Outdoors in RI: Photo finish fishing, E-outboards, 2A news, smart(er) kids – Jeff Gross

by Jeff Gross, contributing writer

Photo, top: courtesy Steve Miller

Bring a camera along while you are fishing; or your cell phone.  One never knows when a great shot will present itself.  A friend has captured beautiful sunsets each night. Tom has captured 95 sunsets so far this year.  One never knows what one will encounter.  An animal in the wild doing something silly. A wild animal hitching a ride on your boat.  A Bald Eagle coming up to say hello, and stealing your fish. Or while out fishing off Block Island you may catch a pod of whales feeding.  Be prepared.

E-Outboards

Some folks thought I was joking about electric outboards. Mercury outboards has come out with their 20 and 30 E motors.  Statements are being made that allegedly one gets 39 minutes of power from 600lbs of batteries with 15hp.  You will be buzzing along at the same equivalent speed of a 6hp gas engine.  Pictures on the internet show EV boats moving along with a wake equivalent to that of a gas-powered boat in a “no wake” zone.  If that suits you great.  You’ll be saving the planet and you should get a gold fig leaf to wear on your lapel.

Years ago I had a 10hp Yamaha outboard on my Bass Boat. The boat was underpowered. The 10hp would take 20 minutes to travel from the south end of Salmon Lake to the north end of McGrath Pond via the canal.  An E-outboard has less power so the same trip will take maybe 30-40 minutes. At the north end of McGrath Pond a recharge will be needed.  What will one do – plug into a rock or tree on the shore?  Personally, I want to be off the lake at the first sign of lightning. Not have a thunderstorm overtake me like a runaway freight train.  I’ll stick with a gasoline 20hp Yamaha, thank you.

A quick comparison is my faithful 20hp, used 9 gal of gasoline over a 1.5-month period in Maine the motor was used every day except the 5 days I came back to RI, and 2 severe weather days.  One needs at least one battery pack for a 7.5E motor at a cost of $1150; 9.9 gals of gas cost me $ 29.79.  At that consumption rate the E-battery cost would give me 4.83 years of gasoline for my 20hp Yamaha.  That figure doesn’t include the cost of charging the battery each time one uses it.  Another problem with E-batteries like all batteries they develop a “memory” and lose their ability to hold a worthwhile charge.  Good luck to anyone trying to get off Moosehead Lake in a hurry.  I doubt E-batteries have the Kilowatts to transit East to West, never mind North to South on Moosehead Lake.  Even ducks hitch a ride crossing that lake.

2A news: 

Last night young adults (under 21 years of age) received positive news on their right to own, possess and carry a firearm.  While yes, there was a national injunction issued regarding the under 21 ban nationwide, a stay was issued regarding that injunction. That stay allows BATF and Merrick Garland to appeal to the 4th Circuit.  This is an administrative process and may even end up at the US Supreme Court. Fear not as this legal mess should be over in a year. 

I approached Dave Workman of Second Amendment Foundation, and he guaranteed all under-21 bans will be overthrown.  I trust Dave as today’s decision is a good indicator that he will be right.  That said, Washington DC was just forced to pay 5.1 million dollars in a class action lawsuit for violating the 2A rights of 1,000 Washington DC citizens and 8 nonresidents.

Keep that legal technique in the back of your minds. I have pressed the RI 2A community for 5 years to take up a class action against Rhode Island, but there’s nothing but resistance from the RI gun community.  Class action suits will need to be hosted by national gun groups.  Be patient, this will end up in the gun owner’s favor.

Again, to support those groups that support these constitutional violations head on, there are: The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), Gun Owners of America (GOA) National Association of Gun Rights (NAGR), Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) are all great organizations to join in membership.  In my opinion, the price of the membership in the mentioned organizations is a thousand time better use of your money than giving a penny to a politician.

Gadsden Flag incident

On a somewhat sad note, a Colorado Springs vanguard Charter School student was suspended for wearing a Gadsden Flag patch on his backpack.  The Gadsden Flag originated during revolutionary times.  The school and the boy’s teacher stated the flag represents slavery, which is totally incorrect.  Even the Democrat Governor of Colorado stated the flag symbol “is a proud symbol of the American Revolution.”  Teachers and school officials can be quite comical, especially when a young student knows more than the “educators”. Suffice it to say the boy is back in school and still has his “Don’t Tread On Me” patch on his backpack.

Back in the day I was called into my son’s school as he was talking in class and had a 1-inch Lego figure in his pocket. My son’s teacher was very upset.  I did my best to not laugh while she was droning on as I wanted to tell her that starting with my 7th grade class, I carried a pocketknife with me until I graduated high school. The teacher would have had a coronary.  Personally, I like my tea in the harbor.

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Jeffrey “Jeff” Gross spent 21 years as an Analytical Chemist at the USCG R&D Center in Groton, Connecticut, Woods Hole Laboratories, and Helix Technologies. Changing careers is a “great learning experience for everyone”, Jeff says, and I’m an avid outdoorsman and conservationist, a student of the sciences, and the world. The US holds too many wonders not to take a chance and explore them”.Jeff is the Model Train and Railroad entrepreneur. Proud Golden Retriever owner. Ultra strong Second Amendment Advocate and Constitutionalist. “Determined seeker of the truth”. Jeff is a RIFGPA Legislative and Legal Officer, Freshwater Chairman, NRA Liaison.His subjects include Outdoors, Second Amendment, Model Railroading, and Whimsical.