No wake question

[gti 130 wow]

The other day some people pulled up to the beach along the entrance to a cove with the bow beached and the stern floating and declared the area a no wake zone cuz my wake is making the bottom of their boat rub against the sand.
Is this liget.? I was a good distance away and did not see their boats rocking. I think they just want to get rid of me us pwc operators at their little cove.

 

[Coastiejoe]

I think they would win the battle as, here is the difinition of a wake.

“No wake” is defined as a vessel traveling at or below idle speed, or at such speed that the boat or its wake (waves) is not sufficient to cause possible injury or damage to other persons, boats, or property. Speed in excess of five miles per hour is prohibited

Based on that, you were likely going more than 5 mph as your wake was sufficient enough for their boat to touch bottom when it normally was not.

Now, most, if not all, wake zones have a distance requirement as well. Such as, within 200 yards for example. If you were outside what the expected normal range wold be, and not of such a design that would still create a wake once it reaches the NO WAKE zone, then I would think you are good to go.

What I would do is call the local Cast Guard station as they will have knowledge of the area. Then if you have further issues, you will at least have something to back up your reasoning.

From the legal aspect, I would think I am correct. From the moral concept, sounds like the boater was a wiener...

 

[Spimothy Leary]

just because its not marked no wake doesn't always mean its not, around here that means 500 feet from shore. (not sure how it applies in a section that's less than 1000 feet wide, and we have a lot of narrow waterways around my area, and most of them are either posted no wake, or "resume safe speed" which basically means WOT to me).

you can check your local ordinance's regarding the specific shoreline restrictions if any that would apply for you.

As far as to your specific situation, I don't believe any boater that's not under distress has the right to force you to do anything other than what your local regulations require, so you just can't "declare' a no wake zone when its convenient for you, although it might be respectful on your part to pass by in such a speed/distance as you wold like them to do if you were parked there...

I've had boaters that were fishing 10 feet outside the 25mph channel try to get me to slow down and frankly IMO its their stupid fault for deciding to drop a line 10feet outside the channel, I will go 25, but I'm not going slower to satisfy their needs.

If they wave at me I just wave back and keep going. If I get the 1 finger salute, It will just make me laugh and increase the chance that i'll give them the Maverick "buzz the tower" treatment on my return trip, although to be honest i've thought about doing that 20 times but really only done that once, and the jerk deserved it

when i'm in narrow waterways, like upper caloosahatchee, estero river, or kissimmee river, we slow down for boats/kayaks/fisherman routinely especially if they are not under power, and I hope that another boater would show the same respect if the situation was reversed.

 

[gti 130 wow]

I did some reading and here is what I found. The area within 50 of his boat is a no wake zone.
Ouside the 50' radius you are required to run at speed such that you will not have any adverse effect on him, his passengers or boat.
I did not see their boat rocking at all so I was in the law with a catch. He had buddys that would back up the compliner. So if your by your self then your going to get screwed. If you have fellow pwc operators out doing it together and they all claim the guy is just making noise to get rid you all then your probably OK.So don't forget safety in numbers
applys to more the drowning prevention.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

That's one reason I've always liked having a loud exhaust, I can't hear a single complaint !

 

[Coastiejoe]

That's one reason I've always liked having a loud exhaust, I can't hear a single complaint !

My old Polaris had a dry exhaust. Once on plane I could hear NOTHING but my ski.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Spimothy Leary]

yip, I can still relate, my GPR had free flow, the drone at 3000 rpm's was ridiculous, and my RXT isn't much better, but its reasonable when idling, at least I can actually talk to a ski next to me in the no wake zone, on my gpr we had to yell at each other.

Circling back to the topic... I think a bit of common sense rules apply here in this an most situations, showing and receiving a little bit of respect goes a long way and most of us (certainly not all) are quite "polite" when it comes to the needs of their fellow boaters, I know I get frustrated when i'm on shore and somebody comes blasting by and knocks the hulls around and into each other. And PWC's have their share of asshat riders, usually in their 20's that don't show the mutual respect that we all deserve.

6 months ago we had a ride with about 15 ski's and we were all refueling on the shore for run #2 when one clown decided to show off and do some speed runs at 80 past us, maybe 50 feet away from shore. We we were all squeezed in together, half a dozen fuel can's were tipped up and braaaaap, here he comes by again, throwing up wake and knocking us all around. By the 3rd pass we were ready to string him up by his toes !

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

It's a common courtesy to avoid throwing a big wake down into a cove where other boats are stopped enjoying their day.
But perhaps the lake is small and you have no other place to ride.

I normally anchor my boat in knee-deep water to avoid abrasive damage, etc..

 

[Dr Honda]

As they guys above have said... look at the actual local laws.


BUT... if the guy pulled up on the beach, and was worried about the bottom of the boat... then he's a jack-a$$.