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CLUELESS people..

7K views 61 replies 33 participants last post by  ckgreenman 
#1 · (Edited)
So last night the GF and I go out on Chesapeake Bay out of Annapolis in my club C30. It's blowing a solid South at 20+ and the waves are steep chop 4 foot. :eek: We get out on the open Bay and I figure it's just going to be a long slog to wherever so why not sail up the Severn and anchor in Round Bay for the night.;)
Haven't been up there in years and don't really like trying to sail up or back from there. So we turn around and head in... By the time we pass the Academy I have all sail flying and we're doing a steady 4.5 knots. It's about 9:30 or so and there's a fair amount of powerboat traffic but they're all moving pretty slow.
We're about a mile nw of the bridges and this small powerboat passes heading downriver.
As they pass the gal onboard yells over TURN YOUR MAST LIGHT ON! with a real attitude...:confused:

I thought I misheard her so I asked my GF and she said she thought the same.

Now mind you I've got my running lights on, but I am Freaking SAILING, no motor running at all! Are people that clueless? I don't need no stinking masthead light (steaming light) And why is this sort of thing happening more and more? Is it b/c I'm spending more time on the water this year or are people just getting stupider?:rolleyes:
 
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#4 ·
My running light and anchor light are the same fixture. Turn on the forward facing light for running, both for anchor (I hate this system and it will change). Needless to say, i get a lot of "YOUR ANCHOR LIGHT IS ON!!!!". I understand, it is tricky for others. I just smile and wave.

A lot of people open their trap before they think or survey the situation. Some are "better" at this than others. You just happened to encounter a real pro.
 
#8 ·
Unfortunately, lots of clueless, clue-resistant and clue-proof people out there. :)
 
#9 ·
It comes down to basic statistics, and leads to a general intelligence dilution.

It is a given that the world's population is rising. Therefore, generally wherever you go, there are more people. Average intelligence seems to be fairly low...so...more people and low intelligence means more idiots everywhere.

So, in what used to be a fairly open environment, you are now confronted with an increase in people who lack basic sense.

It's not just on the sea, but all over. I live in rural Maine. 20 years ago, it was rare to see, well, people (little exaggeration). Now, seems I am constantly getting stuck in traffic, getting cut off, witnessing bad, poor, idiotic behavior by the clueless...just because there are MORE of them.

The "urbanization of the country"...applies to the water as well.

Solution? Without getting anarchistic, head further north, or buy an island.
 
#10 ·
It comes down to basic statistics, and leads to a general intelligence dilution.

It is a given that the world's population is rising. Therefore, generally wherever you go, there are more people. Average intelligence seems to be fairly low...so...more people and low intelligence means more idiots everywhere.

So, in what used to be a fairly open environment, you are now confronted with an increase in people who lack basic sense.

It's not just on the sea, but all over. I live in rural Maine. 20 years ago, it was rare to see, well, people (little exaggeration). Now, seems I am constantly getting stuck in traffic, getting cut off, witnessing bad, poor, idiotic behavior by the clueless...just because there are MORE of them.

The "urbanization of the country"...applies to the water as well.

Solution? Without getting anarchistic, head further north, or buy an island.
I HOPE it's not dilution leading to more "low intelligence" people.. I think it's just MORE PEOPLE so I see more of the idiots in action.

And I hearya about living the rural life. From '93 to 2004 my county more than TRIPLED it's school student population. It's even higher now.

The little town I live closest to went over 3500 in pop. in 2000 which meant they came under a new set of state guidelines. Now they are pushing 7000!:eek:

Rush hour in the AM and PM w/ the school buses is awful. The HS is overcrowded even w/ pulling 9th grade out and sending them to the second middle school and making the old middle school 6/7 grade.

I'm just fortunate that I do MOST of my boating during the week or when a lot of people are heading in on Sunday afternoon. Cuts down on the clueless factor!

Or maybe I'm just OCD, anal and particular about how I do things.:rolleyes:
Yep, that's probably part of it!
Of course I subscribe to the following Vince Lombardi quote...

"The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor."
 
#11 ·
Those people are on both sides of the fence here. Have had sailboaters demand their right of way when their sails were down and they were under power. Some of this I blame on sales people who give out erroneous information during the sale of that boat.
Unfortunately this large group of idiots have little knowledge of the Rules of the Road or of common courtesy between sailors.
The Real problem is; They are reproducing at an extreme rate... :eek: :eek:
 
#12 ·
yep more people out there.
Hey, but lets face it, I have seen it both ways.
How many times have you seen a sailboat, clearly under sail power alone shining his steaming light and or anchor light?
 
#14 ·
Ilnadi-

Be my guest. BTW, there are four levels of clue.

Level 1- Have a clue
Level 2- Clueless-Don't have a clue, but if you gave them one, they could use it.
Level 3- Clue-Resistant-Have to use duct tape to get a clue to stick long enough for them to use it.
Level 4- Clue Proof-Even crazy glue and epoxy won't help them hang on to a clue..
:)
 
#16 ·
by "nice", I meant "correct or at least common-sense".

I did not mean "nice" as in "try to duck behind me when you have right of way", etc. You are right of course. I find myself yelling at people in traffic to stop being nice to me and just follow the rules so I know where they're going.
 
#18 ·
Re-read this thread and it sounds more than a little arrogant. I think that Boasun is correct, there are good and bad in both the sail and the power camp. Sail, being the minority in most places, it just looks like power has a bigger percentage of idiots. We probably have a similar percentage, but there are just fewer of us. Maybe because we are so busy pulling lines that we don't have time to procreate.

If being able to tell on a flash card test what a light series is makes you a better sailor...I will fail anything but a un-complicated test. However, I do have my reference tables and will know before it becomes a problem what the lights are. If I decide that I want a captains license, I will do the memorization and pass the test. In my case, just like calculus, I will forget it for lack of use shortly afterwards.

The only boat that has ever hit me was a sailboat. And, I was tied up in my slip. It was an accident, but it was because he was an idiot and put himself out of control. Never been clipped by a power boat, or come close that I am aware of.

This is another of those categories that we put people in or get put in. The commom categories are that people with sailboats are cheap, and people with SeaRays are a**holes. I have one of each, so that would then make me a "cheap a**hole". Now, I have never been called cheap....but I have been called an a**hole...and once or twice they were probably right!
 
#20 ·
Re-read this thread and it sounds more than a little arrogant. I think that Boasun is correct, there are good and bad in both the sail and the power camp. Sail, being the minority in most places, it just looks like power has a bigger percentage of idiots. We probably have a similar percentage, but there are just fewer of us. Maybe because we are so busy pulling lines that we don't have time to procreate.

If being able to tell on a flash card test what a light series is makes you a better sailor...I will fail anything but a un-complicated test. However, I do have my reference tables and will know before it becomes a problem what the lights are. If I decide that I want a captains license, I will do the memorization and pass the test. In my case, just like calculus, I will forget it for lack of use shortly afterwards.

The only boat that has ever hit me was a sailboat. And, I was tied up in my slip. It was an accident, but it was because he was an idiot and put himself out of control. Never been clipped by a power boat, or come close that I am aware of.

This is another of those categories that we put people in or get put in. The commom categories are that people with sailboats are cheap, and people with SeaRays are a**holes. I have one of each, so that would then make me a "cheap a**hole". Now, I have never been called cheap....but I have been called an a**hole...and once or twice they were probably right!
I agree mostly (don't know about sailors being cheap...all costs considered). I never specified either sail or power boaters...it is general. I did state I saw both sailing and power vessels not displaying the correct lights.

However, there is no doubt sailing has a higher learning curve than power boating...and this IS a sailing forum...so...arrogant? Only in the eye of the beholder.
 
#19 ·
Hate to one up you but my cousin was pulled over a few years ago by the Macomb county sheriff on Lake st clair while sailing at night and was ordered by the sheriff to turn his steaming light on even after my cousin pulled out the book to prove he was right .
Not even law enforcement knows the law
 
#21 ·
Most sail boaters have taken lessons in order to learn how to sail. Hopefully they had excellent instructors that taught them; Courtesy, Rules of the Road along with actually sailing the boat.
Unfortunately many power boaters haven't had that form of training. They half listen to what the salesperson is saying. Reply with a ya yah. hop into that high horse powered boat and drive off, not paying attention to wake damage and so forth. Well maybe not quite that bad... But there they go with little or no training what so ever.
USCG Aux, and other power boat Organizations are doing what they can. But in many areas that is like throwing a cup of water on a forest fire.
 
#29 ·
Unfortunately many power boaters haven't had that form of training. They half listen to what the salesperson is saying. Reply with a ya yah. hop into that high horse powered boat and drive off, not paying attention to wake damage and so forth.
I'm almost afraid to admit that I am a power boat owner, LOL. However I do agree with your sentiments. I can't tell you how many "clewless" idiots I've seen on the water. Running balls out in a No Wake zone right next to vessels at anchor with Swimmers in the water.

However, I have to say that there is a group of people that are ever worse then average moronic powerboater and that's the PWC owner. These people don't give a crap about anything or anyone it seems. Here's a couple examples:

- My wife and I are trying to get our boat off the water. I just got done sitting in line for an hour at the boat ramp. She sees me getting ready to back the trailer up so she casts off and starts lining up. Out of nowhere this lady on a PWC pulls up and stops directly in front of her. My wife kindly asks her to move so we can put our boat on the trailer to which the woman replies "Shut up B***h!!". My wife, in her eloquent way, retorts with "would you prefer to have your teeth embedded in the bow of our boat?".

- We are out on the lake tubing with some friends and their kids. We start to head in, kids still on the tube, when this idiot on a wave runner decides he wants to jump our wake, totally oblivious to the fact that we are towing a tube with children on it. I managed to kill the throttle in time to prevent the wave runner fromhitting the tube broadside.

Sometimes I wish it was a requirement to have an operator's license to purchase (and register) a power boat or PWC. And a requirement of getting that license is to complete an extensive training course. You know, Kinda like learning to drive a car perhaps??
 
#22 ·
I'd have to agree with Boasun that there is far more training generally involved in sailing generally. Most sailors grew up with an older sailor or two as a mentor, or have learned in a more structured environment. This is not the case with most power boaters.

I think a lot of this is due to the greater skill set and knowledge base that sailing a boat requires—after all, harnessing the wind to go upwind requires far more skill than dropping the hammer on the throttle and point the boat in the direction you want to go.
 
#23 ·
Everyday that goes by my nerves get rubbed wrong by the idiots of the world who either just don't care or just don't have a clue (haven't been able to figure which one it is). The result is that my level of comfort for cruising goes down each time to allow for a smaller kitty to do it on. The way things are going by the time my comfort gets to bottom line there will be just as many idiots out on the water. What's a person to do????
 
#24 ·
it is not just the non sailors, but a lot of sailors at least where I sail. Couple of weeks ago we are sailing on a run and noticed a race going on. Rather than get in the middle of the race we went on a starboard tack to go around it well away from the racers. One of the boats came out of the race circuit on a port tack and we ended up having to give way to miss them. We were close enough for them to hear us. I told my wife loud enough for them to hear us that " they were supposed to give way as we were on a starboard tack, but I guess they don't know it" The guy just looked at me stupid and kept sailing.
 
#26 ·
Isn't 'clueless' a word from the 'Vally Girl' movies? Just a thought.

The world will be the same whether I approve of it or not. Concerning myself with the foibles of others leads only to a long list of disappointments in the people I meet.

When some other boater shouts instructions to me, I smile broadly, wave and nod, and yell something in return in gibberish that sounds like a mix of Greek and Norwegian, spoken with a Chinese accent. I can't speak any languages other than broken English, so that's the best I can do.

Then I look forward again and say aloud, "How nice of them to say 'good morning'." Even if I'm alone.

I have no power over the actions of others, but I'm completely in charge of how I receive their antics, and I will not carry them as an injury for even a moment.

I hope they will do the same for me when our positions are reversed.
 
#30 ·
#31 ·
Years ago, I worked in retail sales. There were days when it seemed that most of the customers were jerks or a-holes. Which, of course, would end up putting me in a foul mood, which, as a logical consequence, would hurt my sales.

I came up with a solution. I taped a piece of paper on the counter with two columns, labeled N (for Nice) and A (for Not Nice) and every time I talked to a reasonable customer, I made a check mark in the N column. Every time I talked to a Not Nice person, I made a check mark in the A column.

It quickly became obvious that the N's outnumber the A's about 99 to 1. It just seems that you're more likely to remember the 1 because it's not the norm.

Try the same system while boating. If you don't find the above numbers are accurate, maybe the problem is yours.

People who assume the worst of people are usually right. People who assume the best of people are seldom wrong.
 
#34 ·
Years ago, I worked in retail sales. There were days when it seemed that most of the customers were jerks or a-holes. Which, of course, would end up putting me in a foul mood, which, as a logical consequence, would hurt my sales.

I came up with a solution. I taped a piece of paper on the counter with two columns, labeled N (for Nice) and A (for Not Nice) and every time I talked to a reasonable customer, I made a check mark in the N column. Every time I talked to a Not Nice person, I made a check mark in the A column.

It quickly became obvious that the N's outnumber the A's about 99 to 1. It just seems that you're more likely to remember the 1 because it's not the norm.

Try the same system while boating. If you don't find the above numbers are accurate, maybe the problem is yours.

People who assume the worst of people are usually right. People who assume the best of people are seldom wrong.
Well said. You're probably right. The a-holes just make so much more of an impression that it seems they outnumber nice people.

However, I still stand behind my statement that people should be required to take some sort of boaters course prior to owning or operating a boat. If for no other reason then to learn common courtesy. I can't tell you how many times I've helped others on the water when they needed a hand. However only once has that been reciprocated.
 
#35 ·
Am I the only one who picks up a VHF to report reckless operation? I've found that the USCG an local water police (they come in different varieties) are all fairly eager to respond, and when they respond, someone gets a white-glove inspection and a citation, pretty much all the time.

If nothing else it keeps the yahoos dead stopped in the water for a half hour, and gives the coaties on RIBs a good excuse to go full throttle for a while.

Word gets around after a while: "Don't go bow-riding there, we got a huge ticket".
 
#37 ·
As has been said, sailors are clueless too. We were sitting on a mooring in Burlington Harbor on Lake Champlain on Sunday night and watched TWO sailboats leave the harbor, under sail only (one had an outboard so it was easy to tell it was off, the other was under full sail, heeling, no engine noise, so assuming). Both had their stern lights, bow lights, PLUS both their steaming lights AND their anchor lights on. Go figure...
 
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