People do some dumb stuff.....

[Evildwarf]

Crowded day on the lake today.
The channel under the Bells Ferry bridge at Little River gets a lot of no wake traffic passing back and forth from the marina and the boat ramps into the main part of the lake.
So some guy is towing his kids on a tube through the channel and around in front of the boat ramps and across the front of the marina.
So he wasn't driving a Yamaha so it's unlikely he will read this but if you happen to be reading this YOU ARE AN IDIOT.
And if you wish to discuss this with me at the marina some day I will be happy to explain how your kids could have got hurt and you jacked up the channel for everyone around you.
2 summers ago a teenage girl was killed tubing through the same area.
Common sense people.......

Ok, I feel better now.
Sorry for the rant.

 

[jawsf16]

I see people tubing at the mouth of the highport marina exit all the time just outside the no wake. Arguably the busiest big boat traffic spot on all of Texoma. You don't have to be smart to afford a boat....

 

[itsdgm]

I see people tubing at the mouth of the highport marina exit all the time just outside the no wake. Arguably the busiest big boat traffic spot on all of Texoma. You don't have to be smart to afford a boat....

Unfortunately they don't have to be smart to have kids either!!!

 

[txav8r]

While we all enjoy the freedom to buy and enjoy a boat without governmental hassles, I for one would be in favor of some sort of mandatory licensing and required boaters safety course. I would even enjoy seeing a "lifeguard" of sorts at the ramp to police it somewhat. It isn't every day, but some clowns can just decide to do all their prep or unload right in the middle of the ramp!

 

[Bruce]

This event definitely belongs in this thread
One Fatality after three boats collide just outside Smyly's ...

 

[Chris5105]

Yesterday we anchored about 20 ft inside the swim zone, in the area you are supposed to anchor to swim, after we were there for about 25 minutes a guy in a 50 foot catamaran style boat that belongs on some deep water ocean racing circuit, decided his best path from the south end of the lake to the north end of the lake was about 30 feet on the outside of the swim area and his best speed to do it was about 65-70.

 

[Kevin M]

@Chris5105 , what lake was that at?

 

[SCSTWG]

While we all enjoy the freedom to buy and enjoy a boat without governmental hassles, I for one would be in favor of some sort of mandatory licensing and required boaters safety course. I would even enjoy seeing a "lifeguard" of sorts at the ramp to police it somewhat. It isn't every day, but some clowns can just decide to do all their prep or unload right in the middle of the ramp!

New York is moving to a mandatory boater safety course for all drivers of all motorized boats. I am in favor of it as well, but also understand it creates some logistical issues as oftentimes the owner of the boat will be the only one able to drive it.

 

[bgood188]

I'm new to owning a boat and having to deal with loading and unloading. I'm shocked every time I go out how dumb people are. The ramp I use has a courtesy dock. Which means unload your boat and get out of the way (Posted) . EVERY weekend some idiot will be doing an engine rebuild at the ramps on the side of the dock you can back into.

This pass weekend as I was unloading some jack ass in a bass boat pulls up 15 ft behind me and ties of his boat (Bow only) and leaves to get his truck. Of course the stern floats around and blocks both ramps. IDIOT. Of course this slows down me getting in and the other lane a guy was trying to load. The guy loading untied the boat and watched it drift into the weeds. It was funny watching the idiot standing on the dock trying to figure it out.

Of course, every weekend we meet great people who are always willing to help. But man the idiots are abundent at the ramps.

I do love the guy working on his engine with a lit cigarette!

 

[ToddW850]

Geez, I had to read everyone's BIO on where they were from and make sure you guys weren't here. All these stories were VERY familiar, because I see the same crap. There are some true idiots out there living in their own world.

 

[Chris5105]

@Chris5105 , what lake was that at?

Alum

 

[Boat Crazy]

Greers Ferry Lake 3 weekends ago. While waiting in the staging area ready to off load on a 4 lane ramp, 2 boats in front of me, a pontoon boat pulls up to the the first ramp, blocks anyone from getting to any of the other ramp, off loads coolers from car, loads a half dozen passengers, Has passengers climbing on and climbing off the boat and has NO clue other boaters are waiting on him. After he finally gets off loaded, 4 different boats can now pull up and off load. Some are just "Totally Clueless".

 

[cane.mba]

I love it when idiots anchor their pontoons in the middle of a main channel. My next favorite is when the same pontoon idiots pull tubers through a main channel. My lake is pretty large and has some massive boats on it, 80'+ house boats, 40-50' yachts, sail boats, etc, so the main channels get a ton of traffic, and there's always at least one idiot anchored....

 

[biglar155]

Then in addition to all this, you have the fishermen who like to hold their boat stationary in the narrow channels under the bridges thus blocking the route in a busy area. I love the ones that refuse to even look at you as you are trying to go through. (this is all happening at no-wake speed of course.) And if you pass too close (which you MUST because of their position) they give you ugly looks. When I get that I just say very simply "You know damn well you're blocking the channel."

 

[Geiger41]

Since this is my first boat and summer boating, I only have one pet peeve. Fisherman drifting on the middle of the channel. I think to my self A..Should I just blast by this dude..or B..should I slow down. Wont lie, have chosen both A and B.

 

[Glassman]

Haha you guys sound like me a few years back...until I got one of these and mounted it up in the bow:

 

[Ronnie]

Last year I passed a cabin cruiser that was "beached" on a levee in the Sacramento delta. The guy on it was fishing off the back with his wife. I gave him a courtesy wave as we made Eye contact, he in turn flipped me off, as if to say, "how dare you boat in this (main) slough while I'm fishing in it!" Fast forward a few hours he waves me down on my return trip to the ramp. He couldn't get his boat started (I think he killed his battery while at anchor) and needed assistance. I in turn offered to send the river patrol out to assist him and suggested that he put away all the empty beer cans and bong before they got there. He declined my offer. A little kindness would have gone a long way with me, had he not flipped me off I would have tried to jump start his boat or maybe offer to tow him in. Still for every idiot I see on the water there seems to be at least three times that on the ramp.

 

[davel501]

People apply car logic to boats then act stupidly. There is a bridge that I have to go under in a tight channel and the marina right next to the bridge allows fishing from the shore. The fishermen get so angry when they have to move their lines because I center up on the bridge to get the most clearance for my tower. Those guys are almost as much fun as the guys that like to throw out 2 anchors and 6 lines from the pontoon right in the mouth of the channel to my house. They try to wave me by like I am just being difficult for not wanting to take my boat through a 1' deep weed patch against a steel seawall, well outside the marked channel that they have completely blocked.

 

[biglar155]

Last year I passed a cabin cruiser that was "beached" on a levee in the Sacramento delta. The guy on it was fishing off the back with his wife. I gave him a courtesy wave as we made Eye contact, he in turn flipped me off, as if to say, "how dare you boat in this (main) slough while I'm fishing in it!" Fast forward a few hours he waves me down on my return trip to the ramp. He couldn't get his boat started (I think he killed his battery while at anchor) and needed assistance. I in turn offered to send the river patrol out to assist him and suggested that he put away all the empty beer cans and bong before they got there. He declined my offer. A little kindness would have gone a long way with me, had he not flipped me off I would have tried to jump start his boat or maybe offer to tow him in. Still for every idiot I see on the water there seems to be at least three times that on the ramp.

You're a better man than I. If they didn't appear in immediate danger I wouldn't have acknowledged them. I like to think I wouldn't have flipped THEM off at that point, but not sure I'd have been able to control it.

 

[Noko]

@Glassman, And here I thought I was the only one who had one of those on my boat! I modded my harpoon into a quad harpoon.