I really don't know how to respond. This is what some idiot named
"Caustic" has posted in the US wrt to the NSR swampings and the
discussion it prompted:

"Just this morning at practice, one of our master's men's 4s swamped.
So, keep that in mind when I write this.

Rowing deaths are by far the exception. Over the last 100 years of
rowing, with hundreds of thousands of rowers, the actual deaths
attributed to rowing are less than 200. That's over a CENTURY of
rowing. The odds of dying from a rowing incident are less than being
struck by lightning. Rowing is safer than driving your car, flying an
airplane, and even chewing gum!

With that in mind, is it really worth it to increase the safety of the
boats? What would be next? Quick-release oarlocks? Ejection seats?
What defines reasonable or unreasonable risk?

My opinion is that bouyancy is nice, but not required. You can only
stupid-proof things so much, and I think boatmakers don't do it
because they could actually run the risk of INCREASED litigation, by
leading the rowers to think that their boat is a viable flotation
device. It is not, and has never been recognized as such by the USCG.

RoCoach@gmail.com wrote:

< juvenile garbage snipped>

That's an arrogant, know-nothing fool who:

So, I hear about swampings because kids' coaches were stupid. Should
we not allow coaches for kids? After all, it was THEIR fault that they
went out in those conditions. Be smart enough to understand that
liability rests with teh person, not the object. If anyone should be
sued, it should be the coach.

As for fatalities, There's been less than 20 in the last 20 years. How
many MILLIONS of people have rowed or are rowing in the last 20 years?
At least 1 million in the US.

Talk to ANY safty expert out there, and they'd drool if they had a
99.99999%% success rate. Stop trying to fearmonger and invent reasons
for parents to shelter their kids more.

You act like deaths happen every day in rowing - but they do not. They
don't even happen every YEAR in rowing. More people die from cycling
in a year than rowing - should be put governors on cycle wheels, so
that they don't go to fast? Should we pass a law requiring all
bicycles to have training wheels on at all times? Should we pass a law
requiring all cyclists to have taken a bicycling course & pass a
cycling test?

On May 29, 12:41 pm, RoCo...@gmail.com wrote:

"Caustic" continues to sound-off:

"So, I hear about swampings because kids' coaches were stupid. Should
we not allow coaches for kids? After all, it was THEIR fault that they
went out in those conditions. Be smart enough to understand that
liability rests with teh person, not the object. If anyone should be
sued, it should be the coach.

As for fatalities, There's been less than 20 in the last 20 years. How
many MILLIONS of people have rowed or are rowing in the last 20 years?
At least 1 million in the US.

Talk to ANY safty expert out there, and they'd drool if they had a
99.99999%% success rate. Stop trying to fearmonger and invent reasons
for parents to shelter their kids more.

You act like deaths happen every day in rowing - but they do not. They
don't even happen every YEAR in rowing. More people die from cycling
in a year than rowing - should be put governors on cycle wheels, so
that they don't go to fast? Should we pass a law requiring all
bicycles to have training wheels on at all times? Should we pass a law
requiring all cyclists to have taken a bicycling course & pass a
cycling test?

On May 29, 12:10 pm, Carl Douglas carldouglas.co.uk> wrote:

Mike -

The summer before last at OWRC I arrived one morning to find a kid all
fitted out an ready to go. His shell was at the dock. The sculls were in the
oarlocks. Ellen asked if I would mind going out with him. That's how I found
out that it is in OWRC's rules that no one under 18 years is allowed to go
out by themselves. Immediately I said yes, and we had a good time.

You can drive up the road a few miles to the Marin Rowing Club where the
water is much nicer. There they let kids go out by themselves.

Charles

On May 29, 7:26 pm, RoCo...@gmail.com wrote:

hmmmm, let us ask a boatbuilder to see if he is prepared to make fully-...