Passing in a Channel...

[jeffk]

Originally Posted by MeredithMan

I was at my Marina's annual Customer Appreciation Party yesterday and Marine Patrol had an officer there answering questions, handing out flyers, and doing the community outreach thing.

I asked the officer about passing in a channel. His answer was that as long as the "passing boat" was not being reckless and endangering himself or others, was not leaving a wake, and was at "headway speed", it would be ok to overtake the slower vessel in front of him.

So there you have it.....

I think the key point here is "not being reckless and endangering himself or others". If there are only two boats in a channel and one passes the other, probably fine. If there are 5 boats in a channel, 3 going in one direction and 2 in the other and all trying to pass each other (a situation I witnessed, with a MP officer stopped in the middle of it all trying to ticket yet another vessel) I would define that as reckless bordering on insane. It's not the action, per se, it's the situation.

Yes, common sense but it seems uncommon for too many boaters.