I believe a big reason that the tradition is dying is related to volume. It used to be that if you were out on the boat, passing another boat was an occasional thing and you noted it by recognizing the other boat with a wave.
With many, many times more boats on the water than 10 years ago, passing another boat is no longer a novelty, and on some days you would need to wave constantly to meet the requirement.
I also remember many years ago that BMW's on American roads were a novelty. They were also one of the only cars with a steering column mounted high-beam switch. A tradition evolved that BMW drivers would flash each other when passing. I don't see it anymore since there are so many BMW's out there now, and many car models have the flash feature.
|