SLOW DOWN (He screamed)

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Why are you guys so convinced you never make any wash? Don't you EVER look behind you at the devastation caused to small craft, which often have low freeboard?

Why are you guys so convinced that a wash from a mobo is worse than the chop any sea can generate or the wash from any ferry/tugboat/harbourmaster launch/fishing boat? I chuckle when I read this kind of stuff because the tiresomely antagonistic attitude displayed by yotties towards mobos only happens in the UK. Elsewhere in Europe mobos and sailing boats get on just fine. I guess it must be something in the water here that makes yotties so mean spirited

 

[l'escargot]

So who was being towed the yacht or the launch? And who shouted at you, the raggie on the yacht or the mobo on the launch?

And how big was the sailing boat/launch?

Not enough information here for anyone to make a judgement without jumping to conclusions, but as usual that hasn't stopped anyone

 

[Fire99]

I've gotta say, I love this boating lark. Very relaxing!

 

[blueglass]

It's this kind of crying wolf (all too common, I'm afraid) that makes motor boaters wonder whether there is any point in being courteous to raggies.

well put. I often have that "just can't win" feeling. I can't comment on this particular incident - you 'd have to have been there, but many's the time I have been told to slow down or just had the word "WASH!!!" shouted at me when entering an anchorage on tickover with absolutely NO wash whatever. Its a mobo! it must be making wash! "
give it a rest.

 

[Csail]

I would have waved or offered a tow but then got on the plane to avoid wake.
\i generally sail but also have powerboats. 99% of people don't understand that power boats make less wake going fast.

 

[cem]

bored bored bored with the same Sh!t being spouted on both sides of the argument.

i like to think of myself as being pretty relaxed and considerate to raggies but they are starting to get on my nerves on this forum with their condescending holier than though attitudes...why all the agro....here is what i witnessed in poole on saturday

1 30ft approx yacht trying to sail up to and through the chain ferry, much panic and dropping of sails and motoring when he realized it wasn't going to stop for him.

2 a vast number of dingies using the main channel buoys as race marks and causing all sorts of mobos (and rag boats) to have to stop, start and change course in an effort to avoid them

3 jet skier playing chicken with the condor hi speed ferry!!! mad fool

4 another 30 ft yacht who in the main turning basin taking the right turn before the left to go past the quay.......heading a little towards the dock, comes up from below, knocks his tiller round to turn to starboard (without even looking where we and another 2 mobos were) then goes back down below to carry on whatever he was doing....no doubt it would be our fault if he spilt his drink as he turned directly into our path and 3 mobos had to turn away to avoid a collision

i despair...as has been said on many threads it is not the raggies or the mobos that are the problems it is the (rhymes with bankers) in control of them (or not in control as the case may be)

now can we get back to talking boats

 

[strakeryrius]

another 30 ft yacht who in the main turning basin taking the right turn before the left to go past the quay.......heading a little towards the dock, comes up from below, knocks his tiller round to turn to starboard (without even looking where we and another 2 mobos were) then goes back down below to carry on whatever he was doing....no doubt it would be our fault if he spilt his drink as he turned directly into our path and 3 mobos had to turn away to avoid a collision

Definitely a case for 5 blasts on the horn in my opinion!

 

[piratos]

slowed down

As you came from planing speed to 6 knots just aft of him you did right, and I even guess that steering your boat in choppy water with just 6 knots speed is difficult.
If this is the fact you were already slow enough. Maybe you should have slowed down to 6 knots earlier and not just a cable away - but again, he would probably have told you to slow down anyway.

 

[kcrane]

Why are you guys so convinced that a wash from a mobo is worse than the chop any sea can generate or the wash from any ferry/tugboat/harbourmaster launch/fishing boat? I chuckle when I read this kind of stuff because the tiresomely antagonistic attitude displayed by yotties towards mobos only happens in the UK. Elsewhere in Europe mobos and sailing boats get on just fine. I guess it must be something in the water here that makes yotties so mean spirited

Yes but there are examples of times when we do ourselves no favours...

We came back from Lymington to Hamble on Sunday morning. Flat water and good visibility.

As we entered the main channel a large'ish sports cruiser at 25knts or so coming out of Soton Water passed a sailing yacht running downwind, he can't have been more than 100yds away.

There was no way the sailing boat could turn into the wash without gybing. The mobo only had to glance back to see the trouble they caused.

It may not be the norm, but it was very avoidable and doesn't help good relations on the water.

 

[MapisM]

At 6 knots the bow drops

I was going to just answer "no" to your question, 'cause a boat like yours can't - in theory - make any significant wash at 6kts (provided that we're talking of STW, not SOG).
But your statement above made me curious.
I'd expect a boat like yours to be still in full displacement up to at least 7 or 8 kts.
If 6 kts is already borderline, then maybe also the wash begins to be relevant.

 

[Elessar]

There I was happily minding my own business off Yarmouth when I spotted a Sailing Boat lashed to the side of a launch out in F4-5 wind against tide.
I was just thinking what a complete salock he was for not towing on a 30 m tow line as he shouted slow down at me

I had seen him struggling in the conditions and I had slowed down about a cable away so I checked my log...............

6.1 knots, (before I attempted again to slow down at his request)

Was his request reasonable ?

At 6 knots the bow drops and we were getting salt spray splashing all over the decks, as soon as we were passed and I opened up to 25 knots we had a dry ride.

I suffered discomfort for this guy and he still shouted at me.

in "no wake" zones in the states, they come alonside and get you to kill the throttles. If the bow drops you're nicked.
So if you're fast enough for the bowto rise, you're making a wash.
But in a 4-5 at sea you're not making as much wash as he is a fuss.

 

[DAKA]

a few seconds lost really hurt that much?

It does actually cost real money to slow down and then get back onto the plane, cost of a round of drinks in fact, its a bit like buying a tramp a meal in a pub with your last £10 note and then he complains that your a rich capitalist pig , (dont you just hate it when that happens)

in response to other posts.........


Hull speed I reckon is between 8-10 which is where my wash starts.

7 doesnt raise an eyebrow in the hamble moorings.

6 is usually fine to pass kids stood up in dinghies .

I have no idea if my 6.1 on that particular day was excessive as I couldnt see it , all I could see was choppy wind against tide waves the size I couldnt produce at any speed.

Now I was about to post saying that in my opinion he shouldnt have been rigged to tow side by side outside of a sheltered water but thats just my opinion hence I asked what others think, when I read Ripster's post it allowed me to see this from his point of view , mine was perhaps more focused on the fact I had just committed a chunk of my annual fuel budget on a professional polish which was now getting salt splashed all over it, accompanied with a 'look' from swmbo getting salt spray on her fresh slap too.


6.1 is very slow to proceed through the Solent , slower than 6.1 is usually for Raggies and paddle boarders, now they are an issue, usually close in shore so you cant easily distinguish between them and a dog walker on the beach, I can see a day coming when power boats will be expected to proceed wash free the same as windermere, then it will be time to move back to the East Coast , see you soon oldgit .

 

[Robin]

Towing alongside is the preferred option in confined waters as they can place the boat on a berth that way, not so easy on a long line. My guess is they towed him maybe off a buoy that way, or from farther afield on a long line tow first then transferred alongside. The lifeboats will also do it this way, switching to alongside only when they need to to go into harbour.

I think if you were being towed with a workboat or lifeboat alongside, you too might be a shade miffed to see a mobo approaching, especially as he might have seen you first off when you were still planing, then saw you drop down (which creates a wave as well) and yet still going towards him. Put yourself in his shoes, he might be having a really bad day and knows it is only going to get worse and there you are just asking to be yelled at! As it is they would be side on to the waves as they turned into Yarmouth, I would guess the workboat was banging into him badly enough anyway so extra wash, perceived or real, would be the last straw before a major yell.

 

[nedmin]

What about this for wash .I was cycling back to my boat on the Fosse Dyke canal a couple of weeks ago when I was passed by a boat going to Burton Waters.Got the legs going and they were doing 20mph.Sorry no knots on the bike indicator ! As there is a 4mph speed limit you can imagine the wash.Quite prevalent on this canal,time B.W. got the speed camera out,while theres still some banks left.

 

[carlton]

Crikey - any 'moist' fishermen?

 

[MapisM]

Hull speed I reckon is between 8-10 which is where my wash starts.

7 doesnt raise an eyebrow in the hamble moorings.

6 is usually fine to pass kids stood up in dinghies .

That stands to reason.
But as I mentioned, only as long as you're considering STW, which is the speed that really matters, when speaking of wash.
And since most boats have no mean of measuring STW, most folks just look at SOG and forget that with a 2 kts tide, 6 can actually mean from 4 to 8, depending on the boat direction...

 

[flaming]

Since he was a sailing boat in a "healthy F4" that was being towed alongside a launch, I think it's fair to say he wasn't having a good day. My bet is that he was one of the fleet of local one designs out of yarmouth, with a club launch rescuing him.
I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that he had gear failure at a minimum, who knows what else?

And you were close enough to hear him shout over the wind and your engines? You might of known that you had seen him, and were well within your comfort zone to keep clear of him but....
He knows he has no chance of getting out of your way if you get it wrong, and from a small, disabled, sailing boat a large power boat passing within hailing distance in otherwise unrestricted waters is something to be scared of.

Sorry Daka, but I suspect I'd have been shouting too.

 

[rosssavage]

That stands to reason.
But as I mentioned, only as long as you're considering STW, which is the speed that really matters, when speaking of wash.
And since most boats have no mean of measuring STW, most folks just look at SOG and forget that with a 2 kts tide, 6 can actually mean from 4 to 8, depending on the boat direction...

I would have thought that when DAKA looked at his LOG and it said 6.1kn, that would be STW, no?

His GPS would give SOG.... but his log can't.

 

[Elessar]

And since most boats have no mean of measuring STW,

 

[whisper]

I'm confused as well!!

Surely a log driven by a paddle wheel gives you speed through the water. Very common on small boats I'd have thought. Perhaps very rare on large ones?