Chris771
Well-Known Member
Re: lifeboat services
There are a few inaccurate suppositions contained in your previous post. I certainly do not tow people "looking for financial reward" I earn a perfectly adequate amount of money and have no need of any reward. In most instances if I were offered a reward I would probably not take it unless it were a small token gesture like a couple of beers or a bottle of wine.
Secondly I certainly do not drink to excess when boating, so "alcohol fuelled" is far from the truth.
Neither do I get bored when zooming around in my boat. I believe on the occasion in question I was returning from a weekend at Walney Island and had just completed a 60 mile passage. Most times I go boating I purposefully go somewhere.
The Ribble is a wide river without any speed restrictions until inside Preston Dock.
As it was a Monday there were very few other craft around.
As I also stated the only people who really insisted I accepted payment were probably the least able to afford it, said money was immediately donated to charitable Trust, I accepted the donation to please them, not me. The mere fact that they had offered was more than enough reward.
It just seems that "raggies" are always the ones who make a point of ignoring powerboaters. Whenever I have waved or put my hand up to a powerboater it has always been reciprocated in a friendly manner.
My (admittedly childish) behaviour was purely reactive behaviour to a pompous arrogant buffoon who obviously delighted in belittling powerboaters. If you gave someone a friendly wave and they just stared straight through you, on several occasions to put you down, would you not have any negative feelings? At the very least having insulted said person over a period of time, would you have the gall to expect them to help you? I would certainly not have the gall to do that.
I really enjoy my boating and would like everyone else to do the same. I have no wish for a great divide between sail and power. Most raggies are quite friendly and it is reciprocated, however there are always exceptions. I am sure we have all seen the classic approach to motorway cones, 98% of us merge down to 2 lanes in an orderly and courteous manner, the other 2 just press on in the outside lane till the last moment then attempt to force their way in front of you as if it were their absolute right to do so.
Rightly or wrongly, I have little tolerance of such behaviour. If I am in a traffic and someone is trying to get out of a side turning, I will always let them out if it is safe to do so. However, if they are one of the types who simply ignore you and try and force their way out, then I do not stop.
So I do not think that you have outed me from anything except intolerance of ignorant pompous or arrogant behaviour.
A few years ago I was passing through LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) enroute to New Zealand and there was a lady in her twenties with 2 tired young children ahead of me in the Transit Immigration queue. She had not completed the I95 card correctly and the arrogant (male) Immigration Clerk took delight in reducing her to tears. I just saw red and leapt to her defence "had fun ass**le? Easy to pick on a woman with children isn't it?" At which point he lost interest in her and had me arrested and marched off to airport police, fortunately I had a witness to the fact that he had reduced her to tears by abusive misuse of his authority and had an audience with the Chief Immigration Duty Officer. He asked me if I wanted an apology, I told him that I didn't, but insisted that the lady should get one. Probably not the most sensible thing to have done, but I felt that some sort of justice had prevailed and hoped that I may have saved some other poor lady from similar treatment in the future. The ass**le soon lost his nerve when it came to dealing with me, the soft target was obviously his preference, not a large man willing to give as good as he was getting.
I suppose that you have probably identified my greatest fault, I just do not like ass**les, so for that I thank you David. Most people are either more tolerant or intimidated by them, whereas to me it just seems to be a red rag.. ;-))
There are a few inaccurate suppositions contained in your previous post. I certainly do not tow people "looking for financial reward" I earn a perfectly adequate amount of money and have no need of any reward. In most instances if I were offered a reward I would probably not take it unless it were a small token gesture like a couple of beers or a bottle of wine.
Secondly I certainly do not drink to excess when boating, so "alcohol fuelled" is far from the truth.
Neither do I get bored when zooming around in my boat. I believe on the occasion in question I was returning from a weekend at Walney Island and had just completed a 60 mile passage. Most times I go boating I purposefully go somewhere.
The Ribble is a wide river without any speed restrictions until inside Preston Dock.
As it was a Monday there were very few other craft around.
As I also stated the only people who really insisted I accepted payment were probably the least able to afford it, said money was immediately donated to charitable Trust, I accepted the donation to please them, not me. The mere fact that they had offered was more than enough reward.
It just seems that "raggies" are always the ones who make a point of ignoring powerboaters. Whenever I have waved or put my hand up to a powerboater it has always been reciprocated in a friendly manner.
My (admittedly childish) behaviour was purely reactive behaviour to a pompous arrogant buffoon who obviously delighted in belittling powerboaters. If you gave someone a friendly wave and they just stared straight through you, on several occasions to put you down, would you not have any negative feelings? At the very least having insulted said person over a period of time, would you have the gall to expect them to help you? I would certainly not have the gall to do that.
I really enjoy my boating and would like everyone else to do the same. I have no wish for a great divide between sail and power. Most raggies are quite friendly and it is reciprocated, however there are always exceptions. I am sure we have all seen the classic approach to motorway cones, 98% of us merge down to 2 lanes in an orderly and courteous manner, the other 2 just press on in the outside lane till the last moment then attempt to force their way in front of you as if it were their absolute right to do so.
Rightly or wrongly, I have little tolerance of such behaviour. If I am in a traffic and someone is trying to get out of a side turning, I will always let them out if it is safe to do so. However, if they are one of the types who simply ignore you and try and force their way out, then I do not stop.
So I do not think that you have outed me from anything except intolerance of ignorant pompous or arrogant behaviour.
A few years ago I was passing through LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) enroute to New Zealand and there was a lady in her twenties with 2 tired young children ahead of me in the Transit Immigration queue. She had not completed the I95 card correctly and the arrogant (male) Immigration Clerk took delight in reducing her to tears. I just saw red and leapt to her defence "had fun ass**le? Easy to pick on a woman with children isn't it?" At which point he lost interest in her and had me arrested and marched off to airport police, fortunately I had a witness to the fact that he had reduced her to tears by abusive misuse of his authority and had an audience with the Chief Immigration Duty Officer. He asked me if I wanted an apology, I told him that I didn't, but insisted that the lady should get one. Probably not the most sensible thing to have done, but I felt that some sort of justice had prevailed and hoped that I may have saved some other poor lady from similar treatment in the future. The ass**le soon lost his nerve when it came to dealing with me, the soft target was obviously his preference, not a large man willing to give as good as he was getting.
I suppose that you have probably identified my greatest fault, I just do not like ass**les, so for that I thank you David. Most people are either more tolerant or intimidated by them, whereas to me it just seems to be a red rag.. ;-))
