respect

Hey all, I went to duluth mn. this weekend to visit my daughter and take her for her first boat ride. Well she had other ideas than boating but, i didnt haul my boat 5hrs for nothing. I launched into the st.Louis river about a 15min boat ride from lake Superior. I planned on going to a small lake but since my daughter wasnt with I wasnt going pass the opportunity to go on the big lake. My marine radio wasnt hooked up and my kicker wasnt along so I just wanted to go through the canal and do a big u-turn and come back. I had all other safety equipment and couldve hooked up my radio if I wanted to go farther out but my girlfriend is new to boating and I really wanted to protect her first experience on water larger than our smaller lakes here in mn. So im going through this channel and this jerk comes flying through on a 30fter (mines 19) with his bow pointed straight to the sky. We were in what my ladyfriend thought was trouble and she got scared of the 3ft rollers bouncing off the channel walls and back at us. I grew up boating the delta and San Francisco bay and Pacific in general so I thought nothing of it. She soon relaxed and found some faith in my boating skills. Now I proved to her that her safety is more important than my desire to cruise on superior. I showed her how nice other boaters are when you slow down when your wake will affect them. She commented, "you would think everybody would show respect to others on the water!" In one moment all the time I spent teaching her about my boat and rules couldve been lost because she got scared by a jerk her first time out. The rest of the day we cruised the river and she loved it. She wants to go back as bad as I do. Respect weather, water, our limits and each other. In a perfect world I guess......

Re: respect

Unfortuently, that word is lost to some people, and it seems like it's getting worse every year.

Re: respect

Glen,<br /><br />Boaters are just people. If they're rude in life generally, they'll be the same in a boat. If they're considerate - they'll be the same in a boat. <br /><br />I bet you're the type who queue's in line at a store and waits your turn. So you're the same in your boat. And I bet you're teaching your daughter the same standards of life.<br /><br />Here, nobody queue's - they just push and shove and shout. You should see them on the weekend in their boats!!

Re: respect

My wife and I went out this weekend with our 2 yr old. We were just cruising the ICW from our place to atlantic city. A pair of large (40,45 ft) cruisers approached in the other direction. They must own the ICW because they just abour forced me into a channel marker pole, and tossed my 23 footer like it was a toy. I gave them the old jersey bird salute and the one guy waved back like I was waving to him. <br /><br />Then further down a cat with twin big blocks passed us at what had to be 120mph. I told my wife "hey look you can see underneath that boat" was barely touching the water. Probably about 36 feet, moving an honest 100+, and wasn't even a wake behind it. He was burning the expensive stuff, felt the tingly burn of nitro in my nose after he passed, and the engine had the unmistakable sound and smell of a nitro funny car, or should I say two nitro funny cars. <br /><br />I guess what I'm trying to say is you're not alone out there. Seems like the bigger the boat, the bigger the moron at the helm. Of course this is not true 100% of the time but it's gotta be close to 90%.

Re: respect

Some people in big boats have no clue what their wakes do. I spent Sunday helping bring a big Silverton up from around Newport, RI to Boston - about a 6 hr cruise. The new owner, experienced with smaller boats (He had a nice 24' Proline before he bought this big cabin cruiser), had no idea what his wake was like. I had to keep reminding him to give people a wider birth and at times slow down to reduce his wake. Finally, I got him to turn around and watch what his wake was about to do to a good size sailboat that got caught in his wake. Now he understands... some people just don't realize what they are doing...

Re: respect

I am so sick of rude people. This weekend we had pulled over out of the main body of the lake to get my son ready to knee board. We were about 20-30 feet off the shore when this jack a** goes between my boat and the shore.

Re: respect

Ralph,<br /><br />I think you're right about that. There are a lot of novice boaters buying big boats these days. They're watching over the bow, not the stern, most of the time, and many of them don't even know where they're going.<br /><br />They have no idea what's behind them. I had a 24' cuddy go by me at about 30 mph, not 50' from where I was anchored fishing. I grabbed a gunwale and held on. When the wake had passed, I was about 10' closer to the shoreline than I had been. The wake lifted my anchor.<br /><br />I watched the guy go up the lake, and saw that he had stopped over a well-known walleye flat, so I picked up my anchor and motored up there.<br /><br />When I got there, I hailed the boater and explained what his wake did to me, and explained that 50 feet away from a boat anchored near shore is just too darned close at 30 mph in a boat his size. I didn't yell at him...just explained.<br /><br />He apologized profusely and asked me what he should have done. I told him, and he thanked me. He said that he had only had his boat for a couple of weeks. I told him about a boating safety class that was starting up nearby.

Re: respect

When I was fishing in my local waters one day a cruiser came by really flying, the thing must have been close to 60 foot, and the wake almost swamped my 22 footer. Well, later on in the day I saw the same boat high and dry on a bar, with Seatow trying to pull him off. Maybe if he wasn't going so fast in such a small channel, he wouldn't have done that. Bet he learned a lesson. If not, I look forward to seeing him on another bar soon.

Re: respect

And some boaters you can't blame for doing that coz some boaters, in my area, don't care where they fish and anchor. They fish right in front of an entry and exit of a bridge which is a main and only passageway. some fish and anchor right between the red and green buoys of an inlet which is also a main passageway.

Re: respect

That's true, milkyway. But I'm not one of those fishermen. If I anchor to fish, I'm well out of any boats and well out of any high speed circuits on the lake. I don't like fishing where people are going fast. I don't like holding onto the gunwales.<br /><br />Respect works both ways. I don't obstruct the skiers, speedboats, or other fast activities. Ever. And I expect others to respect reasonable clearances from my boat when I'm at anchor.<br /><br />Actually, I believe it's the law.

Re: respect

Funny cause on the flip side, we had a guy anchored right at the channel marker fishing near a tight harbor entrance where we were stopping to fuel up - we were at minimal headway speed and still swamped him and he gets mad at us and gave us the finger! What a moron... so on the way back out he got a nice warning blast from the big air horns!

Re: respect

I didnt expect to see so many responses. I was kinda venting since I felt so many here would understand. I admit I wanted to follow that guy and tell him off but catransplant had it rite. i remember a big smile on the guys face and by the way his boat was trimmed he was a novice. maybe I shouldve followed him and took the mature approach instead of doing nothing. I think I missed an opportunity to make a positive impact on boating. The big guy does indeed work in mysterious ways. I have a new attitude. of course if Im met with rude resistance to my future attempts at handling the situation positively and keeping my family safe they better hope they at least learned how to use their marine radio to call for help! Seriously though I said nothing because I wanted to avoid conflict since I was already fuming. I witnessed this family in a sailboat get thrashed by three boats that sped close by them. When I slowed by him he looked so grateful and he had his kids wave to us. I dont remember seeing such rude behavior in California where I used to fish the Pacific frequently. I guess I took it for granted that people more often take big water seriously. Thanks for the responses all!

Re: respect

I try to be as pleasant as possible when dealing with rude folks. By assuming that they did not know what they were doing, I can approach them and offer suggestions.<br /><br />Too often, though, such efforts are rewarded with the one-finger salute. So it goes. I refuse to let the jerks spoil my day on the water, so I just motor away from them.<br /><br />Still, if someone deliberately operates their boat unsafely on the water, I have no compunctions about calling the lake patrol on my cell phone. I have the numbers programmed into my cell phone for the lakes I visit and don't hesitate to call.

Re: respect

Even when i just had a 12 foot jon boat with a 2.5 merc(that went a blistering 5.2 mph according to gps)I always backed off of it when passing other fishermen on the small lake that I fished.Always did even from the first time I went out.Duh,how about some common courtesey?I had an a## bag pass me within 30 feet while I was fishing,with his motor trimmed up and only going about 10 mph but pushing a huge wake.The bad part of it is he knew what he was doing because he turned around and laughed after he passed me.Thank goodness I have a bigger boat than my old 12 footer.And thank goodness for him that my 3 year old little girl wasnt with me cause I wouldnt have had the wisdom that ca has.I know where is dock is and I have a cordless drill with a long 1 inch bit........