Things that go BUMP!
December 2025

We read about the New York city Ferry that ran over 10 kayakers in the Hudson River on August 30. And the kayaker that was run over and killed by a jet ski on Grapevine Lake on May 28.

Kayakers being recovered after being run over by a ferry.

So, while we worry about alligators, and snakes, and wasp nests and infections, strainers and sweepers, and low-head dams, and all the things, we probably need to be more aware of the BOATS that are around us, as being more dangerous.

When I was learning to drive, my instructor taught us about the rules of the road: who goes first at an intersection, who has the right of way when roads meet and that stuff, but then he repeated several times, that “No matter WHO has the “right of way,” it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY, to avoid any accident, if you can. It doesn’t matter who has the “right of way” if somebody ends up injured or dead.”
.

Same with kayaking. Of course, as the slowest possible boat in the area, we, as kayakers, usually have the “right of way.” Any motorized vessel, or sailing vessel is assumed to be able to maneuver faster and better than a kayak. But that is NOT ALWAYS THE CASE. Barges and ferries take a L.O.N.G time and distance to change their course or stop. In many cases, they must travel in the deepest channel, and CAN’T deviate or move aside to avoid us. And a jet ski traveling at 50 knots, cannot see a kayak in time to change course. I was paddling a canoe on Lake Michigan when a cross lake ferry came by on its routine path from Muskegon to Milwaukee, and it didn't stop, or slow down, or deviate from its course. We almost got swamped. 

You can usually hear a jet ski from a distance, but I’ve been kayaking on the Texas Intracoastal, and heard some faint splashing behind me and when I turned to look, SHOCKED to discover A BARGE RIGHT BEHIND ME.
.

RIGHT.
.

BEHIND.
.

ME.
.

Freaking close. And I was barely able to get out of the way. The pilot didn’t see me. And probably couldn't have left the channel he was in, if he had seen me.

That seems to be the case with the ferry on the Hudson River in New York. They are investigating to see if the Sun was in the eyes of the pilot, but even without the Sun, a ferry pilot may not have seen the group of kayakers.

In any case, we as kayakers need to be much more aware of other boats around us, as dangers equally as dangerous as alligators, undercut rocks, low-head dams, and such.
Maybe we need to think about displaying flags, much as bicycle flags. Maybe they might need to be aluminized radar reflectors, if we are paddling in busy commercial waters, such as around Galveston Island, or the Hudson River near New York City.

We are RESPONSIBLE FOR AVOIDING COLLISIONS, if at all possible. No matter who has “the right of way.”

Stay safe out there!

See You On The Water

Harmon