Nathan Young's suggestion (July 31) to impose fines on boats that do not keep at a safe distance from Pembroke Firing Ranges when they are in use may be a good idea.

Still the death penalty for negligence or inadvertence seems a little excessive. In the incident referred to in Harry Vassallo's article and Mr Young's letter, my boat was in the company of three others and had in fact sailed past the ranges when the sea around us was sprayed with bullets. Could it be that the persons firing had failed to notice the presence of four slow moving boats? If so what chance is there that they would hold their fire if some jet skier were to whizz past the ranges in blissful ignorance?

I can assure readers that I will give the Pembroke Ranges a very wide berth in future having had a bullet break through two sheets of stainless steel just inches from my head.

That would not do any good to other boaters for whom notices in the Government Gazzette or a red flag which may or may not be visible depending on wind direction, may not be enough. It is very clear that something went seriously wrong on the day.

The AFM were not in a position to warn off boats that came too near and were not able to hold their fire when such boats were within range.

Since it seems that this is not the first time that these twin failures have occurred it may be high time that the AFM did something about it before somebody gets killed.