Ridiculous boating antics

I suspect the story about a boater hitting the rocks may have been a tourist without a boat licence.

Reading it made me mad about another incident I saw first-hand at the city docks in Kelowna. We were sitting in our docked boat by the gas pumps when a rental boat came in way above wake speed. It flew past the little round BBQ boat, almost upsetting it while the driver was happily waving at what appeared to be his friends.

Full of family and young children, the boat sped towards the gas pump, terrifying friends of ours who were refuelling, and coming within six feet of colliding with a parked boat. The dock employees started yelling at the driver, who didn’t seem to understand the concern.

It was then that I noticed one of the employees running full speed towards the end of the dock. He literally risked his life as he jumped fully clothed right off the end of the dock and landed inside the back of the boat. He then wrestled control from the driver, who sheepishly sat back and let the employee dock the boat.

I am not fully supporting those boat licences we had to get a few years back, they do not speak to a driver's abilities. But this person clearly didn’t know about Canadian law, B.C. law or common sense – and he didn't have a licence. 

The young man who dove into the boat should never have been put in that situation.

The government allows people to rent boats who do not have a boating licence. At the same time, making all of us have one. Why they allow this is beyond me.

And this isn’t the first time I have witnessed this lack of common sense from visitors.

Enough is enough!

Bill Ferguson, Kelowna