People do some dumb stuff.....

[Zarrella]

Where we boat....no one ever does anything stupid, everyone is super helpful and courteous. And all of the women are beautiful!


And then I woke up!!

 

[Zeus2013]

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.

I am in favor of it also. Unfortunately, as with cars, once they get a license, all common sense goes out the door.

 

[Zeus2013]

My biggest issues when boating is common courtesy. For example, I see people in motor boats passing small sail boats way too close and creating a wake that almost tips them over. I usually go wide around them or slow down and almost always get a thank you wave. My wife says my expectations of people are too high.

 

[BlacklimitedS]

I love it when several of us are tied up in a cove and some idiot does a fly by to show how fast his boat is. Then the rest of us deal with the wake! It is a big lake use it!

 

[davel501]

Last year in a tight area between 2 islands another boater and were set up to pass each other with 2 kayaks between us. We both no waked it but then with the kayaks right between us a ski boat split the difference between me and the kayaks on plane.

 

[0627Devildog]

I am in favor of it also. Unfortunately, as with cars, once they get a license, all common sense goes out the door.

Suffolk is already mandatory for New boaters. . . . Some are grandfathered in though (of which undoubtedly some serious bad habits exist)

 

[biglar155]

WI requires boaters safety for anyone born after Dec 31, 1988. So I'm grandfathered in. That said, I got my card in MI when I was 11 years old at our elementary school's week-long 6th grade camp.

(This thread reminds me that I started to do the WI on-line course last year as a refresher but got distracted and never finished it out. I really should push through the rest of it and get-er-done...)

I guess time will tell if this law actually helps make the world a better place.

 

[cbus]

@Chris5105 I left Alum for that very reason.

Every weekend there were endless idiots on the ramps and in the water. I was in the party cove with my kids and while we were in the water some guy flys by and nearly hit us.

Way too many boats there on weekends and gets too crowded to enjoy boating I felt so we now spend our time at Indian Lake.

 

[bgood188]

Well this is the ultimate ramp hog. This really happened at the ramp I use every time we go out. I don't know the story about what happened. but it would suck if I was trying to get off the water or in for that matter.

 

[Yamborghini]

When did laws ever stop someone from infringing on others liberties?

 

[Wayloncle]

All the rentals around here are nerve racking. The pass from the bay to the gulf is the worst, rental pontoons all over the place, rental jetskis zooming all around these pontoons, big ass fishing boats that don't give a crap about anything else flying 60mph straight through all that mess. Then you have to watch for all the kayakers trying to fish along the edges and the random john boats that are either anchored or drifting in the middle fishing...this is all just in the pass.

A young man died yesterday out there on a rental jetski, ran head-on into a boat.

 

[Volffas]

The boats going 40+ miles per hour don't really bother me since most of the time a very small portion of the boat is actually in the water. It's the big boats that "PLOW" through the water at 7 -15 miles per hour pushing HUGE waves out behind them that really get me. Several years ago with our old boat on the Ohio River we almost had a 40' Carver swamp our boat. He was within 15' of our boat and coming off of plane throwing some HUGE waves. There wasn't even time for me to turn into the waves so they hit us broadside and just about tipped the boat over. The only good thing was that there was a water patrol officer who saw the whole thing and stopped the guy to ask him if he had a clue what just happened.

 

[GTBRMC]

WI requires boaters safety for anyone born after Dec 31, 1988. So I'm grandfathered in. That said, I got my card in MI when I was 11 years old at our elementary school's week-long 6th grade camp.

(This thread reminds me that I started to do the WI on-line course last year as a refresher but got distracted and never finished it out. I really should push through the rest of it and get-er-done...)

I guess time will tell if this law actually helps make the world a better place.

Very similar experience here. Recommend you complete the WI online course. It's a bit time consuming, but has a lot of good reminders + some WI-specific info. Might (or might not) be an insurance discount in it for you also.

 

[Evildwarf]

Common courtesy!?! What a concept.

While anchored in the cove out front of the Little River Grill last night listening to the band some asshat roars through the no wake zone, then returns, anchors as close to us as he possibly can, shines his spotlight on each boat nearby (at which point the wife stands up and flips him off) then proceeds to crank his stereo.

I'm totally mystified by this kind of behavior, what planet was this guy raised on?

 

[Glassman]

Many, perhaps most, boaters don't realize that they can be held legally responsible for any damage their wake causes to vessels at anchor, moored or docked.

Look up your local boating laws. Print them out with the numbers of the agencies tasked with enforcing them.

Get those video cameras fired up and press charges. You'd be amazed at how the local News Stations eat that stuff up.

Notify the local politicians that the footage will get posted to the internet - possibly driving down visitors and revenue to local businesses if someone doesn't step up and enforce the local laws.

Otherwise, sit there and take it...shrug it off....next time it could be you or your boat on the receiving end of some idiot's actions.

 

[billyb]

We were anchored in a cove that is half moon like a few weeks ago. Three other boats were anchored in this cove that could easily house 10-12 boats without getting in the channel.

Anyway, we are all getting in the boat getting ready to leave and this complete douchebag drops anchor 15 feet from another boat...directly in front of them. Sure enough, anchor doesn't hold and they clipped the other guys anchor line as they realize they were a few feet from drifting into the other boat.

I swear, I would believe it if I had not witnessed it myself.

 

[sysinu]

My favorite is when I'm out in my own area on a beach, or plenty far enough from everyone else... anchored, usually from two different angles (bow and midship), into the wind and someone comes and does what the guy @billyb was talking about to me, then drifts toward me and then has the nerve to yell at me because I'm getting too close to them. I then point out to them that it's not me moving, but instead it is them that is drifting because they are using a Danforth anchor on 25' of rode with no chain and that my box anchor and Manson supreme with 12' of chain on it isn't budging.

In this example, though it's happened multiple times to me at Bear Lake (northern Utah) rendezvous beach, they were certain that it wasn't them moving and demanded that I moved instead. Sadly, it's hard to fight stupid people with much success for me... so I pulled anchors and re-anchored in front of them and watched them continue to drift toward the next craft (where from a distance it seemed the situation had hit the repeat button).


Can't fix stupid, sadly. The only hope is they forget to put the drain plug in and sink.

 

[Lspeedss]

YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID...

 

[Craig]

 

[Lspeedss]

And to think these people are breeding..