jay_merrill
Vice Admiral
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2007
- Messages
- 5,653
Today was an interesting day because I experienced a set of circumstances that is about as representative of what life is - a bit of the good and a bit of the bad - as can be.
I started out with a late afternoon trip in my boat with a young friend and her little boy, who is five. Like a lot of young people, the mom struggles financially and isn't able to do many things with her son that she would like to. I invited them for an afternoon in the boat, mixed with a little fishing. After getting everyone in PFDs and settled into the boat, we cruised down a local bayou to a protected area of a good sized lake to fish. I put little man on my lap and let him drive the boat along with me. While fishing, we didn't do well but did hook a skate just as we were about to go back to the launch. So, this child went for his first boat ride, got to "drive" the boat and experienced what it is like to catch a fish. I'm not sure who was beaming more - the child or the momma, while she watched her son do all of these things.
I timed our arrival back at the launch so that we could maximize the afternoon but still be at the dock before dark. We had the boat tied up and ready to be retrieved right at dusk. As we walked off of the dock to the parking lot, a guy of about 35 was pulling away from an adjacent launch on a jet ski with a child of about three years with him. They did have PFDs on but the first thing this fool did was to "gun" the jet ski right from the dock, through the entire no wake zone, to the adjacent bayou. As I left the area shaking my head, he disappeared around the first bend. At the parking lot, I spent a couple of minutes talking to my young friend and her child, before she went on her way in her own car. I then pulled my rig around to the launch to retrieve my boat.
By this time, it was dark. Just about as I was floating my boat onto the trailer, "mr. jetski" showed up again and proceeded to do a series of 360 degree turns about 5 feet off of the dock where his wife was sitting in a lawn chair, blabbing with someone on a cell phone. These were not gentle, wide tirns - the jetski was heeled at about 60 degrees and the turn radius was very tight. One slip, one badly taken wave from the previous turns or a simple mechanical malfunction, could have resulted in father and child slamming into the end of the dock.
Here are the Louisiana laws that I am sure this person was in violation of:
- Operating a PWC between the hours of sunset and sunrise.
- Operation of a vessel between the hours of sunset and sunrise with no navigation lights
- Reckless operation
- Careless operation
- Violation of "no wake zone" regulations
- Violation of launch ramp regulations
I would also hazard a guess that both parents would have been dealt with by the Department of Social Services' child protection division, had DSS been called. At a minimum, they would have probably made both go to parenting classes.
As I pulled out of the ramp area to the tiedown area, the dad was still at it but had at least left the immediate area of the ramps/docks. I think that happened only because I yelled at him. As I tied my boat down and took care of other chores, I debated with myself as to whether or not I should stop at the front gate of the state park to notify the Warden of what was happening. I confess - I "inhale" at minding my own business sometimes so the debate was all of about 30 seconds long. I guess what really got me in regard to this situation was the blatant endangerment of this child. The person manning the Warden's office did make an immediate radio call to dispatch a Warden to the ramp, so I believe action was taken. It is my sincere hope that this idiot received multiple citations and a stern lecture about making better decisions in regard to his child.
About a week ago, I finished up an eight day SAR mission in which we pulled the bloated, unrecognizable bodies of a 16 year old and an 18 year old out of Lake Ponchartrain. My sentence to the dad in today's case would include making him look at photos of these bodies, so he can get a first hand view of just what the result of bad decision making can be.
I started out with a late afternoon trip in my boat with a young friend and her little boy, who is five. Like a lot of young people, the mom struggles financially and isn't able to do many things with her son that she would like to. I invited them for an afternoon in the boat, mixed with a little fishing. After getting everyone in PFDs and settled into the boat, we cruised down a local bayou to a protected area of a good sized lake to fish. I put little man on my lap and let him drive the boat along with me. While fishing, we didn't do well but did hook a skate just as we were about to go back to the launch. So, this child went for his first boat ride, got to "drive" the boat and experienced what it is like to catch a fish. I'm not sure who was beaming more - the child or the momma, while she watched her son do all of these things.
I timed our arrival back at the launch so that we could maximize the afternoon but still be at the dock before dark. We had the boat tied up and ready to be retrieved right at dusk. As we walked off of the dock to the parking lot, a guy of about 35 was pulling away from an adjacent launch on a jet ski with a child of about three years with him. They did have PFDs on but the first thing this fool did was to "gun" the jet ski right from the dock, through the entire no wake zone, to the adjacent bayou. As I left the area shaking my head, he disappeared around the first bend. At the parking lot, I spent a couple of minutes talking to my young friend and her child, before she went on her way in her own car. I then pulled my rig around to the launch to retrieve my boat.
By this time, it was dark. Just about as I was floating my boat onto the trailer, "mr. jetski" showed up again and proceeded to do a series of 360 degree turns about 5 feet off of the dock where his wife was sitting in a lawn chair, blabbing with someone on a cell phone. These were not gentle, wide tirns - the jetski was heeled at about 60 degrees and the turn radius was very tight. One slip, one badly taken wave from the previous turns or a simple mechanical malfunction, could have resulted in father and child slamming into the end of the dock.
Here are the Louisiana laws that I am sure this person was in violation of:
- Operating a PWC between the hours of sunset and sunrise.
- Operation of a vessel between the hours of sunset and sunrise with no navigation lights
- Reckless operation
- Careless operation
- Violation of "no wake zone" regulations
- Violation of launch ramp regulations
I would also hazard a guess that both parents would have been dealt with by the Department of Social Services' child protection division, had DSS been called. At a minimum, they would have probably made both go to parenting classes.
As I pulled out of the ramp area to the tiedown area, the dad was still at it but had at least left the immediate area of the ramps/docks. I think that happened only because I yelled at him. As I tied my boat down and took care of other chores, I debated with myself as to whether or not I should stop at the front gate of the state park to notify the Warden of what was happening. I confess - I "inhale" at minding my own business sometimes so the debate was all of about 30 seconds long. I guess what really got me in regard to this situation was the blatant endangerment of this child. The person manning the Warden's office did make an immediate radio call to dispatch a Warden to the ramp, so I believe action was taken. It is my sincere hope that this idiot received multiple citations and a stern lecture about making better decisions in regard to his child.
About a week ago, I finished up an eight day SAR mission in which we pulled the bloated, unrecognizable bodies of a 16 year old and an 18 year old out of Lake Ponchartrain. My sentence to the dad in today's case would include making him look at photos of these bodies, so he can get a first hand view of just what the result of bad decision making can be.
