Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

[Lucrestyle]

There is new post about this every day on here so i'd thought i'd add my experience from last night.

It was a nice calm night out, water like glass and not too many boats on the lake, as the g/f and I were coming back from a evening of fishing I slowed down at the start of the channel that leads to launch and docks. Some people pull there boats up on the sandy shore for the night others have a slip and I use the launch to take her out. As I was puttering in I was explaining to her about not creating big waves that would wash up on the launch area, beach and docks as it annoys other boaters to see there boats smash against the dock and rumble on the trailer.

Well we are taking the boat out, i have her all lined up on the roller trailer. I look and there is a 20 foot boat cruising into the channel on semi plane (big wake) sending rollers into shore. Of course as soon as these big waves hit my boat it bounces up and down and is not perfectly in line on the trailer. pissed me right off that someone would have zero consideration for other boaters. anyways so i get her all lined up and pull her out and just as I do a runabout cruises by on plane sending more waves in against shore pounding the other docks boats.

This kind of action rely annoys me. I have herd many times that YOU are responsible for the wake you create and the damage it can do! So I took it upon myself to say something to the driver of the 20 footer.

I nicely walked up and said "excuse me in the future would you mind NOT creating a wake near the docking and launch area"

the guy replys " I can do whatever the **** i want mind your own business"

this really struck a nerve i said back " I hope you realize that you are responsible for your wake and the damage it causes, if you do that again when i'm launching my boat your going to find yourself paying for some fiberglass work"

i then walked away.... just pisses me off that some ppl can be some damn ignorant towards other boaters. thanks for the vent.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

Yup, there are a lot of idiots out there. And you can bet that the guy you talked to would be ticked off if someone waked him while he was trying to load his boat.

It's just that he's the most important person on the planet, you see.

These days, I've just about quit confronting folks about such situations. The people who will do what he did are almost always buttheads about getting corrected. Also, you never know when someone is half in the bag and will decide to take a swing at you or something.

He's not going to change his ways. That much I guarantee. If there's damage to your boat, that's another story, but at my age I try to avoid blood pressure raising confrontations.

Your mileage may vary.

 

[KBADC]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

you never know when someone is half in the bag and will decide to take a swing at you or something

That gives you a good excuse for working out your frustrations on him!

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

Nah. I don't do physical confrontations with anyone anymore. It's just not worth it. Something about getting to the age when your hair is all white that calms a guy down a bit, I suppose.

I leave all that stuff to the young guys.

 

[dhath]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

LOL Mine is just start the change to white....... Shhhhhhh Don't tell anyone.

 

[woodrat]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

with all the flap about wakes recently and for the contingent that thinks that no wake rules are unfair to their rights, I will add a little tidbit.

This was a couple of years ago, near Portland, and it turned out that a bunch of members of a certain yacht club had a little informal contest going about who could kick up the biggest wake WHILE THEY WERE PASSING SMALL CRAFT that were anchored up fishing nearby. They were having all kinds of laughs about it and there were apparently extra points awarded for actually swamping or capsizing a small boat, which happened several times over the course of some weeks. The stupidest part of it all is they were laughing it up with each other ON THE VHF, apparently assuming that they were the only ones who had that technology.

Small craft owners of course overheard these conversations and complained to the club, whose members completely denied it.

so, at least in some situations, we're not talking ignorance or lack of awareness, we're talking about deliberately making other peoples' lives miserable and unsafe for laughs.

ha ha ha.

 

[darrklim2]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

I guarantee if my boat was capsized by one of these fools there would be hell to pay. After I got my boat up right of course. :redface:

 

[matt9923]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

that people, I don't buy new stuff unless i say to myself its not going to look new if im going to use it so if someone wants to make a wake and put a scratch on my boat o well its for fun not to model. But people have yelled at me for making a wake on my jet ski i was a little over idle some people need to get laid or something. My point is people do what they want i do, i used to be a lot more considerate but people would always make a smart *** remark so screw it ill do what i want as long as im not intentionally screwing someone over.
I wont go 50mph by someone that is anchored but if they anchor in the main channel that's their fault. Iv had skiers skiing right at me and they finally jumped the wake 20 feet in front of me. If they wanna be dumb that's their fault if he goes under my prop if i worried about all of it i wouldn't have fun.

 

[JB]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

Let's look at that word: ignorant. It is derived from ignore.

It does not mean they don't know, it means they know and ignore dangers. If they didn't know, then they would be naive.

Closely related to premeditated negligence.

 

[SnappingTurtle]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

I prefer to look at the word;

arrogant

1 : exaggerating or disposed to exaggerate one's own worth or importance often by an overbearing manner <an arrogant official>

when discussing people who swamp other peoples boats, and find humor in it, or those who do so with the thought they have some how earned, or purchased the water they boat on.

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I posted this in the “Helping hand from a boater - remember it?" thread as part of a days experiences, “Good & Bad”.

It happened in a no wake zone ...

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... On a sour note, last weekend, we and two other small boats were swamped by two newer 35-40ft cruisers who were racing side by side after just leaving the locks, on a really narrow stretch of the river. At the closest point one boat was within 10ft of us.

We were running three in a line, and the cruisers ran past us a WOT throwing 3ft wakes that were coming at us from every direction. Two of us were in inflatables, ours was the largest, it filled to the top of the tubes with water, floating the gas tank and everything else in the boat. The other inflatable came close to flipping, and tossed two people out of the boat. The third boat was the first to get hit, and was a small, about 12ft, glass runabout, took water over the bow and the gunwales at the same time. They were in real trouble but we got them to shore before the boat went under. It was old and had no flotation.

As the boats went by, I looked at the people on board and they seemed to think it was the funniest thing they had ever saw. One lady was even video taping us as they went by we were being thrown around in their wake.

It is days like this that I would like to have a 600HP SIB and a pump gun with slugs. I spent the rest of the day keeping an eye out for them, but they were long gone.

I was just going to “help them” understand that money doesn't buy you the water, and if you think it is funny to watch three boats sinking because of your actions, well just see how funny you think it is to watch your own boat sink ...

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I, like CATransplant don't generally confront people like this anymore. It is just not worth the effort. I believe that like good deeds done, bad deeds come back to haunt you.

Sooner or later, they will pay. There were a half dozen other boaters that witnessed this scene, and each of them will tell at least one other boater on the river.

When we returned to the dock we were asked by four other boaters if we had been swimming in our clothes, with a laugh, in a dirty river you don't want to swim in.

No we were swamped. Oh no! By who ...

The river is a small community of boaters, some great people, some not. I am sure that half of them have already heard the story by now.

Oh and by the way, the by far nicest, most courteous groups of boaters on the river are the older boaters with their sea going live on's (giant wakes), “wake boarders” (giant wakes), and the “jet skiers” (no wakes).

We all get along rather well here, from the racing sculls, to the commercial barges & hotel ships.

Except for the new, mega cruiser's from the Frankfurter financial district, their the worst of the bunch. Rather arrogant bunch these new guys. I do really enjoy seeing them all losing their rich boy toys, squirming, and crying about the the horrible continuous downturns in the market. They are even loosing their bank jobs now! Oh no! What happened? That was always a reason for them to celebrate in the past! People loosing their jobs means, a company is making the right moves, or?

What goes around, comes around, if not on the water, then in their land based lifes.

 

[winenut]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

We were on our way back to the ramp on Sunday late afternoon, and this group of idiots were on a 25 ft. boat, riding about 20 feet behind and to the port side, on our wake. We were running about 25 mph, and they stuck with us for 15 minutes, till they saw the dock, then they blew by to beat us to the dock. They pulled up, tied off, and sat there forever, taking up space in a very crowded ramp.

Meanwhile we held off until a spot cleared, then tied off while my husband went to get the truck...and 3 idiot teenagers in their dad's regal 2100 backed in across both ramp lanes, and puttered around, finally got the boat in, backed it up and tied up in front of us, blocking us from the ramp. Another boat was next to us waiting to load up, and here comes another boater flying into the parking lot and down the ramp to launch his boat. There was barely any room between the boat next to us (friends of ours) and us, but he squeezed his boat through, bumping into us as he went. The three kids were clueless that they had complicated an already congested area. Ugh. This was the first time we had launched at such a busy (4-lane) ramp. They should put some rules in place, like 2 lanes for launching and 2 lanes for loading, unless there is no one waiting.

 

[wajajaja02]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

don't you have law enforcement in Germany texas, a cell phone call to 911, or vhf call on ch 16 to law enforcement might have made a valid complaint.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

They are everywhere !!!! and they think it is great fun. 2 people drowned very close to where I live due to a 27 footer swamping them in spring and just carrying on. 4 flat tires on their vehicle could always be a bit of a giggle when they all arrive back after having a little much to drink.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

I have this in my vehicles at all times:

I'm just sayin...

 

[david_r]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

i know what you mean about people who think they own the water.


im a courteous boater and expect the same, i havent had the misfortune to be waked that bad cause i havent seen a boat that big where i fish unless you count a barge or two but i stay out of the lanes.

a while back i was fixing to load when a boat pulled up with 2 guys one an older gentleman(around 70-80) and it was starting to pour rain so i pulled back to the dock and told them to go in front of me.

 

[OldePharte]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

Too bad one couldn't carry a "disposable" paint ball gun for just such an occasion

 

[freddyray21]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

there will always be people who will ignore the no wake buoys. It is a fact of life, but karma or the water patrol will catch up.

 

[SnappingTurtle]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

don't you have law enforcement in Germany texas, a cell phone call to 911, or vhf call on ch 16 to law enforcement might have made a valid complaint.

I am in Germany the country, but Texas is my home. Not one in the same place.

Had this taken place in Texas, I am sure it would have had a completely different outcome.

Germany's prosecuting attorney's are in that job for life, they have no incentive to do anymore than they have to, to be politically correct at any particular time. The less they do, the better their job. If they don't prosecute there was no crime. Germany has no crime, because they don't prosecute. It stays on paper at least, a model country. All safe and clean.

If you file a criminal complaint with the Police, the prosecuting attorney will just send you a “form letter” saying it is not in the interest of the German public to prosecute. Period, end of case.

They will then tell you that should you wish to pursue this claim of wrong doing, then do so at your own cost, in their version of small claims court (kangaroo court).

In Germany claims made by individuals are almost never prosecuted, and when they are, they are done at a small claims court level. Your chances of winning are zero, if you win, you win nothing, and you are stuck with the attorney fees, and your half of court & government cost. If you lose, you are stuck with all cost.

There are Water Police here, but they do little in the way of regulating the rules of the water. They are there to make money, as all Police here, writing tickets and fines. That means they write tickets for small infractions, payable on demand, but only for infractions they see with their own eyes, i.e. no court cost.

Germany will also not prosecute anyone, for any reason, if, it looks like it will cost the State more to do so, than they will make in fines should they win. The bigger you are, the more powerful your attorney team is, the least likely you are to be bothered for this reason. The rich do what they like, as do the extremely poor. The rich will tie them up in court, running up the States bill, to a point they will just give up, so why bother. The poor don't have anything to take, so they don't bother them either.

That is one reason the Heroin addicts lay on the sidewalks, city parks, & playgrounds openly shooting up and dealing, in broad daylite, in Frankfurt's Financial district. No money to be made by arresting them, so they just look the other way. They will swoop in and lock them up for a day or two when a big trade show or festival is in town so the city looks clean for the tourist, but the next day they release them all back onto the streets.

Germany is just an optical illusion of cleanliness, order, and a democratic system of fairness for all.

They only go after their cash cow here. The little middle class working guy.

In Germany you are, what you have in the bank, and how good your political connections are, and the more money you have, the better political connections you can buy.

Get the picture. The rich do what they want, and when I say rich, I mean the top 4% in Germany, who now control 98% of all money here. They quietly call themselves the “Herren Mensch” or translated in english, “Born Leaders”. They lead, you follow, like it or not.

On the water, like anywhere else in life here, you are on your own. You just have to be real careful not to let yourself be put in a position of vulnerability. If you end up, as we did in so a position, you are just screwed.

Big boats, mean big money, and the police don't mess with big money.

 

[Fishinmagician]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

I have this in my vehicles at all times:

I'm just sayin...

your just saying what???????????....

I had a run in with an 12 stepper before, there always a pleasure to deal with. I do how ever like the paint ball gun idea, i might just have to go with that.

I had a guy one time on a lake, doing the exact same thing coming into the docking area picking up people and going back out, then back in, but not recognizing the NO WAKE area, of course we made a nice gesture to him, he said GO ____ your self, he was going out and trying to show his freinds how to water ski, so you know, sitting there, gunning the throttle, them falling down, again and again, so my buddy and my self determined it was time to test my motor and how good the boat would turn at top speed, it just so happens that his boat was in the miiddle of my circle, he follwed us in after it was all said and done about 1 hours worth, lets just say he came in slower than we did, i think he got the point.................

 

[samagee1]

Re: Ignorant Boaters & Wakes

I have been swamped before. My youngest son who is 14 now is still skidish of boating because of it. He was one of my boys in the front of my old bow rider when we got swamped by two larger boats racing past the no wake zone. We were in a 15 foot tri hull, and I kept my eyes on the boys as the water came over board to make sure no one was swept over. I spent 30 minutes waiting for the bilge pump to finish clearing the boat.