: An unfortunate story. A kayaker in a wooden boat was hit by a speed
: boat this morning where I live in Kelowna BC.

I think it is important to remember that it is the law just about everywhere that "Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper lookout by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision." What this means is that if there is a boat collision there is only one reason: the operator of the boat was not maintaining "proper lookout". "Proper lookout" is defined as whatever is required to avoid a collision.

As a kayaker, the defense that I saw him but he didn't see me, will not repair broken bones, sew up propeller sliced flesh or bring you back to life, so what do we learn from this? After talking to boat operators and watching how people behave on power and sail boats, I have come to the conclusion that the boat operators are just not watching where they are going.

If the powerboat coming your way is not maintaining proper lookout, i.e. they are not looking, there is nothing you can do to make them look. Bright, visible colors , up high, will give a some-what attentive helmsman a little more opportunity to see you, but a large number of boaters are talking to their buddy, getting a beer out of a cooler, pulling in a lobster pot, watching a water skier, keeping on the windward rail to make their sailboat race faster, checking to see if their girlfriend is witnessing how studly they really are, or are otherwise occupied. Beyond the inattentive operators, there are also malicious boat operators, who think it is pretty hilarious to scare the loser kayaker. Finally there are also boats that due to size, displacement or other circumstances may not be able to avoid you even if they saw you and really cared about your life.

The lesson for the kayaker is to assume that nobody ever sees you, and that of those that do, a certain number have evil intent. You must "maintain a proper lookout", constantly look around you to see if there are any boats coming your way. Pay attention to the surrounding waters and try to anticipate where boaters may go in the future. Observe navigational channel markers to help predict future behavior and then assume that the other boats are either too stupid to know where the channel is, or know more about the area than you do and may ignore the channel for a well-used short-cut.

In all situations the "tonnage rule" applies. If it out weighs you, stay out of its way.