to hang here for just a moment as I need to inform this person that they are in a dangerous place. I paddle 60 ft away from my group that is safely out of the entrance and say to this guy,"excuse me, those are rental boats aren't they?" response from the dude "yeah" , me-"the waiver you signed said that you need to stay inside the creek, it's too busy out here" waves bouncing around , boats babes and beer, it's the end of summer, lifes good. "Well, where's the creek end and the river begin, huh? " me-"see that 6knot buoy at the entrance of the creek (100yds wide) that you came out of? See that big body of water that you're heading out to? (3/4 mile crossing,with occasional 40 ft speedboats exceeding the 35kt speed limit by 30kts.) dude- "oh, well you know it's hard to tell" Yeah right, _ _ _ _ for brains
He really wasn't going to lead his friend and kid into a boat, and if they dumped they probably wouldn't have had a hard time getting back on. But the thing that gets me is a hundred yards back there's some one else about to just go out and check it out. His mistake could truly be honest. And he could truly be competent to handle himself and his friend. And I may push some people the wrong way in this forum. But for that $5 this semper-fi guy is exposing all of us to needless worry. The owner of the $300,000 motor yacht has basis to sue us for the death of the paddler,the paddlers family has a basis to sue us because x,y,z of facts for the case, the sailboater that got his gelcoat scratched has basis because he got grounded avoiding the motoryacht, ad infinitum. And sure if this hypothetical case gets thrown out for lack of basis (as I have seen in a real situation) the consequences for the small business are very burdensome, emotionallly and financially. And truly one could make as many hypotheticals about me leading my little group astray. But in my experience,,,,yours may be different Pete,,, these are the kinds circumstances that lead to the tragic consequences. I can site one instance in 10 yrs of paddling where a trip for pay was run negligently, thankfully no injuries resulted. I can run on ,"lord stop him please" with anecdotes about my poor judgement in the past,,,and those around me pushing the envelope. So my gross generalization about assumption of risk still stands, the paddle is in your hands, one may construe that to mean anything i suppose. I would prefer to see that inside the kayak, easier to read.
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