Powerboaters

[Grasshopper]

I really don't wish to open up a hornets nest but after this past weekend out on the Solent I am now convinced that whenever anyone wishes to purchase a powerboat, it has become compulsory for them to hand their brains in as the first down payment, especially when judging the antics of them this weekend as they all seem totally oblivious of the wash they leave behind them as they roar around the waters,thus leaving me to constantly alter my course to avoid being swamped or warning my crew to hang on as the impending Tsunami approaches!.
I even had one jovial crowd of spectators waving at me from their lofty turret who seemed so surprised at my disgusted expression as my entire crew were practically washed overboard as this idiot maintained his speed and ensured that he passed as close as possible to us as we negotiarted Calshot Spit.
Could somebody (Hopefully a powerboater) please tell me why they have to come some close to sailing craft. Is it because they use us as a navigation aids because they don't seem the point in all that stuff and navigation nonesense (if lost ask a yottie) or is it because they really do not have many friends!!!

 

[halcyon]

It's so that they can wave at you, then get most upset when you don't wave back. Seem to ignor that you may have one hand on the tiller, one on the main sheet, one eye on the sails, one on other boats, the third trying to watch for the great wash following the powerboats around.

Do they wave at all the cars they pass whilst driving to the marina, or is it only a boaty thing.


Brian

 

[mudlark]

Often wondered what effect a rocket flare would have on 'em....

 

[Grasshopper]

No effect at all.
Probably think that it was all part of the jubilee weekend celebrations!

 

[Joe_Cole]

Surely the correct wave is of the two finger variety?

Joe Cole

 

[MapisM]

Powerboaters=idiots?

As a powerboater, believe it or not, I usually pay more attention to the yotties than to my "colleagues", though a powerboat would be even more shaked by another boat crossing at speed than a sailboat of similar size. But I've always seen this as a sort of "due diligence".
Having said that, I disagree with your view, which show the problem in terms of opposite "categories".
The fact is, around the world there is a certain percentage of idiots.
Whoever might think that all these idiots are concentrated in the lower classes, or in some geographic areas, or in whatever imaginable cluster, couldn't be more wrong.
This average percentage of idiots, can be found within politicians, managers, workers, lawyers, doctors, you name it.
And of course, more or less in the same percentages, within both powerboaters and yotties. Surely, a sailing idiot has less opportunities to irritate a powerboater, than the other way round. But this does not mean that powerboaters are all idiots and yotties are not.
Blame the idiots, not the powerboaters. ;-)

Fair winds!

 

[longjohnsilver]

Re: Powerboaters=idiots?

Well said. I always make a point of slowing down for sailboats, especially smaller dinghies, but see that many others do not. I'm sure that it's not malicious, just not being aware of the problems their wash can cause.

It does irritate me to read some of the replies below and the bloody minded attitude that some peolpe take. Yes I do wave to almost all the boats I pass, I'm really pleased to be out on the water and a friendly wave doesn't cost anything. If anyone responded with 2 fingers then I would get very upset and would certainly take it up with them at the appropriate time. Fortunately almost all the yotties on the Exe seem pretty decent people and we all seem to get along together well. Surely that's the way it should be.

Whoops have just seen from another fred that the 2 finger chap probably keeps his boat on the Exe, maybe he's the one who didn't wave last weekend, hope he never needs a tow! ;-)

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by longjohnsilver on Fri Jun 7 00:00:49 2002 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

Don\'t let the buggers get to yer !

I can understand your problem - the same happened to me as I was changing a headsail and nearly went in ( my own fault for not wearing a harness).

It must be remembered that many powerboaters are responsible sailors - many of the older owners of motorboats probably had sailing boats for many years. It is just part of the general decline in consideration for others. I would have to say though that I encounter much worse manners from racing yotties than all the jetski and powerboaters put together. I would also refer to a thread lower down by a yottie who thinks that a whirling wind vane causing problems to others is our problem not his.

Anyway, I had a great 6 day's sailing and bollox to the lot of em..........

 

[poter]

100% agree

The idea that Yachties and Stinkies come from different classes and are therefore are born with different manners is patently absurd.
I also get annoyed with some motor boats who kick up a huge wash and make life difficult BUT I also get just as annoyed with other Yachts who do not even know the rule of the road and cause major problems in a small river/harbour, as happened recently in Salcomb when a large yacht forced a small motor boat to give way and nearly put him onto wolf rock.
So yes there are idiots who go to sea just as there are idiots who use the roads.
As LJS states Consideration, respect & tolerance!


poter

 

[luckyjimbo]

Now you have aired your views, I am sure "powerboaters", will not give a s**t about your concerns, your generalisation is poor taste, I respect the "rules of the road" and one of the first I learned was, give way to sail, but you are not representative of the nice raggies I have met, but I hope you got it off your chest.
Good bye CAPTAIN !!
PS. It is my understanding that the morale decline amongst the lower classes took place with the introduction of comprehensive schools.
What do you think???
))

 

[Guest]

Personally, all I can say is that it's no surprise as to what you get when you don't pay for your education.

As a powerboater I always slow down when nearing any sailboats, as I can never figure out where they're going to go next, all that darting about, I tend to prefer to keep my distance. Except of course if it looks like a storm brewing as I understand with pending lightning it's a bit safer to hang around in the region of one of those tall masts. Damn nice of them really to have lightning conductors fitted, if you ask me

Bill

 

[ccscott49]

You have opened a hornets nest and I for one wished you hadn't, this comes up from time to time, but have you read the thread on MBC, about the kamikaze yotties, theres pillocks in all kinds of boats, don't please single out one particular type, it's just not fair or right. IMHO

 

[BarryD]

Shame you've not had a good time - but a little consideration goes both ways. Sometimes it's pretty hard to know what the dinghy's are going to do next - as they tack around a channel. If I go too slow I'll drift out of the channel, so I sit ready to go into reverse as they cut across the bows with no clearance and their pals turn around the stern - someone is going to get wet.

It doesn't help when they insist on tacking up a really narrow channel (say the fairway at Itchenor reach) making 2kts headway - at 2kts I'm in and out of gear - what's wrong with their bloody engine? That is just being rude and inconsiderate to other water users including sailing boats motoring behind me. And I can't speed up and pass them on the opposite tack because of the moored boats!

Like other responsible power boater users I give sailing boats a wide berth and try to be accommodating to their needs when tacking.

Having said that the saily types I've met on the pontoon are great fun, we all help with each others lines and draining drink cupboards! To the chap further down who thinks signal rockets might help - I hope that's a joke - try it and we will see what the coastguard thinks of such reckless stupid antics.

Go left, YOUR OTHER left for pete's sake
(IMHO, BTW, FWIW and NWGOI)

 

[ccscott49]

Don't let them wind you up Barry, rockets indeed, just the kind of comment/behaviour we all need, stupid bugger, somebody might be reading this and be able to say "see I told you, irresponsible idiots, we will licence and tax them" I am not being cynical or paranoid, I KNOW these types of forums are monitored as is most everything else we do these days!! Why do you think the government wants digital TV in everyhouse? The numbers can be looked at in both directions, everything we watch can be logged, don't think thats not true!

 

[BarryD]

Guess you\'re right Colin...

I'll continue to meander around the Solent avoiding confrontation, being nice and generally having fun. Any other boating type is welcome on board for a beer or wine - I'm just there to relax... Think calming thoughts, failing that think of Brian Wilson at the jubilee concert if ever there was someone who was trashed and relaxed - it's him <G>

Go left, YOUR OTHER left for pete's sake
(IMHO, BTW, FWIW and NWGOI)

 

[ccscott49]

Re: Guess you\'re right Colin...

Joe Cocker looked pretty cool aswell!!

 

[Grasshopper]

Maybe I should have made it clear from the start that I am not against people owning power boats,roaring up and down on the water and having fun as I truly believe that we should all enjoy ourselves when out on the water, in whatever mode of craft we choose to use, and I certainly do not hold any strong views against any specific group.
Reflecting back on some of the replys to my posting I have to concede that the it appears that the majority of water nuts using this board are sensible and considerate boat operators.
My concern is that the number of people abusing our "Playground" certainly appear to be on the increase and I just wonder if any body ever tells these people the dangers of the wash that they create and the potential havoc and danger that they bring
Finally, no one has yet answered my question as to why they always have to come so close to a yacht, and after reading the power-boaters replies with regards to the uncertainity of a yachts next move I'm now even more concerned!!
Nevertheless I shall still continue to acknowledge waves and greeetings to any "Sensible " powerboater who understands such issues

 

[tome]

We\'re all in this together

I've encountered occasional bad manners from both power and sailing boats. That said, the vast majority of both are considerate and share a common aim of relaxing on the water.

I don't think it's useful to blame one or the other: there's no doubt that some powerboat owners (or perhaps just the helmsman) seem to lack consideration about their wake, but I suspect that this is ignorance of the consequences rather than anything more sinister. I talked to an owner in Cowes recently who had given up sailing and bought a powerboat. He couldn't believe the change in attitude from raggies. He's stopped waving at them because they now ignore him or give him a 2 fingered salute despite him being considerate towards them and understanding the needs of sailing boats.

Personally, though I own a sailing boat, I enjoy the occasional blast out in a friends stinkpot and think there's room for all of us out there. Enough of this 2 fingered rocket propelled nonsense - it isn't us v them!

 

[BarryD]

So where in the Solent are you based Grasshopper and whats your boat called - I'll give you a friendly wave <G>

Go left, YOUR OTHER left for pete's sake
(IMHO, BTW, FWIW and NWGOI)

 

[Twister_Ken]

Having read thro' the stuff below, I can only conclude that the p/bs being complained about are not owned by those who subscribe to this board and read YM, MBM, PBO, etc.

Much as our resident p/bers here may protest their good manners it's undeniable that there are a fair proportion of prats driving p/bs big and small. How do they get educated on pukka behaviour? I wonder increasingly frequently whether doing away with duty free diesel for recreational watercraft might cause throttles to be retarded rather more.

Just to put the glove on the other foot, there are also plenty of yottis best given a wide berth. We were almost run down by a big Najad last weekend that was beating up Soton Water without looking under his genoa. I had to shout very loudly to get him to luff up and miss us. He then carried on across the Brambles until a sudden crash tack, I guess when his echo sounder alarm went apesh*t.