Hello everyone,
There are rules of the road, regulations of operation, and then the real life situations...
I respect everyone's right to enjoy water. However, there have been certain moments that I thought I'd just start carrying a 2 pounder cannon aboard!
Example 1: As I'm sailing through the draw bridge on CT river, couple of jet skiers are stopped right under the draw bridge. As you would expect that the draw bridge passage is narrow as it's and there is a sailboat traffic that has been circling around waiting for the draw bridge to open... Oh yeah, you cannot stop for leisure on those locations the law says... Yet I swear to God those dumbasses were there to give us a hard time passing through!
What would you do? How do you report those idiots?
I just blasted my horn as I was passing by... So did others...
Example 2: Powerboaters who don't care about smaller watercraft or sailing vessels... Especially those cigarette boats! Are you guys simply too used to take their wakes? As I was sailing up the river, where certain passages are narrowed down by depth, the powerboaters pass by 18-20 knots and leaving a 1-2ft of wake for me to take sideways, because no room to manuever around...
A daysailing becomes a rafting adventure on weeekends... What do you do with those a..holes? I mean they act like respectful operators when there is a River patrol or Coast guard boat around!
Example 3: At the end of the CT river, there is a narrow passage with no wake zone. Powerboaters (some a.. holes at least) try to pass you by forcing you towards the rocks... What the heck?!?
I almost crush on rocks once, as this a..hole was keep coming towards me on my port side...
So, what to do here? Do we come together and attack those powerboaters like pirates? Do we report them? I don't know what to do other than get a cannon on board and shout: "Fire!"... (Just kidding...)
__________________
" I refuse to engage in an intellectual battle with an unarmed man!"
Materialism: Buying the things we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people who don't matter.
In my Country, everyone handling a boat first needs to get a permit.
To do so, we all have to go to the NAvy (they are the ones doing the permits) and sit exams on: rules, meteo, Boat handling (sail or power depends on the permit you allpy for), safety, 1 st aid and other subjects.
We ALL HAVE TO DO IT...there are several levels of premits, based on how far you sail and how big and how many HP you engine has.
This to say, that due to this, the common knowledge and seamanship is ususlly higher than what I have seen reported here in Sailnet.
I am not saying we don't have the idiots, we do, and the most idiots are the Soccer players, that hire licenced people to be on the boat while they do the driving...we do report them to the navy and the Navy seeks after them.
However, its a comon thing here that power boaters have a lot of respect for sailors and sailboats, and we do occasionally get the idiot that comes closer to you, to how off his boat...all you need is to do is note where he docks, and a visit with a spi pole and few crew men will normally settle things....but that's here..I've done it once...
But generally speaking we're ok.
I had a power boat once trying to chicken me on the way out of a marina...I put auto pilot on and went down...I was looking thru hatch but he doesn't know...he ran away....
"How do you report those idiots?"
You pick up your handy VHFradio, call the USCG, and report an unsafe condition. Or, if you know the local phone number of your local USCG station, you call them on your cell phone--they actually prefer to divert traffic OFF the busy VHF channel sometimes.
Either way, you identify your vessel and location and the unsafe condition, i.e. jetskiers obstructing the channel and the bridge opening. If the USCG thinks it is something unsafe or illegal--they'll respond, if they have any resources to respond with.
Which brings up another point--WRITE to your Congresscritters. The USCG has some damn fine people trying to work with damn near zero funding. Every time someone writes to Congress and says "Hey, I want some of my tax money to go to the USCG!" that's the only way they stand a chance of getting any funding.
Powerboaters and sailboaters will always be at odds over boater's right's. There is no perfect solution to this problem and the only increase in rules and regulations I would approve of, is to make it manadatory that all watercraft operators complete a boating course.
Most PWC operators are rebels, basically waterborne motorcycles with a lust for thrills. With some exceptions, these waterbikes will always attract people with little respect for the rights of others. Others are simply ignorant to the rules.
Planing boats need to build up enough momentum to get on plane, in order to reach cruising speed. The problem with 5-10 mph zones, is this is a hull speed which throws larger wakes for these boats than if they were at a moderate planing speed. "Cigarette" style boats, actually throw little wake at higher speed, since they're essentially hydroplaning. Semi-displacement powerboats (larger sport fishing boats) on the other hand, will always make sloppy wakes when cruising - with some hull designs throwing less of a wake than others.
We all know sailboats are disadvantaged in many respects due to limited maneuverability, therefore rules are written to protect us. Powerboaters resent this fact and some may behave badly to express their resentment, especially when we may "seemingly" come about, directly into their path.
Required operator education will encourage a greater understanding of the differences that exist between various watercraft, by overcoming ignorance. In a perfect waterworld, everyone would be more tolerant by understanding each other's limits.
Unfortunately, education will never repair stupidity. In these cases, reporting these idiots to the local LEO, is all we can do.
__________________ True Blue . . .
sold the Nauticat
__________________ I got an Old Fat Boat
She's Slow But Handsome
Hard In The Chine, but Soft In The Transom
I Love Her Well, And She Must Love Me
But I think It's Only For My Money
. ..... Gordon Bok
"Cigarette" style boats, actually throw little wake at higher speed, since they're essentially hydroplaning. Semi-displacement powerboats (larger sport fishing boats) on the other hand, will always make sloppy wakes when cruising - with some hull designs throwing less of a wake than others.
I'd like to point that I don't care what they do on open water... I'm just pointing some jerks out there simply to give us a hard time. I'm well aware of cigar boats planning, however, once they cut power they settle down to create a big wake... And time to time I noticed that those jerks do it intentionally... Such as U turns around you in close quarters... Power cutting close to you and powering up again... How do I know those actions are intentional? Because they shout at you from their cockpit...
There was an accident on CT river last season, the power boater crush a sailboat killing one and injuring another... IMHO, rivers and shorelines are not playgrounds.
They can do whatever they wanna do out there on the open water... I'm complaining for rivers and channells...
__________________
" I refuse to engage in an intellectual battle with an unarmed man!"
Materialism: Buying the things we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people who don't matter.
I'm not trying to heat up anything or preach anybody... Asking for the best method to deal with those morons...
Because USCG do not tend CT river since they are busy at Thames river...
__________________
" I refuse to engage in an intellectual battle with an unarmed man!"
Materialism: Buying the things we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people who don't matter.
As you would expect that the draw bridge passage is narrow as it's and there is a sailboat traffic that has been circling around waiting for the draw bridge to open... Oh yeah, you cannot stop for leisure on those locations the law says... Yet I swear to God those dumbasses were there to give us a hard time passing through!
(Just kidding...)
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