Letter: Large boats should slow down

Initial news reports questioned whether Patrick Luca, the police officer who drowned in the Nissequogue River ["Kayaker's death may stay a mystery," News, Aug. 15], may have been swamped by the wake of an oncoming boat.

As a kayaker who paddles on Oyster Bay and Long Island Sound, it has been my experience that larger motorized boats and Jet Skis do not slow down when approaching smaller craft. They speed on by and are either unaware or impervious to the danger they create by their wake.

Upstate, this is not the case. When paddling in the Lower St. Regis waterways in the Adirondacks, motorized craft slow down on their approach.

Boating classes teach this procedure, but few boaters take them. Paddlers and rowers should signal for oncoming craft to slow down by raising or waving their hands to make them aware of their presence. It is in the interest of good manners and safety to do this.

Bernard Kazdan, Huntington