Sunday Drivers/An "Apology"
 

I've seen a lot of high traffic days on the lake, but yesterday's traffic was horrible in a way I've not experienced before: soooo many people were Sunday Drivers going just over no-wake speed churning up the water but not fast enough to go anywhere.

My buddy and I, on our skis, had to zip around a LOT of people doing this (7-10 MPH on a ski just isn't possible). Though it was almost always over 150, if any of you felt Jettie One and its T-Rex-Armed/Tree-trunk-legged passenger got too close, I apologize!

Hope y'all had a great weekend!

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FYI, on a jet ski you need to be at least 300 ft I believe.

well if you were on the Blue jetski behind me yesterday while I was heading to Center Harbor than you definitely were NOT 150 ft away. I had a couple on their Jetski that was in my wake and my 3 yo spotted them. I looked back, and they were definitely within 50 ft of me.
But to keep on your point, on the way back, I did notice more than usual boats just drifting between Welch and Long Island on the way home.

I was with my L'il Buddy, so I hope we don't look like a couple!

The only times we were less than 150 were when passing. For example, a woman raced in front of us to the Graveyard then proceeded to do 8—literally 8—through, almost swamping a Whaler coming through the other way. When we got to the end, we zipped out and around closer than 150' but definitely more than 50'.

Did you hit up Gusto or Rubbin' Butts?

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The jet skis have gotten bad. I guess they think they are hot rods.:laugh:

What do you expect on weekends?

Hi Think--

You seem to be saying "Speed it up so I can rev my jet ski faster...or don't, I'll skip over those pesky nav rules...".

As my daughter might say, this seems "off brand" for you.

What's up?

I think THINK is saying that traveling 7-8 mph outside of a NWZ in a navigable area when it’s busy produces larger wakes and can be dangerous for other boats desiring to go closer to the speed limit. Kind of like doing 30 in the left lane of a highway.


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Exactly. The boaters I am referring to were less safe and very much less thoughtful going the speeds they were going. If the person in my example had been going no-wake speed, she wouldn't have almost swamped the boat coming from the opposite direction. Had she been going a more appropriate higher speed, she/we would've been through before the next boat.

There are many channels/narrow areas in the north, so it's especially important to consider speed and location (soooo many people towing tubes through NWZs this year).

My response, and what I was half-heartedly "apologizing" for, was attempting my best to mitigate that problem whilst recognizing that I might've been just under the required distance by law.

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Thanks, I am a sailor, so the paradox that a slower speed is a larger footprint is not as obvious to me

Almost swamped a Whaler going the other direction? Please explain this to me. Curiosity and all.

My wife and I took a ride Sunday afternoon out of Roberts' Cove in our 20' bowrider. There was a LOT of boat traffic all over the lake, as many of you have noted. On our return, about 1/2 mile from the entrance to Roberts' cove, I saw a PWC a couple hundred feet off our port bow make a sharp turn and take off at speed.

Seconds later I noticed a head bobbing in the water near where the PWC had been. The swimmer was hard to see at first as he had long black hair. He was also wearing a black shirt and black life vest. I was dumbfounded; why was a swimmer so far from shore?! He could easily be overrun by a boat. I motored over at idle to ask if he was OK. Turns out he'd fallen off the back of the PWC. The operator was unaware he'd lost his passenger and sped off.

We got the person on our boat, and had him stand on our engine cover for maximum visibility, hoping the PWC would return. About three minutes later we saw the PWC in the distance, going slowly and weaving back and forth as the operator searched for his passenger. Eventually I was able to get the operator's attention with a loud whistle, and he came alongside to pick up his passenger.

The result could have been much worse with so may unobservant drivers on the lake.

If a powerboat is going just below planing speed it puts out maximum wake as the rear of the boat squats down in the water. More power/speed gets the boat up on plane and reduces wake.

Going through the Graveyard, there are two markers close to each other. The "offending vessel," doing 8-10 (maximum wake as poster above noted), came around that marker as a 13/14' Whaler with a couple passengers doing no-wake speed was coming from the other way (they had slowed assuming the other vessel would have, too). The Whaler took a huge wave over the bow and starboard, soaking everyone and pushing them off-course into the marker. L'il Buddy turned to see if they were ok, and they had pulled over to bail a bit and "readjust."

Had the boat in front of us been paying attention at all, they'd have seen the size of the wake they were churning up. And, for the record, they were illegal by any interpretation of the law (150' = NWS).

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I didn't think it was you, just a joke.
Just went for a scenic drive with my kid.

I will second and third the going "slower" through the grave yard, I posted earlier in the season about that, and my buddy on his pontoon boat had the same a few weeks ago. Just no one cares about the safety in that area any more it looks like.

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the season and hopefully that it slows down a bit to actually enjoy the foliage by boat.

Very busy yesterday, though probably not nearly as much as Saturday and Sunday.

And while I lose little sleep about an exacting measurement of 150' separation depending on the water conditions and direction of travel, I did observe lots of people pushing the limits of reasonable safety even in no wake zones or at the docks in Weirs and Wolfeboro. People are always in such a rush and so aggressive its still surprising to me.

I'm particularly annoyed by how pushy some people are at the docks, the lack of waiting etiquette has gotten so much worse. Mostly old guys like me or even older, and they/we should be the ones leading by example for others.

Not sure why they are is such a rush, as long as people are behaving reasonably and waiting our turn, I dont care how long it takes to get a dock space.

With our new boat I dont like maneuvering between other boats to get to a front space, so I will frequently wave someone else on. But I do get quite annoyed when someone will just buzz up while 5 other boaters are waiting and the see an opportunity and cut everyone else off. Then yell back oh no we were here first, total BS and with a straight face. Very annoying,,,

On a positive note, saw lots of really good looking boats yesterday and great colors including lots of purple. Many were a few years older but with really great graphics that seem to be missing from the industry these days. Its as if the transition to bowriders and larger boats has eliminated the 20' - 35" sport boat class and their fun and pizzazz in favor of classy and sometimes boring color schemes. I think a good sport boat with fun graphics and bold colors is always fun to see, just much as fun as a true classic.

And by the way, in the endless stream boats passing through the Weirs channel and while trying to avoid getting hit or hitting someone, we saw a cool smaller boat named "Uncle Buddy" fun to see these size boats on the lake, but I would not have wanted to be crossing the lake in it yesterday. Either way and shout out to Uncle Buddy for a fun looking rig!

Just curious, Where were you that it was "busy" on Monday. I'm on the broads looking toward Welch and the Witches and by 1pm there was NO ONE there. Even my 3 yo who loves watching boats from the beach/dock was asking where the boats were. Just curious?

It'll be nice to have it a bit slower these next weeks, and I'm hoping the water level holds out. I gotta say, though, that I had a GREAT summer out there. ~60 hours on the ski and who knows how many on the boat. It was an awesome weather summer.

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By 1:00 there were about 8 boats waiting for dock space at Wolfeboro. We were there maybe an hour and then we left and cut behind the Varney Islands where there were maybe 10 boats anchored in various spots. Next we rode down Alton bay to Echo Point which had modest traffic. Back up the bay by the West Alton sandbar which had quite a few people anchored, then back to Paugas Bay with pretty heavy traffic under the Weirs bridge.

Not like a summer Saturday, but very much like a good summer Sunday.

Not surprised it was quiet where you are, way too windy out on the Broads for most.

On the way back between Diamond Island to Governors Island, the best speed we could do we like 25 MPH without getting beat up, and thats in a 7000 Lb 27" Formula.

Today was a great day to ride around in the convertible.

At one point I observed to wifey "There is nobody behind or in front of us".

The DD drive thru line was short and fast.

Tomorrow we hope to boat on a flat lake, find a dock with no boats hovering and have some lunch where there is no waiting list.

I love September!!!

This is a good visual explanation that power boaters should make sure they understand:

https://www.boat-ed.com/indiana/stud...0101602_35112/