You are responsible for your wake...

[sailndoug]

Is the discourteous behavior on the water increasing or is it just me getting crankier as I age?
Was just on the boat at my dock when a power cruiser flew by our marina and the one next to ours leaving a tremendous wake. I got on the vhf and raised him and then blasted him; He responded "if you want boats to go slow you should have the coast guard put up no wake sign" I called him out for being unaware of both federal regulations and common sense. It occurred to me later that maybe he just didn't care. Geeeeesshhhhh! What an *******!

[CSY Man]

Originally Posted by sailndoug

Is the discourteous behavior on the water increasing or is it just me getting crankier as I age?
Was just on the boat at my dock when a power cruiser flew by our marina and the one next to ours leaving a tremendous wake. I got on the vhf and raised him and then blasted him; He responded "if you want boats to go slow you should have the coast guard put up no wake sign" I called him out for being unaware of both federal regulations and common sense. It occurred to me later that maybe he just didn't care. Geeeeesshhhhh! What an *******!

Location?
All marinas I am aware of are in Minimum Wake, or No Wake zones, otherwise there would be daily damage.
I had wake damage once, called the Marine Police, they got the culprit and I got $1,000+ plus for repairs, also sent an accident report to the State of Florida.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by sailndoug

that maybe he just didn't care. Geeeeesshhhhh! What an *******!

Yep, sadly.

[JPA Cate]

If you look ad current advertising for power boats, their wakes are often glorified in the footage. I think many power boat owners are unaware of the problems their boat's wakes can give others. One time on Sydney Hbr. saw a little racing dinghy rocked so deeply that both guys fell in the water. We stood by while they got their act back together, but the phenomenon is just part of life, and it's sort of circular. The advertising appeals to a "me first" sort of personality, and reinforces it.

Ann

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

If you look ad current advertising for power boats, their wakes are often glorified in the footage. I think many power boat owners are unaware of the problems their boat's wakes can give others.

Hmmmm, I know truck manufacturers actually do focus groups on the sound of their vehicles' exhaust. Apparently some rumbles are more manly than others... Maybe powerboater manufacturers are doing the same thing?

But mostly I think a lot of its a lack of awareness like you said. We were passed by people in the same group as we were as they roared by in their 42 foot powerboat so they could take a picture of us. After they snapped the pic when they were alongside they zoomed off and did that powerboater thing and didn't look back to see the havoc they literally left in their wake...

[hellosailor]

But if you note, the really classic names in expensive powerboats actually tend to throw nice flat wakes. Expensive hull design, good engineering. Less energy wasted throwing water around in random directions.

[motion30]

Well. I got to say it whether it's by Design or the owners are idiots sea rays are absolutely the worst

[odonnellryan]

Was hanging out on the dock at great kills harbor, late at night. We hear something approaching the dock but cannot see anything. A small powerboat blasts by, 20' or so from the dock, only lights on are cockpit instruments. Some people are just idiots.

[Woodland Hills]

Or you could get one of these:
Power
and go as fast as you want wherever you want.

[Marc1]

It's a common problem and I believe it has always been like this. I live on waterfront and have my own mooring pontoon.

This section of river has an 8 kn speed limit and no wake signs. That does not stop half of the boats and all of the jetski from going past at full speed.

The planing hulls to be honest are better off going past on the plane then doing 8 knots, but the jetski are a real problem. Even on the plane at full speed they produce a sharp wake that is really annoying. I have developed a real skill at mooring the boat in a way that it is unaffected by wake, but it is still a cause of irritation mainly due to erosion. I have built a rock wall at great expense but the neighbouring properties don't have it and so the end of the wall is affected by erosion anyway.
Our Maritime authority is under resourced and will not respond to a problem of this nature. Perhaps a video camera and footage forwarded to them? But who wants to turn into police? Certainly not me.

[wtmf]

can't fix stupid BUT we can hope karma will find a shallow rock with his name on it.

[Allied39]

LOL, intelligence or common courtesy are the last things I expect from power boaters.......and sport fishers make the others look like Einstein.

On the very rare occasion there are exceptions.......very rare.

Just the way it is. Like the sky is blue on a sunny day.

[zboss]

We had an incident about 2 years ago going into the Fort Lauderdale inlet. Big 60 or 80 foot sportfisher actually speed up as he approached us inside the inlet and then proceeded to pass with 20-25 feet off our port... so close his rooster tail shot right into our cockpit. Massive wake broke a bunch of stuff inside the boat and its lucky no one was hurt. When I called him out on it his answer was "Tough luck a**h***!"

These guys just don't give a crap and the coast guard just doesn't do a thing about it.

I HAVE noticed it getting worse the last two years.

[Wallaby]

If the wake is sufficient to cause damage and put safety at risk, is it time for a Securite call on the VHF? I doubt the Coast Guard would agree, but when you are tossed into the water or fall down the stairs...


Meanwhile, if you have a phone/camera handy, video record the vessel and wake, and put it on Youtube under F@%$ing Idiots

[Montanan]

There are US court cases which have held that one is responsible for damages and injuries caused by your wake, even if the damage occurs a very long distance away from the wake causing craft. The wake is considered an extension of the vessel and being hit by such is considered a collision, no different than colliding with a hull to which the Colregs apply. You are to give way and slow whenever you wake can cause dangers.

Indeed some boats are purposefully built to cause wakes so as to provide for wakeboarding and wakesurfing.

Inconsiderateness and ignorance runs abundant, and sadly both seem to be even more abundant among boaters.

Two summers ago, the local duckboat like recreational excursion company, chose to enter the water using the boat ramp inside the marina my boat is kept at. The boat is called The Happy Hippo. It is the tradition of the charter business to enter the water with considerable velocity so as to cause a huge splash over the bow and onto the front occupants and which also causes a large forward displacement surge. There is a public ramp which typically does not have docked boats anywhere nearby about a mile further down from our marina. At this time, the charter was taking groups of people from a large wedding celebration party at a beautiful public waterfront park to the marina for a quick trip back to the park and it made for a much quicker round trip to enter the water at the nearer marina instead of continuing down to the public ramp. The charter operator drove down the marina's boat ramp in their normal high velocity, thrilling and fun splashing manner twice before I stopped him on his way out of the marina and told him to never use the marina as an entry point again, or to at least enter the water with the amphibious craft in a gentle manner so as to not derive a displacement wake. The surge that amphibious craft induced was massive, pushing water about six inches higher than the docks and rocking the boats greatly. The operator apologized when I explained to her the effect of her actions inside the marina and she did not return. The passengers were taken aback by my expression of anger and the tongue lashing that I communicated as the boat they were on passed within a few feet of my beam when I was tied in my slip. The encounter kind of took the fun out the otherwise fun trip and their return to the large outdoor wedding celebration. The operator had just not thought through the consequences of their actions and was just doing the normal enjoyable things that they do to provide pleasure to their passengers.

What is acceptable in operating a vessel in one place is inappropriate in another. And the problem with wakes is that they don't really diminish much as the progress across the waters. Damage and danger continues at a distance, an unseen distance is common.