Jet Skis have their place

I never thought it would happen to me. You know, that old rambling man in some surfing magazine talking about the smell, noise and disruption that a jet ski produces in the line up. Blah blah blah, ban them all, blah blah blah, they don't belong here, blah blah blah.

Well, I'm pretty disappointed in a couple of my neighbors of late, towing through me and my guests while we paddle surf. I won't name names and I won't point fingers, because at the end of the day anybody who knows me and knows my neighbors will know who I'm talking about. What it boils down to at the end of the day is a lack of "civilized" norms for us to fall back on. There is no law out here to keep people in check. People come and go and engage in any kind of activity that they want to without concern that they might get pulled up, or ticketed, or jailed. I repeat, THERE IS NO LAW IN THE MENTAWAIS.

AMENDMENTS TO CHAPTERS 13-250 AND 13-256 HAWAII ADMINISTRATIVE RULES REGARDING PWCs
(g) When operating a thrill craft for tow-in surfing, all operators shall:…

4) Yield right of way to all other boating or ocean recreation activities by leaving the same surfing break area and remaining a minimum of one thousand feet (300 meters) from the other activities.
If you missed it that is a PERIOD on the end of the sentence.

Even more alarming, even if there was a law, justice is only relative to how much money you have and can throw at your enforcer. As a repeat crook developer in these islands once told me, "this is Indonesia, we can do what we want". This was while he produced evidence that somebody was hacking into my post-office based email account and printing out copies for him of my private correspondence with friends!

So with a blank chalkboard to write on, we have an opporunity to make the law what we want it to be. I'm no lawyer or legislator, but these are the kinds of things I have to think about as a pioneering developer of a resort in the middle of nowhere. Is it OK to have somebody towing on top of my guests while they are paddle surfing 5ft. waves? Nowhere else in the world this is acceptable behaviour, so why are the Mentawais any different? As far as I'm concerned, rules elsewhere were written for a reason, chief amongst them SAFETY. I would be interested in reading anybody else's opinion on this matter, so please post away to give me feedback. Thanks, C~