River Boating around smaller boats

[25thmustang]

So this weekend was the maiden voyage down river. The first weekend trip with the boat, first time taking her down to LI Sound and the first time out and about with a lot of boat traffic.

The river is not huge, but good size. It has sections where it gets much wider, and areas where the channel is very narrow. As you can imagine, being 85-95 degrees and sunny this weekend, there were a lot of boats out.

I experienced no issues, but did notice a trend that seemed to follow me all weekend. In the non no wake areas, a few times I found myself behind smaller boats. 18-20 CC, bowriders etc... As expected these boats planed quick and took off. The problem arose when I got up on plane was going along. It seemed as though the smaller boats were able to, and consistently held a much slower cruiser speed. A few times I had to back off plane until it was safe to pass, with all the other traffic around.

One time I was following a small bowrider with 4 or 5 people aboard. He seemed to do a LOT of back and forth moving in the channel and my assumption was, he must be avoiding wakes/waves. My concern was with his speed. He continued to slow and speed up, while turning back and forth without any kind of warning. I kept a very safe distance and made sure I knew where he was at all times, ready to dump off plane if need be.

Nothing ever came of it, as when we hit better water he sped up and put more distance on me. Never once was there any danger and I'm not even sure he knew I was behind him. I just always assumed the smaller boats went faster than my 11-12K express cruiser at cruise. It seemed a lot of times I found myself passing people, with no other option than slow down off plane, or overtake.

Just wanted to share what I noticed from the nice outing on Sunday.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: River Boating around smaller boats

the timing and passing thing is hard when there are lots of boats in a line. Unlike auto trafic, no speed limit or rear view mirrors to keep things runnnig smoothly.

What gets me is the people who think they have to stay in the channel when they don't. Yes, some places you have to, but many places, there is plenty of unobstructed water on all sides. I was fishing the edge of a shipping channel yesterday; I was maybe 20 yards inside the bouy. A lrge barge was coming through in the channel, too. No problem. At this point, the red and green bouys are fairly close together. So two different large cruiser yachts come bearing down on me and the tight squeeze.
The channel is 54' deep. the sides of the channel, for 300 yards, is 35-25' deep. The next quarter mile to one side and 2 miles to the other is 15-20' deep. There are no bars, rocks, etc.
So why crowd the channel when there are miles of open water?

 

[cpubud]

Re: River Boating around smaller boats

yes the smaller boats plane and stay on plane at a much slower speed than the cruisers .

 

[25thmustang]

Re: River Boating around smaller boats

yes the smaller boats plane and stay on plane at a much slower speed than the cruisers .

Yes this was something I noticed on the river. It was just something I have never actually seen, because our boats were either fairly slow (A Luhrs, Sea Ray and Chris Craft) or small and we went faster with them.

Only a few times did the traffic get very tight. A few boaters not looking where they were headed, and a few people pulling tubes through the channel with a ton of boat traffic. Other than that it was smooth sailing and a great day on the water.

 

[45Auto]

Re: River Boating around smaller boats

What gets me is the people who think they have to stay in the channel when they don't. Yes, some places you have to, but many places, there is plenty of unobstructed water on all sides. I was fishing the edge of a shipping channel yesterday; I was maybe 20 yards inside the bouy. A lrge barge was coming through in the channel, too. No problem. At this point, the red and green bouys are fairly close together. So two different large cruiser yachts come bearing down on me and the tight squeeze

What gets me is people who fish on the edge of the shipping channel and expect the barges and large yachts to go OUT of the marked channel so they don't disturb the fisherman ......

Sorry, but the way I see it the channel is there for vehicular use, kind of like the streets and highways on land. If you want to play in the street, don't be surprised if you get hit.

 

[capt sam]

Re: River Boating around smaller boats

It's just a matter of common sense and common courtesy on everyones part. Big boaters tend to think they can bully their way thru channels regardless of who their wake may affect. I do try to give room and watch my back, people tend to get too close and then if you slow for a big wake they end up on top of you.

 

[25thmustang]

Re: River Boating around smaller boats

I agree it is definately a mutual thing for everyone.

I do also agree I see a lot of things going on in the channel that probably shouldn't.

People rafting up together, people tubing/skiing, people fishing etc...

In a nice wide channel this is no problem, but when your talking about a narrow channel and larger, deeper draft boats have no other options, it starts to get more difficult.

On a few occasions I dropped down to slower speeds for courtesy reasons. Did I need to, probably not, but I chose to. Especially with little kids on tubes, I felt I should be nicer and avoid any issues by simply slowing and making my way by.