Text 11544, 85 rader
Skriven 2005-04-15 06:19:00 av TIM RICHARDSON (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av JOHN HULL
Ärende: Re: Off to the Wilderness
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On 04-14-05, JOHN HULL said to VERN HUMPHREY:

JH>14 Apr 05 16:14, VERN HUMPHREY wrote to JOHN HULL:


JH>> VH> I'll have to adopt Blondy Hassler's philosophy -- yachts
JH>> VH> shouldn't carry transmitters, "Because we go to sea voluntarily
JH>> VH> and have no right to ask someone else to risk his life to
JH>> VH> rescue us."


JH>>The law of the sea, however, says that you shall render assistance
JH>>to any vessel in peril as long as it doesn't endanger your own
JH>>vessel.  That's the primary reason all ships are required to have
JH>>emergency radio gear, beacons, flares, etc.


VH> But Blondy says those who go for pleasure should forego asking for
VH> rescue.  He has a point.


JH>Crap.  If somebody goes out on a pleasure boat without the proper mandated
JH>equipment for that  class of vessel, then he's a damn fool, and when they
JH>get him back to port they should lower the boom on him, hard.  But not
JH>render assistance?  Stupidity is not a reason to refuse a rescue, and that
JH>doesn't take into account those who get into trouble who have done
JH>everything right. What the hell is up with you lately?  You been buckin'
JH>like a fractious colt with a burr under his saddle.


Have you ever been out on the deep blue ocean? The ocean is `vast', and
dangerous.


Its dangerous even for very large ships, civilian `or' military. A lot of
things can happen way out there in the middle of the ocean, a thousand or more
miles from any land.


A person who sets out in a sail boat under a certain size, 80 or 100 feet, is
not a person who is using good sense. To take out on the ocean in a 15 or 20
foot sail boat, with the intent of sailing around the world, is not exactly a
sensible thing to do.


A sail from here, the San Diego area, out to Catalina Island in a boat that
small is one thing. Its not all that far, and you can summon help pretty
easily if you need it. But it isn't something an amateur sailor should try.

The ocean is a dangerous place, the same as a desert is. People who set out on
the ocean in small craft are throwing caution to the winds, and need to
understand they are responsible for their own safety. They need to realize
that rescue is not always a very quick option, given the vast distances.


If a few of them were made to repay the costs of diverting a military war ship
from its course to find and rescue them (which could easily run into
millions!), fewer fools would be apt to throw themselves on the mercy of
the elements, just because `its never been done'!


A `rescue at sea' during a harsh weather pattern (like a typhoon or hurricane
at sea), is as dangerous for those doing the rescue, as for the one being
rescued.


If one of the rescuers loses their life, or there is property damage or loss
directly due to the rescue, the person being rescued should be held
accountable for the damage\loss, and in the case of a death, should be
criminally prosecuted.


That might greatly cut down on the need for diverting U.S. war ships and
aircraft from more important duties, to go and find some idiot in shorts and
sandals, who set out in a 20 footer, intending to sail to New Zealand, or to
Vladivostok.


It ain't good sense. They should be taken into custody at the outset, and kept
`under observation' for a time to determine their sanity.


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