How close is too close

Dave R · 08-20-2012, 10:11 AM

I was towing tubes yesterday with very little boat traffic in my area. I saw a boat towing a slalom skier about 1/2 mile away so I altered course to give the skier the majority of the bay I was in and to keep my wake from him. 30 seconds later, two of my tube riders fell off and I made a 180 while slowing which tends to generate a rather large "knuckle" of confused waves in a fairly small area. I was about 400 feet from one shoreline, and 1/3 mile from the other. There were few boats in general and no other boats within 1/4 mile or more, except the ski boat that was headed for us. The ski boat driver used my boat and the fallen riders like a racing pylon and made a U-turn around us, finishing on the near shore side(between us and the shore 400 feet away). There was a huge amount of space on the other side to do all kinds of skiing. The ski boat ran smack into my wake "knuckle" and got completely airborne (perhaps that was the point???). The skier did really well considering what he was being dragged through and stayed up. I can't imagine what possessed them to do this, but it was very entertaining.

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08-20-2012, 10:11 AM	#8
Dave R Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 2,985 Thanks: 246 Thanked 744 Times in 444 Posts	I was towing tubes yesterday with very little boat traffic in my area. I saw a boat towing a slalom skier about 1/2 mile away so I altered course to give the skier the majority of the bay I was in and to keep my wake from him. 30 seconds later, two of my tube riders fell off and I made a 180 while slowing which tends to generate a rather large "knuckle" of confused waves in a fairly small area. I was about 400 feet from one shoreline, and 1/3 mile from the other. There were few boats in general and no other boats within 1/4 mile or more, except the ski boat that was headed for us. The ski boat driver used my boat and the fallen riders like a racing pylon and made a U-turn around us, finishing on the near shore side(between us and the shore 400 feet away). There was a huge amount of space on the other side to do all kinds of skiing. The ski boat ran smack into my wake "knuckle" and got completely airborne (perhaps that was the point???). The skier did really well considering what he was being dragged through and stayed up. I can't imagine what possessed them to do this, but it was very entertaining.