Ending the hostility - raggies v stinkies

As a newly anointed mobo owner after 50 years of rag and stick I can add my two cents worth already, after just one trip and that in the USA ICW. We came up astern of two sailboats, who were motoring as most do in the ICW. One called us on the VHF and said he would slow down a bit so we could pass quickly without having to speed up and perhaps create wash, we were doing about 7.5kts and they were doing around 7kts. We passed by and they called again to thank us for no wash. Ten minutes later and we were still travelling at the same speed of 7.5kts when a sailboat about 30ft and under motor going the other way agitatingly waved at us to slow down! We were not in a speed limited area and I had to chuckle when a big mobo going the other way passed us with a big wash and would soon be passing the prat in the 30ft sailboat.

On our pontoon, there are a mix of sail and power boats, all between say 48ft and 60ft and so far we get on well with all of them. I did mention to a couple of them that we were new crossovers from sail and one of the saily boat people said they were thinking of doing the same as us and a powerboat man said they too had been sailboat owners for years and like us moved to power to live on board after retiring.

I still find myself half apologising to yotties for being a mobo man which I really should stop doing, but I do it because of the 'attitude' of some people as exhibited by a few on here.

Our boat BTW is a semi displacement 'fast trawler' with two x 250hp diesels, we cruise around 7-8kts from choice, flat out is 17.5kts and fast cruise could be 12kts if we had a tanker following us to keep us topped up. We make no wash much at 7.5kts with hull speed being around 9kts, but at 10kts plus it is impressive..
 
Robin,

have you read 'Narrow Dog To Indian River' by Terry Darlington ?

The sequel to the excellent and very funny 'Narrow dog To Carcassone'...I was amazed and horrified by his description of the many beasties ranging from Aligators to No See Em's out to get one !

As for the supposed antipathy between power & sail, as I've tried to get across I think this is a fading thing, everyone gets on much better than they used to; I like the sound of thanking people for keeping the wash down, a habit we sailors could usefully take up here, though I'd worry about cluttering Channel 16 in the Solent, I doubt the Coastguard would be happy if everyone started being courteous !

So best kept to a wave of the hand as motorcyclists do ?
 
maby said:
That may be true of some, but I have no predjudice against mobos - just an irritation at the inability that some seem to have to stick to speed limits. We have an 8 knot limit along a lot of the Medway, but few mobo owners seem to be aware of it.
Click to expand...

What does Maby think of dinghy/cruiser racing fleets starts around the Upnor area?

A Sonata was T boned on the line by a motoring sailing yacht (apparently going astern to avoid the start line fleet) recently.

As someone who understands the finer points of racing and sailing I sometimes struggle to work out who's going to what mark and when they are likely to tack etc.....

Not much hope for the average power boater in this situation, but you are of course right, the Med does have it's fair share of idiots.......both power and sail!
 
xyachtdave said:
What does Maby think of dinghy/cruiser racing fleets starts around the Upnor area?

A Sonata was T boned on the line by a motoring sailing yacht (apparently going astern to avoid the start line fleet) recently.

As someone who understands the finer points of racing and sailing I sometimes struggle to work out who's going to what mark and when they are likely to tack etc.....

Not much hope for the average power boater in this situation, but you are of course right, the Med does have it's fair share of idiots.......both power and sail!
Click to expand...

Quite true, but two wrongs don't make a right and whereas the majority of raggies are obeying the rules most of the time, it's very rare that you see a mobo doing less than fifteen knots.
 
maby said:
Quite true, but two wrongs don't make a right and whereas the majority of raggies are obeying the rules most of the time, it's very rare that you see a mobo doing less than fifteen knots.
Click to expand...

I think to be fair (apart from you and me!) not many sailors get up to 15 knots..:-)
 
xyachtdave said:
I think to be fair (apart from you and me!) not many sailors get up to 15 knots..:-)
Click to expand...

:)
I was thinking about other rules for the raggies... When they are tacking around waiting for guns, they are in a world of their own. And the kids in their Oppies make an 80 year old grandmother in a beaten up Fiesta look like a good driver sometimes.
 
Ripster said:
I think that is right. Try Chi Harbour entrance on a Sunny day in Aug - you can sense the tension as all types of boats jostle for position within yards of each other and Dinghy racers try to get across the main flow under sail.
Click to expand...

I think 'you can sense the tension' is a bit strong !

It's just a narrow stretch of water with sometimes a lot of users.

I do appreciate that the antics of racing dinghies may be hard to foretell for someone not conversant with such things, but it should be borne in mind that no race course is EVER going to include the entrance channel, so one may try to be considerate to racing dinghies as being limited to strictly sail style manouvering, but one is not going to mess up any race position so the 'vessel constrained by draught' does enter the equation.

It is perhaps a shame that HISC, which tends to cultivate aggresive go-getter type racers, is right at the entrance of the harbour, which probably does no favours image wise for more moderate considerate dinghy sailors like me !

That being said, all sorts of sailing boat find it ill mannered, boorish, when big mobo's open up to full power in the entrance; even if it's technically legal it's inconsiderate and shows a poor attitude.

On the other hand when we came back yesterday there was a bloke anchored in a small cuddy style mobo right in the narrowest part of the channel, fishing rod out and glaring at boats going past...

Presumably he works as a mole catcher on the M1, if anchoring there is his idea of relaxation...no thought whatsoever for anyone else of course.

Just to make it clear, the fact he was in a mobo was irrelevant, he was just an inconsiderate unthinking git, possibly with a very good insurance policy and / or a death wish...
 
Seajet said:
but it should be borne in mind that no race course is EVER going to include the entrance channel, so one may try to be considerate to racing
...
That being said, all sorts of sailing boat find it ill mannered, boorish, when big mobo's open up to full power in the entrance; even if it's technically legal it's inconsiderate and shows a poor attitude.
Click to expand...

HISC in previous seasons has frequently set start lines very close to the entrance channel to Sparkes. After "advice" from the HM, last season was better in this regard. We will see how this season goes, but trying to simultaneously give way to 30 sailing dinghies with 4ft under the propellors and being blown onto the beach does not count as "fun".

As to opening up at the border of the 8kt limit, well, if I can get reasonable separation (100m) and I can see a clear path, then yes I will open up here. I'm unsure what is ill mannered, boorish, inconsiderate, or showing poor attitude about this, as this area is open sea.
 
Flowerpower,

I'm amazed that HISC should have a start line like that.

However, and I hope you and fellow mobo's are taking this in, I was a member of HISC for a year so as to get a deep water mooring for a different boat I had at the time; I didn't like the club, tannoy blaring like something out of 'Stingray', " Fireball crews to station in five minutes ! " and the advertised launch out to the moorings was a farce, I put my boat on the mooring with my elderly mother on board, when Dad asked the guy on the launch to get us - it's quite exposed and lumpy there, my large tube Zodiac had waves over the side-, the reply was " Sod them I'm too tired ! "

I did not renew my membership...

I should add that was about 1988 so hopefully things are different now, but of no interest to me.

Most clubs in the harbour are not like that, and my lot - I can't say where as divers with a violent nasty streak who took exception to my fighting for boat users against career conservationists may be reading this - would welcome even visiting mobo's, gasp !
 
Last edited:
I have been thinking a lot ( ouch ), I really love sailing with my R & S ,I love the peace, the pace,the sound of the water sloshing about, and the journey,-- but the boy in me sometimes yearns to go out and have a blast in a really powerful power boat or even god forgive a jetski , but these are short-lived adventures and the only thing preventing me having one is MONEY that's the bottom line. I have to be honest here I suffer from jealousy when I see a big motor boat cruising along all clean and shiny with the crew dressed up in their nice white shirts with a glass of wine, to my credit I get even more jealous when I see a beautiful well set up sailing yacht heeling over going like the clappers ( all be it only 10 knots :D ) .
What I fail to see is why there is any intolerance towards peeps personal choice of " fun mobile " , so what if there is some wash or a sudden tack for Christ's sake deal with it , its part of the deal.
 
Seajet said:
Robin,

have you read 'Narrow Dog To Indian River' by Terry Darlington ?

The sequel to the excellent and very funny 'Narrow dog To Carcassone'...I was amazed and horrified by his description of the many beasties ranging from Aligators to No See Em's out to get one !

As for the supposed antipathy between power & sail, as I've tried to get across I think this is a fading thing, everyone gets on much better than they used to; I like the sound of thanking people for keeping the wash down, a habit we sailors could usefully take up here, though I'd worry about cluttering Channel 16 in the Solent, I doubt the Coastguard would be happy if everyone started being courteous !

So best kept to a wave of the hand as motorcyclists do ?
Click to expand...

I saw the episode on TV. We haven't seen a live 'gator yet although I had deep fried 'gator tails as an appetiser in Aunt Catfish's one lunchtime, poor imitation of chicken nuggets if you ask me.

VHF communication for overtaking on the ICW is a written rule but often ignored, however the call is quick and appreciated. We called a tug with a floating crane and were told which side he preferred us to pass on, which as it was a narrow and shallow channel (yet in a wide open expanse of water) was helpful.

As we always did, we wave to all (except PWCs there are exceptions!) regardless of power or sail and do the same here. Roughly 90% waved back here so far, the other 10% mostly raggies did not but employed the straight ahead stare tactic, their loss.
 
Robin said...

"As we always did, we wave to all (except PWCs there are exceptions!) regardless of power or sail and do the same here. Roughly 90% waved back here so far, the other 10% mostly raggies did not but employed the straight ahead stare tactic, their loss."

Psssssssst...........hey you............yes you.....Listen, do me a favour, tell me, what's all this waving thing about???? I just don't understand it, never have really...............I mean, there I am enjoying a quiet sail, not bein' a bother to anybody, next thing I know, there's a pair of tilley behatted loonies waving at me from some passing yot!

What do these people want?? Are they in distress?? has something happened to me boat and they are trying to tell me about it?? I mean, it aint like I know 'em or anything, I mean, you wouldn't want to know 'em by the look of most of 'em! Are they just drunk?

It's now got to the stage where if I notice that some boat or other is going to pass within waving distance, I make sure I have me back turned towards it as it goes by. I just wish they would stop botherin' me with their incessant waving!...........:confused:
 
Nothing against people waving and waving back BUT it annoys me no end hereabouts in the north west highlands when despite there being 100s of square miles of empty water there are those who seem to be attracted to another boat so that they can tack in front of them or overhaul them!
Thing I might just start sailing naked(brrrr)!
 
ffiill said:
Nothing against people waving and waving back BUT it annoys me no end hereabouts in the north west highlands when despite there being 100s of square miles of empty water there are those who seem to be attracted to another boat so that they can tack in front of them or overhaul them!
Thing I might just start sailing naked(brrrr)!
Click to expand...

One of the first things I ever learned about sailing was that if two yachts are sailing in the same direction it's always a race!
 
Chrusty 1 said:
I just wish they would stop botherin' me with their incessant waving!
Click to expand...

Echo that.

Those who always wave at other people who just happen to be similarly occupied, are like dogs in cars, suddenly excited when they spot other dogs. Imagine, if it was expected as a courtesy, to wave at all other road-users you encounter! It's no less daft, at sea...

I read somewhere, of "...the bargeman's slow, accustomed nod of acknowledgement..." as his vessel passes another, similar craft. Or some such description of restrained good manners. That ought to be enough for the thinking contingent of yachtsmen, too. No need for waving like nine-year-old girls on a sugar-high.

On the matter of sail and power, it's interesting that nobody of any creed excuses exponents of PWC. The point being, those machines were only, deliberately designed from the ground up, to satisfy the hooligan-instincts of unsubtle, aggressive types...

...and the difficulty here arises when skippers of 30, 40, 50 foot motoryachts are still, in their hearts, cutting loose on a jetski.

Interesting that we uncover so much we disagree upon, when I reckon we'd largely concur on the reasons behind the problems:

- insensitive use of power by large motoryachts, and by frustrated inadequate types in smaller mobos;

- sailing dinghies and small keelboats racing with selfish singlemindedness in constricted areas;

- idiotic choice of anchoring spots;

- PWCs.

That's about it. All pains in the collective ass, yet we tend to form sides when the issues are raised. Except about PWCs...

...is there any excuse for them? They're only manufactured so overgrown children can hurry about in noisy, scrappy circles...

...perhaps there ought to be large cages, more than a mile offshore, where PWC users can play waterborne Mad Max games. A sort of Jetski cage-fighting? Ideally with a 'Two go in - One comes out' arrangement, reducing overall numbers, over time... :rolleyes: :)
 
Last edited:
Lakesailor said:
Boaters could moor around the cages and wave.
Click to expand...

You've got something there, Lakesailor! When half the lungs of one rider have been sucked up by the impellor of the other rider's machine, the victor turns to the crowd, to see if they're indicating thumbs up... :D...or down...:eek::eek:

...as long as they're not just waving like a lot of quarter-witted jessies. :rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

W
Downsizing to your boat.
2
Replies
28
Views
743
Wansworth
W
Bouba
Port-Cros tomorrow
Replies
17
Views
464
potentillaCO32
P
S
Sailing to the USA. Do I need a special visa?
2 3
Replies
50
Views
2K
Roberto
Roberto

Share this page

Top