Harassment from other boaters

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Chadomosis

Petty Officer 3rd Class
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I had an experience with another boater that has really rubbed me wrong. I was out fishing on my small bass boat with my daughter and my dog. Here comes a guy, full throttle, within 15' feet of my boat and when I threw up my hands in a "WTF" kind of movement, he proceeded to drive in circles around me. Three loops to be exact. Then he sped off flying a middle finger. I tried to talk to the rangers but he said "since he didn't see it, there is nothing he can do." I'm not big on starting fights or arguments, but what he did to me was downright reckless.
 

gm280

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I totally understand what you are saying. I too would have been irritated as well. But let me say something. Letting this get to you is basically allowing him to continue against you. I say chalk it up to a sorry boater and move on. It isn't worth raising your blood pressure to keep dwelling on it. Especially when there is nothing you can do about it now. We've all had similar situations and we all let them control our emotions as well. But try to let it go and go back out fishing. Nothing beats a nice day fishing in my opinion. JMHO
 

Chadomosis

Petty Officer 3rd Class
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Thanks gm, you're right. I do get a bit concerned for other peoples safety with a guy like that around though.
 

GA_Boater

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If you have a smartphone with a camera, take pics or better yet a video. Around here that is called proof and the rangers do write tickets using that proof.
 

aspeck

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A couple questions for clarification, do you know who the boater was? Do you know the boat registration number? Could you identify the driver and do you have a precise and accurate description of the boat? If you answered "No" to many of these questions, there isn't much you can do. If you do know the driver, or could identify him and know the registration number of the boat, there is a chance that you could talk to your State Waterways Patrolman (Fish and Game) and give them the information. There is probably nothing they could do since it is a "his word against yours" thing, but they could at least talk to the person and impress on him the need for safety and keeping the minimum distance from another boat while under way. Good luck.
 

Old Ironmaker

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I can't understand why the Ranger or any law enforcement could only investigate only if they were eye witnesses to a crime. If you could identify the boater authorities could at least put him on notice that he has been reported and they will be keeping an eye on him. This may be enough to curb his antics.
 

Stumpalump

Chief Petty Officer
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Dec 5, 2013
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If you have a smartphone with a camera, take pics or better yet a video. Around here that is called proof and the rangers do write tickets using that proof.

Wife tought me to just hold up the phone. She does it in the car when harrased. Shuts them up in a hurry.
 

EchoNovember

Petty Officer 1st Class
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May 25, 2017
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I had a fishing boat that lived on the lake we went to. Awesome lake for fishing as it seems like there is permanently a "No-wake" restriction due to high water level. This a-hole gets in his boat, moves slowly, no wake, from his dock, then goes WOT, generating a massive wake, and continues pretty much across the entire lake. He did it about 75 feet from me, so not too terribly close, but close enough I had to steer into the wake to avoid being broadsided by it. We learned quick that those wakes rock our 16' bowrider kind of hard. We were anchored up in the bay he lives in when he came back, and since we use a bow and stern anchor to anchor for fishing, all we could do was hold on. Thankfully the anchors stabilize the rocking. I saw where he docked up, and was sorely tempted to go over after he was back in the house and pull his drain plug and leave, but what would it accomplish? Guys like that don't care, and taking action against them like only make them more of an a-hole and they'd probably be rude to every boater going forward not knowing who did it.

Not the first jerk I've run across, not the last. There will always be people with too much money and not enough courtesy or brains.
 

Chadomosis

Petty Officer 3rd Class
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Aug 3, 2016
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The guy got what was coming to him. Apparently, he’s had multiple complaints and when he chose to engage with another fellow boater with a much shorter fuse, it didn’t end well for the harasser. A lifetime ban from that particular body of water and a few teeth missing... I don’t wish harm on anyone, ever. But this guy kinda had it coming...
 

Ken Kitchen

Cadet
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Mar 26, 2018
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That would be another reason you should always carry, if you feel you or one of your loved ones are physically threatened, you can protect them, and stop the threat. Maybe it's just that I'm getting older, but I just don't put up with crap anymore.
 
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