The tricycle and the truck – a modern day fable
by Lee Tepley
Feel free to forward
First – the tricycle: You are strolling down the sidewalk. You are hit by a tricycle. Does it hurt?? –
Next – the truck: You are crossing the street. You are hit by a large fast moving truck. Does it hurt??
So does it really make any difference whether you get hit by a truck or by a tricycle?? Either way it hurts.
So what does the above have to do with my current obsession with the Superferry?? In a private conversation some time ago Terry O’Halloran commented something like “Why are you always picking on the Superferry?? After all, last year whales in Hawaiian waters were hit 6 times by small boats.” Terry was correct but I had my comeback ready. “But none of the whales were killed. They got cut up but they all swam away. But if they had been hit by the Superferry, they might have all been killed”.
That ended the conversation. I think Terry understood my point.
But later, at a public meeting at Kawaihae, Terry again pointed out that small boats had hit 6 whales in 2006 in Hawaiian waters. I stood up and again pointed out the great difference between a whale being hit by a small boat and by the Superferry. Terry did not reply. No one in the audience seemed interested either.
So is Terry so dumb that he really does not understand that there is a great difference in a whale-strike from the Superferry and from a small boat?? I don’t think so. I think Terry is a pretty smart guy. He might even be smart enough to know that many people may not give the difference much thought. After all, in the recent legislative hearing to reduce the court system to impotency, I recall a legislator (I can’t remember his name) commenting that we should not worry if the Superferry were to hit an occasional whale since small boats hit them every now and again.
But at the risk of being repetitive, I would like to point out that small boats rarely kill whales. They mostly have shallow drafts –often 2 feet or less. So when a small boat hits a big whale, it will often ride up on the whale’s back and cut it with it’s propeller. The whale will often bleed, swim away and appear later with a series of propeller scars. In contrast, the Superferry’s draft is 12 – 14 ft. At even a moderate speed (like above 13 knots), one of the sharp pontoons will slice into the whale and usually kill it.
This is not to say that I approve of small boats hitting whales – even if the whales rarely die. But it is more like being hit by a tricycle than by a large fast moving truck. And injuries to whales by small boat collisions could almost be eliminated by requiring all small boats to install propeller guards. I wrote a letter to a Honolulu newspaper last year suggesting propeller guards for small boats. They did not print my letter. After all propeller guards would cost money and small boat owners would scream. I also brought up the propeller guard idea last year at a Boater Workshop at the Keahou Beach hotel – primarily for whale watch boats. Jeff Walters was in charge of the meeting. He replied that if small boat collisions continued to increase, propeller guards might have to be considered at a later date. So why not now??
Of course, it can be argued that it might be a good thing to have an occasional report of a small boat hitting a whale. Then the public might pay less attention when the Superferry does the same thing. After all, one whale-strike might seem like another. And does it really matter whether you are hit by a truck or by a tricycle??