[Woodsy]

Originally Posted by Mee-n-Mac

I for one think this proposal is consistent with ... well .... that other thing. I mean if kayaks can get cut in half then what does that say about the poor swimmer's chances ? I think they haven't gone far enough. If you're swimming at night you must display a white all around beacon, visible for 2 miles. If we require it of boaters why not swimmers ? Getting back to the daytime issue ... what with all the drunk, crazed boaters I've heard about and how the 150' rule is useless, I'm not sure anyone should be allowed to swim out past 150' ... or even 50' ... or at all. Perhaps if people had a personal water jet spout, like some of the PWCs have, then it might be OK. Perhaps they'd be seen but imagine a boat going 44.9 MPH in 3ft waves and with the blinding Sun's glare in their windblown watery redshot eyes. Will these boaters even see that red or yellow or dayglow green cap ?????????????

Sure, sure this swimming thing was fun in it's time but time has moved on and we must also. Safety is the only thing that matters now*. Even if we settle for this compromise bill (it still allows such "swimming") then the cap is just a small compromise that's needed for safety. Even if we haven't had someone runover on Winni, I'm sure I could Google someplace across the entire USA that has in the last 2 decades. And even if the cap isn't a guaranteed cure-all then certainly more visible is more saferer ! Why people are fighting this I'll just never understand. Why if I ever swam in the lake, I'd certainly wear such a cap !

I don't want to hear any mumbling on how this interferes with personal rights or freedoms or whatnot from the offshore swimmers. If the State can make you wear a bathing suit via law then they can make you wear a hi-visibility (w/optional white light) swimming cap ! If you want to swim that far offshore then the ocean is only some miles away !! Take your reckless, mindless "swimming" to someplace where I won't have to see it.

*And do we want the MP spending it's limited resources investigating accidents and filing charges and not to mention doing recovery efforts ? I don't think so. Let's be proactive and help them out !!!! It's not an added duty, it's less paperwork !

Well put!! Your freaking killing me!