Boat rage

[OldGaffer]

I have had my tuppence worth in another thread about Rudeness, but is boat rage spreading in the yachting fraternity?

I like to think not, but perhaps I lead a sheltered life on the East Coast where most yachties are are a happy considerate lot.

However, over the years I have seen some appalling examples of boat rage from speedboat hooligans and clots in motor cruisers.

On the Blackwater many years ago a friend of mine was single handed in a Minisail when he was run down by a speedboat towing a skier. My chum's wet suit was scorched and melted due to friction where the hull of the speedboat went over him. The twerp responsible for the crash had the nerve to claim my chum was sailing in a restricted area. The truth was that the speedboat driver was waving at the person he was towing and did not see my chum.

Shortly afterwards off our club slipway two speedboats towing skiers colldied head on leaving about six people in the water with broken limbs. Again there was aggro over who was to blame.

The daftest water rage I have seen was on the Norfolk Broads when I was sailing a vintage halfdecker with the family on board and tacking up the River Bure. A motor cruiser with a woman at the helm came towards us and the poor woman panicked over how to deal with a zigzagging yacht. A male voice from inside the cabin shouted at her: "Turn left you stupid cow". Another male voice from the cabin said: "Don't you call my wife a stupid cow". We eventually passed the motor cruiser to see fists flying as the two men battled in the wheelhouse. The cruiser eventually ran out of control into the bank.

It would be interesting to see what boat or water rage is happening these days (other than the usually mild swearing and cursing which has been part of yacht racing for decades)

<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by OldGaffer on 09/07/2003 11:29 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[tcm]

Re: Gaffer rage

I am not at all sure that boat rage is confined to mobos, as your post seems to insist. And an accident itself might not lead to rage, might it? I wonder if another interpration is that your boat is so slow that you have only ever witnessed mobos who come past exhibiting the bad behaviour which has prompted your comments? Perhaps whole heap of yotties are elsewhere, exhibiting symptoms of Chandlery Rage, Woodworking Rage, Varnishing Rage, Bird Droppings on Deck Rage, Very Slow Boat Rage, Ancient Manky Engine Rage - and so on. I think it would be best if the subject was dropped before we all get more annoyed at the behaviour of others - the well-advertised "Rage Rage".

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[claymore]

Charming

Old gaffer has a pop about something - you not only rubbish his theories but then tell him to pack it all in and stop moaning about things because that causes rage rage - which you throw in as a well known phenomenon. So well known that I've never heard of it and then you add the definitive list of rages.
That sort of thing really makes me angry.
Next thing you'll be saying is that Scots with constipation are suffering from po rage or that being excluded is outrage

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Claymore
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[Twister_Ken]

>On the Blackwater many years ago a friend of mine was single handed in a Minisail when he was run down by a speedboat towing a skier.<

If it was the same accident it was, as you say, many years ago. Near Loughton Steeple Bay and Marconi SCs? Close to Wedgie-Benns ancestral gaff? If so, I was very close by sailing my Fireball at the time.

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[Twister_Ken]

Re: Charming

The way the clichés are going here, we could be talking TCMgate very shortly.

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[OldGaffer]

Re: Gaffer rage

TCM

I am not suggesting that all water rage is associated with motorboaters. In fact I have many friends who are motor boat owners and they are to a man charming and responsible users of the waterways, both inland and offshore.

I listed three examples of accidents/rage which occured in the 1970s and 1980s because I witnessed them. I referred to them because although people were injured some of those involved were intent on dispute and rage moments after an incident had happened.

I am sure there have been examples of yacht or dinghy rage, but luckily I have not witnessed any which progressed beyond a reversed Victory sign or a four letter curse or two.

By inviting readers of this forum to submit brief details of any incidents they have witnessed I was trying to discover if yachting and boating might be sinking as low as other forms of transport where common courtesy and consideration for others is vanishing fast.

Do not give names or precise locations otherwise we would be the subject or lawyer rage and litigation rage, which are also common ailments.



Yours considerately and with no hint of rage

The OG

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[OldGaffer]

Re: Gaffer rage

Spot on Ken....I was nearby racing in an Enterprise. Minisail owner was out of Loughton Steeple Bay. About 1970 or 71 I reckon. Minisail man bought a cruising yacht after that little episode on the grounds that he would have a ton of fibre glass around him if he was ever rammed again.

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[jimi]

Many years ago I was towing someone and pulled his bow off. He got really angry. Was that an example of having an entourage?

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[Evadne]

In the interests of reducing rage

In the last year or two, probably as a response to fora such as this one, a lot of column inches in YM, PBO etc. has been written about boat rage and the aggro between sailing and motor boats. I think that this year in the Solent I've detected a decrease in this. Many Mobos steer around us or slow down and some Raggies even obey the ColRegs when motoring.

It could be because we've all actually got to hear the other people's point of view, and because most folk are fairly reasonable, a little courtesy costs nothing and a little thoughtfulness is generally considered seamanlike then things will always get better.

On the other hand, there was an upsurge in boat ownership a few years ago and maybe all the newbies are getting the hang of boat handling and not doing quite such stupid things any more?


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[aod]

Re: Gaffer rage

Simple fact is that he's right because most of the stupidity is exhibited by pratts with too much money buying a speed boat and wreaking inshore havoc.

Leigh on Sea a few years ago I had my whole family including two young children in a tender rowing back from the moored boat to the hard when some pratt went zipping by with a stupid grin on his face creating so much wash that we were swamped. At the time I was really concerned for the safety of my family and no bones about it if I could have got my hands on him I would have bopped the fool.

Another time I was anchored at night in fog at the entrance to Southampton water. This fog was so dense that I couldn't see the bow of a 35ft boat and we anchored in 3 metres because it was madness to try and get up to Ocean Village. We had all the nav lights on on the basis that at least someone would think 'whats that' and I sat on the foredeck with a foghorn.

After about an hour and in the early hours I hear the distant and distinct noise of a revving outboard. The noise got closer and closer until out of the murk I hear someone shouting 'f******g yacht, f******g yacht and a small speedboat went past me banked hard over doing about 25 knots. He missed us by about 10 to 15ft.

Folly Inn for a lunch time stop. Parked the yacht on the Folly jetty for a quick pint and a sandwich. I normally always tie off the tiller but stupidly this time I didn't. Parked behind me is a huge power cruiser (approx 45ft) and we are stern to stern.

Unbeknown to me the idiot decides to test the power of his engines while safely tied to the pontoon. The power of the wash from his engines was sufficient to force the rudder of my boat over untill the tiller hit the runner winch and it bent the rudder stock (3" stainless tube).

I do not imply that all motor boat/speed boat users are dangerous or inconsiderate. Indeed there are many responsible and considerate power boat skippers. But I have been sailing for 25 years and it is my experience that almost every negative and avoidable encounter I have had has been with power boats either being inconsiderate or simply going too fast in the circumstances.


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[Sybarite]

Re: Charming

I don't wish to be always appearing to defend the French perspective but that's where I am. I, along with 100's of others, often sail out of Lorient harbour past the Citadelle where the passage is only about 100m wide. On a Sunday evening coming back in after the regattas and week-end cruises it's often very very crowded - to say nothing of the fishing boats and ferries returning too. In 12 years in Lorient I have NEVER once heard a disagreeable comment from one boater to another even if other boats were less than 10m away. I'm not saying it doen't happen, I just have never heard it.

Is this wanting to denigrate / give lessons to others a particularly British thing ? (I am British too)

John

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[qsiv]

Re: Charming

Apart from differring values, perhaps one element is exemplified if you look round most of the west coast of France marinas.

Not only do you see mainly sailing boats, but many are smaller rather than bigger. On the MoBo front many if not most are peche promenade. The French seem to want to be close to the sea, close to nature, rather than simply seeing the sea as a place to play at any price. God knows, road manners can be indifferent in France, and the radio discipline is poor (why is there always a young child singing on the VHF?), but in most people using boats seem to do it for relaxation rather than to boost their egos....

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[tcm]

Re: meanwhile on another french coast...

the boats are very large indeed.

But similarly, not much boat rage. Well, nowhere near as much as in UK. No fistwaving or anything, ever.

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[qsiv]

Re: meanwhile on another french coast...

maybe they're big enough to be crewed ...

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[charles_reed]

Symptomatic of .. overcrowding?

Certainly I've noted far fewer instances of lack of consideration for other boaters, since I left UK waters 3 years ago.

Still volume of noise is inversely proportional to boat-handling competence in all countries.

There were some very interesting experiments done on overcrowding rats on the late 50s - yotties appear to react very similarly, though I haven't heard of any indulging in infanticide...

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[Sybarite]

A solution - true story

Tony Campolo tells about a businessman who got on the elevator in an enormous skyscraper on his way up to the floor where he worked. He could have been like all the other businessmen on that elevator--serious, tense, gloomy--but he chose not to be like them.
As he got on the elevator, he turned and faced the people behind him instead of facing the elevator doors. Then he smiled at all assembled and said, "We're going to be traveling together for quite a while, you know." And then he added, "What do you say we all sing?"
And would you believe they did it? All those serious business people sang a raucous round of "You Are My Sunshine." By the time they reached their floor, they were all laughing and relaxed.

John

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[Sammy]

I will join in, Over the last couple of seasons I have found that there is very little consideration from boaters mainly Power boats but not all when passing moored boats.
Based in portsmouth on the swinging bouys it is amazing how close boats will pass at speed even if you are unloading from a dinghy. I think it is general ignorance rather than anything else they do not realise the dangers. Having been brought up with wooden boats and on Thames moorings one tends to respect other craft and tries not to disturb or damage by exccesive wash or am I just old fashioned.
Chris

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[OldGaffer]

Sybarite makes a very interesting point: A good old sing-song can certainly break the ice at any gathering.

Many a time I have pitched up at an East Coast pub and have been singing along with the locals after only a few pints of the local real ale.

The most memorable was a Sunday lunchtime session at the Butt and Oyster, Pin Mill, where scores of boating people joined in the choruses of The Bargeman's Alphabet, led by the one and only Bob Roberts, then skipper of the last trading barge Cambria. The Tolly certainly flowed from the barrels behind the bar that day!


More recently at a Broadland pub, two or three racing skippers chirped up with the legendary number, Norfolk and Good, by local folk singing hero Sid Kipper and in no time nearly everyone in the bar had joined in the chorus "We are the boys who are Norfolk and Good" (taking care to pronounce the last three words accurately to avoid a serious misunderstanding).

Often when approaching the Crouch I am reminded of the song Rolling Down To Burnham, in Michael Green's classic The Art of Coarse Sailing. The chorus, which goes something like this: "A-rifo, rifo, Stick it up your mast-o" would be perfect for a mass singsong at Burham marina or Essex yacht harbour and any other Crouch moorings.




<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by OldGaffer on 10/07/2003 09:24 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Twister_Ken]

Which reminds me of a story

about Tommy Trinder. who was last into a crowded lift at a department store, and was facing in while all the others were facing out. He began "You may be wondering why I called this meeting."



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[Mirelle]

We old gaffers should be careful here...

The OGA Song Book contains most of these, and the equally excellent "Maldon Yachtsman", but it also contains a song, a variant on a Woody Guthrie song, which brings out apoplectic Boat Rage amongst the pointy- topped heathen worse than anything else!

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