"Wolfgang" wrote in message
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"riverman" wrote in message
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"Wolfgang" wrote in message
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I don't doubt that some sort of legal action might be undertaken
successfully against the manufacturers and/or whoever else may be
responsible for portraying such an activity as being safe. Frankly, I
don't
have much of a problem with it either. But it does raise some
interesting
ethical and common sense issues. Just how much responsibility should
manufacturers or promoters of products and activities that are
inherently
unsafe, to one degree or another, assume? Does anyone really believe
that
adults need to be warned about the risks associated with sky diving,
smoking, hot coffee, pyrotechnics, running across flaming coals,
wading
in
streams, guns, electricity, hypothermia, or a virtually endless list
of
other hazards?

I agree with your assessment, except for one important detail. SeaEagle
in
particular specifically advertised that their boats were so safe that
you
could stand up in them and fish without fear of falling overboard. Its
one
thing to assume that the public knows more than it does. Its another to
actually misrepresent something to enhance sales. If they merely showed
the
pictures and said nothing about it, that would be a different matter.
This
is probably the difference between the two advertisements.

Yep, that IS an important detail. And, as I said, I don't have a problem
with your family suing the manufacturers of the boat. Nor, for that
matter,
do I have any illusions about what my opinions on the matter should be
worth
to you. However, callous as it may sound under the circumstances, if I
were
afraid of water and a poor swimmer I don't think I would have put their
claims to the test. For anyone with a personal connection to this event,
even a connection as tenuous as a cyber friendship, it is of course a
tragedy, one of countless such tragedies that occur all over the world
every
day. Obviously, the vast majority of us have no connection whatsoever
(beyond a shared humanity) with most such events. When we ARE connected,
I
think it is instructive to ponder on how we react to similar situations
when
we are not.

Well and delicately worded, Wolfie, and for the record, (strange as it
seems), your opinions actually do matter to me. And my family and I decided
not to sue the manufacturer because of your specific reasons: dad had a
large responsibility to be accountable for himself. If I didn't have so much
experience in boats, I might not be so acutely aware of the share of
responsiblity that he had.

I contacted the owner directly, and got him to promise to make changes to
his website: all passengers in rapidly moving boats must have PFDs on, all
children in any boats must have PFDs on, no fishermen are standing and
casting in small boats unless the boat is grounded, and a large safety
message is linked to his page outlining that self-responsibility boatowners
have. He adhered to our agreement for about a year, then slowly started
slipping the old pictures back in....

--riverman