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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Grainne who wrote (24051)	8/4/1998 3:56:00 AM
From: Dayuhan	Respond to of 108807

Christine, I don't really qualify as a "leftie" (not in my own eyes, anyway), but I'm on your side on the "personal watercraft" issue. Not for safety reasons, though. I actually have several personal watercraft, all of them kayaks. Now both whitewater and sea kayaking pose inherent risks, and people are killed and injured every year. Most deaths and injuries could be avoided with more care and better training (same, I'm sure, is true of jetskis), but they do happen. I don't think for a moment that kayaking should be regulated by the Government. It's not their job to tell me what risks to take, or to protect me from the consequences of my own actions. I do think jetskis, along with such earshattering monstrosities as snowmobiles and trailbikes, should be regulated, especially in national/state parks and other public lands. These areas are set aside for people to enjoy. For many, probably most, of the users, the sounds of nature are integral parts of this enjoyment. While we all have the theoretical right to enjoy in our own way, that right is constrained by a responsibility to respect the enjoyment of others. You can carry a huge portable stereo down a city street blasting the music of your choice, but nobody civilized would do it in a concert hall or movie theater. I'm tempted to say that nobody civilized would ride a jetski, but that would be prejudice. But there is an inherent difference between riding a horse, a kayak, or a pair of skis, and riding a trailbike, a jetski, or a snowmobile. One disturbs others, the other doesn't. For anyone who thinks a jetski ride is a thrill, try a kayak ride through heavy surf. That's a thrill. Steve