Inconsiderate boaters

[Zeus2013]

So this weekend was FULL of inconsiderate boaters. I took the family island camping at Lake George and had a great time. Two campsites share the same dock. There is a 5mph limit within 100' of any dock. All weekend boaters would be within the 100' zone going full speed and creating a wake and all the boats would be hitting the docks. I had enough sense to add a third line to a tree to keep the boat off the dock.

Found a nice huge cove to go swimming in where the water was nice and calm. Within 10 minutes, water skiers would come in to the cove right near use and start skiing. There was enough room to be away from us.

Watched large boats pass very near small sail boats creating a crazy wake.

Now, I know I do not own the lake, but there is plenty of room for everyone especially since it is early in the season and the lake was empty. If I see some one in an area, I usually go away from them to leave them alone.

Just wondering if anyone is running in to these kinds of boaters on a regular basis.

 

[bobbie]

that's why i mostly boat mid-week. i hate the crowds and the idiots on the weekend.

 

[Gym]

I'll bet most of those inconsiderate boaters were vacationers and not locals. We get the same thing on Cape Cod. Inconsiderates on the water, on the ramp and on the road. They figure they only have a week so they're going to jump in front of everybody. They also don't know the rules on the water.

 

[sysinu]

There's a similar post to this on another forum that covers one of my favorite lakes (LP) and the general consensus of the post was that the stupid self entitled kids with their parents boats combined with more people (and usually alcohol) just makes this matter worse. One thing I did get out of that post was that retaliation (even though it feels like someone needs to teach these dick heads a lesson, since their parents didn't do a well enough job of doing it right) only makes you the worse person and the more likely person to get the violation ticket. The example in the other forum was related to blowing by anchored boats with huge rollers when you obviously know it's going to cause potential damage to someone else's property; makes you super frustrated and the first thing that comes to my mind is my boat is bigger than theirs, I can fill my ballast and just drive back and forth @12MPH easily making a bigger wave then they do ... in my head at that instant it seems like a fine thing to do, but 2 hours later I realize it would have been a mistake. It's like mark twain says: "Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience."

Where this was at a dock, at least you could mention something to them as the pulled up so maybe they would be 1 less boat making people think that sort of behavior is acceptable.

I thought about buying a couple inflatable no wake buoys to put in a cove where I usually beach just to see if that would help anything, my guess (and the reason why I haven't even attempted it) is that it won't make a difference to these people.

 

[xoomer]

I live on an 80' wide canal and in the winter mainly, when the snowbirds are here, we get boats going 10-15 mph down the canal even though it is marked "no wake". My boat is on a lift so it doesn't matter now but before I had the lift built the boat would get a beating sometimes.

On the other extreme, we have a small lake where people can open up their boat a bit but there is one guy who lives there that apparently doesn't like that idea. A neighbor of mine was in his boat and the guy on shore thought he was going too fast so he cast his fishing line with a small weight on the end at my neighbor and it landed in his boat, almost hitting him in the head. It was a good thing he didn't hit him since my neighbor is a personal injury attorney.

 

[The Wanderer2]

Xoomer is right about snowbirds and winter boating in Florida. They just don't seem to understand the rules of navigation and which boat has the right away. I always boat defenesively in Florida even though I may be in the right. Too many first time boaters in the winter with little or no boating experience. I live on a canal with clearly marked "no wake" zone. I have a neighbor, who is Coast Guard retired, who violates this rule about 90% of the time. Lucky for me, he is only there one month out of the year.

 

[jcyamaharider]

I live on an 80' wide canal and in the winter mainly, when the snowbirds are here, we get boats going 10-15 mph down the canal even though it is marked "no wake". My boat is on a lift so it doesn't matter now but before I had the lift built the boat would get a beating sometimes.

On the other extreme, we have a small lake where people can open up their boat a bit but there is one guy who lives there that apparently doesn't like that idea. A neighbor of mine was in his boat and the guy on shore thought he was going too fast so he cast his fishing line with a small weight on the end at my neighbor and it landed in his boat, almost hitting him in the head. It was a good thing he didn't hit him since my neighbor is a personal injury attorney.

If he did this to me......HE would need a personal injury attorney after I got done with him. I am not a violent person but that is uncalled for and I usually have my kids and wife on board.

 

[Ronnie]

Yeah you don't need to get hit to sue or file charges what I read sounds like an assault which would be hard to defend against, especially if witnesses and/or videos are involved.

I'd bet the retired coast guard guy is speeding intentionally with a residual feeling of entitlement after years of being "above the law".

By far the most inconsiderate boaters I've ever met are fishermen. Many don't mind pulling up and casting next to others whether they are anchored or participating in water sports. Some expect others to slow down when they pass even if the fisherman are fishing in a high traffic area. Several have asked me if they could launch or recover jn front of me so that they could get to their spot or the weigh in quicker. Wtf?

 

[The Wanderer2]

You hit the nail on the head.

 

[RightStuff]

Selfishness and entitlement, that's what it really boils down to. Same thing goes for drivers on the road around you...

 

[0627Devildog]

Up by us, on the weekends it's insanity. I tend to steer clear of the lake mid day if I can. . . . I either go out early morning or in the evening to avoid all the knuckle heads. Our lake is rather narrow (pictured below) but long. There are a few with lack of common courtesy and some that are just outright dangerous.

What gets my goat is that generally the "Dedicated Wake Sport Boats" of the lake get pissed when they come into the calmer narrows, have no skier flag up, and you come within 300 feet of them (Theres literally no where else to go). They're all throwing their arms up in anger like they own the fucking place, when for the safety of their guest, they shouldn't even be there.

If you're not comfortable with boats passing by at speed DON'T GO WAKESURFING in what EQUATES to a channel!

Rant over.

 

[davel501]

Up by us, on the weekends it's insanity. I tend to steer clear of the lake mid day if I can. . . . I either go out early morning or in the evening to avoid all the knuckle heads. Our lake is rather narrow (pictured below) but long. There are a few with lack of common courtesy and some that are just outright dangerous.

What gets my goat is that generally the "Dedicated Wake Sport Boats" of the lake get pissed when they come into the calmer narrows, have no skier flag up, and you come within 300 feet of them (Theres literally no where else to go). They're all throwing their arms up in anger like they own the fucking place, when for the safety of their guest, they shouldn't even be there.

If you're not comfortable with boats passing by at speed DON'T GO WAKESURFING in what EQUATES to a channel!

Rant over.
View attachment 8741

For the safety of the people in the water you probably should drop your speed because safety of life comes first. It should be you yelling at them though, this is rude just like fishing in the middle of a channel. I get fishermen that block my way out to the lake then get mad at me when I ask them to at least pull their fishing lines in so I can pass within the marked channel.

 

[0627Devildog]

For the safety of the people in the water you probably should drop your speed because safety of life comes first. It should be you yelling at them though, this is rude just like fishing in the middle of a channel. I get fishermen that block my way out to the lake then get mad at me when I ask them to at least pull their fishing lines in so I can pass within the marked channel.

You are ABSOLUTELY correct. Human life and the protection of it is paramount. We're hardly ever above 25MPH in the area I am thinking of and stay off these boat by 100yards MINIMUM if we are cruising at anything other than NO WAKE mode. While 100 Yards seems close in open water. . . . it is still a very safe distance when factoring in the angles of approach (parallel to their path of travel) and their rate of speed (often <10 MPH or 0MPH as people are getting into and out of the water). I operate our vessel with an OVERABUNDANCE of caution as I have 2 small children on board. My point above is the folks with these high dollar dedicated wake sports boats think they own the waterway and can use it as they see fit. We are not exactly talking The Great Lakes here. . . . (in which case the rules still apply anyway) on smaller lakes you need to make room, and operate in a manner that is safe for your passengers and considerate of other boaters. Blocking waterways with tubers/skiers/surfers/boarders, and then getting angry because people are "too close" in your opinion is simply bad form.

 

[davel501]

You are ABSOLUTELY correct. Human life and the protection of it is paramount. We're hardly ever above 25MPH in the area I am thinking of and stay off these boat by 100yards MINIMUM if we are cruising at anything other than NO WAKE mode. While 100 Yards seems close in open water. . . . it is still a very safe distance when factoring in the angles of approach (parallel to their path of travel) and their rate of speed (often <10 MPH or 0MPH as people are getting into and out of the water). I operate our vessel with an OVERABUNDANCE of caution as I have 2 small children on board. My point above is the folks with these high dollar dedicated wake sports boats think they own the waterway and can use it as they see fit. We are not exactly talking The Great Lakes here. . . . (in which case the rules still apply anyway) on smaller lakes you need to make room, and operate in a manner that is safe for your passengers and considerate of other boaters. Blocking waterways with tubers/skiers/surfers/boarders, and then getting angry because people are "too close" in your opinion is simply bad form.

Figured that is what you meant but figured I would go for the clarification since we get a lot of folks that are new to boating.

The system I am on is lakes and river and sometimes it looks like you could walk across the lake on the boats without getting your feet wet. The river is 100-200' wide with no wakes only near the dams. You can run WOT all day long on the rivers and lakes as long as you slow to no wake for the channels that connect everything. With that kind of crowding and that kind of speed people still put their kids in a tube behind their boat during the weekend and people still run WOT right by them. There was a little boy being towed behind a boat his dad had rented that fell off the tube while his dad was playing crack the whip from no wake to no wake where a channel opened into a lake that got chopped up by a Baja boat going for WOT being captained by a guy that tested OUI for alcohol and cocaine.

With weekend warriors like those I tend to do most of my boating on week days now.

 

[TechRider]

Sounds like every weekend on Candlewood lake in CT. People flying everywhere.

Lots of fun but sometimes you don't want the boat rocking like crazy.

 

[0627Devildog]

This Sunday was BAAAAAAAD. . . . There were a bunch of Tools out on Stand up Jet Skis that were getting WAY to close for comfort in order to jump wake. We literally headed home early because of the chaos. . . . .

 

[Ronnie]

In those situations I will either stop and wait them out or accelerate to wot and leave them them behind. Sometimes I slow down to make a bigger wake for them to jump but thanks rare and usually only done to entertain whoever I have on board. Most of the jet skiers I've met on the water are courteous and will back off if I ask them to but there will always be a few of those other guys who don't know or don't care about the rules of the water.

 

[0627Devildog]

In those situations I will either stop and wait them out or accelerate to wot and leave them them behind. Sometimes I slow down to make a bigger wake for them to jump but thanks rare and usually only done to entertain whoever I have on board. Most of the jet skiers I've met on the water are courteous and will back off if I ask them to but there will always be a few of those other guys who don't know or don't care about the rules of the water.

They were relentless. . . . . And there was no way I was leaving them in my dust, when I was fully loaded with fuel, passengers, and gear. . . Otherwise I would have. The lake was VERY busy and they were acting dangerously IMHO. Once they passed we left the area for our nice quiet section of the lake.

 

[scokill]

People ignoring no wake is a pet peeve for me...especially marked, but also coming in to a party cove situation. Now I don't like it when water sports folks come near when there might be other places to go, but I'm sympathetic as sometimes there aren't many places to go and folks will anchor in known runs. When it's crowded there just aren't a lot of options. We were in a remote spot tubing and wakeboarding this weekend and two fishing boats started fishing in our runs. We didn't get too close, but we didn't leave either. We were creating some uncomfortable wake for them but in all honesty we were there first, so I didn't mind. If they had been there first we would have kept our distance.

 

[Ronnie]

@scokill , I understand and agree with you on how to handle the situations you described.
@0627Devildog, I was speaking about leaving behind the guys on standups. Some of them can hit 50' but most can't and even if they can it is hard for them to hold that speed for long. Speeding up also helps flatten out the wake which makes it less desirable as a launch pad.

I get the I was here first argument but what is the rule if a fisherman or other boat just comes in, throws anchor and starts to fish or swim? I am "guessing" that it is my responsibility to slow down around them.