Wake from larger boats... non issue or safety concern?

michael_w said:
If your boat can't cope with a bit of wake, it shouldn't be at sea. Better stay at home and mow the lawn.

Try handling the wake kicked up by the spectator fleet after the start of the Whitbread Race in a Merlin-Rocket. Excellent for improving one's boat handling skills.
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If your not man enough blah blah blah....

The fact is large wakes do make life at best more difficult particularly on small boats..... A little bit of consideration would make life a little bit better for every one, but as you show some just don't really care..

To the OP having sailed the Solent in a 19' and then a 24' for about 10 years you will be fine. Try to avoid the obvious bottle necks at the enterance to Yarmouth, the Hamble, lymington, portsmouth etc and there is still plenty of places to sail... Particularly as motorboats and those with 2m draft seem scared of going near the edges...

With a lifting keel there is a different way to sailing...
SWMBO will take a little adjustment but once you are sailing in and out of creeks she will appreciate the manageability of it all...
 
Thanks for the reassuring response onesea, I'll let SWMBO read it later.

I have no doubt she (the boat) can deal with the Solent chop, but can she deal with arses throwing up 4ft wash everywhere without SWMBO being thrown overboard or constantly feeling unsafe. The same arses who don't slow down for kayakers, paddle boarders, rowers and speed through anchorages full of swimmers.

It's not about being man enough. As sailors we got to share the water with boats of all sizes and show respect to one another.
 
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It is unreasonable to expect all water users in a busy seaway to reduce their speed whenever they see a small sailing vessel, just in case the occupants are inconvenienced.

If a vessel / crew are not able to handle wash / waves, I am with the posters who suggest they seek more sheltered waters or an alternative hobby.

I have a small sailing boat, and yes wash is annoying - but it is just something you deal with, like tides and variations in wind strength or direction.
 
obmij said:
It is unreasonable to expect all water users in a busy seaway to reduce their speed whenever they see a small sailing vessel, just in case the occupants are inconvenienced.
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Perhaps, but it is perhaps less unreasonable to hope that they might make small adjustments to their courses and speeds in the interests of friendliness. Good manners cost nothing.
 
There was an incident some years ago, before the current breakwater was built in Las Palmas, when an ARC crew was killed as a result of wash from a fast ferry inside the harbour. So yes, wash can be dangerous.

It is often long after a mobo has passed that the effects of wash actually hit the boats they are passing. I recall standing on shore as a big mobo passed a group of moored boats at hull speed; he was at least half a mile away when the wave hit and some of the boats were rolling through 90°.
 
Since they were fairly young I've let my kids use a fairly powerful rib to ferry people up and down the Solent and absolutely insist that they are respectful to other boats. Of course they can "legally" come out of say Lymington and open up at the end of the speed restrictions without a care for the Junior Training Courses, or indeed blast out of a quiet anchorage ...but at the very least that is seriously bad manners.
 
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thecommander said:
Thanks for the reassuring response onesea, I'll let SWMBO read it later.

I have no doubt she (the boat) can deal with the Solent chop, but can she deal with arses throwing up 4ft wash everywhere without SWMBO being thrown overboard or constantly feeling unsafe. The same arses who don't slow down for kayakers, paddle boarders, rowers and speed through anchorages full of swimmers.
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I think you are overplaying it somewhat. Just occasionally you will get a big hit from a mobo wake. Most of the time you will sail quite happily with wash that is hardly distinguishable from the normal chop.
Your wife shouldn't constantly feel unsafe.
We've been sailing in the Solent for 30+ years in all sizes and types of boat. Wakes aren't something that figures in our thoughts for 99.999% of the time.
 
I am amazed at these threads

most sailors consider the big wash generators to be inconsiderate bar stewards

the mobo blokes attitude is generally a refusal to change behaviour and expecting others to HTFU

They are like indoor pipe smokers or dinner party farters

- they just expect everyone to put up with the unpleasant by products of their pleasure seeking

D
 
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alahol2 said:
I think you are overplaying it somewhat. Just occasionally you will get a big hit from a mobo wake.
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The problem is that occasionally can be enough for a nervous crew or 5 year old daughter to put them off...

Scenario for you Motorboat in river doing probably a little over the speed limit, one 2 foot wash in tow. Us in tender sunny day going to go sailing.... See the boat coming try and get as far as possible from wake. Slow dinghy down head into it as slow as possible dinghy slamming and pitches water into the dinghy soaking wet 5 year old... No amount of consoling a days sailing cancelled it was nearly a month before I could get her out to the boat.

No one is asking MOB's to reduce speed whenever they see a sailing boat, just consider the effect of there wash when they are in proximity of other boats. Is it really that much of a problem to alter course a few degrees to give the extra 100m clearance or reduce speed a couple of minutes earlier instead of at the entrance to the channel or harbor? or drop below the speed limit if there wash is excessive?

Some of the views on here makes you realize why Yachties have such a bad reputation....
 
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alahol2 said:
I think you are overplaying it somewhat. Just occasionally you will get a big hit from a mobo wake. Most of the time you will sail quite happily with wash that is hardly distinguishable from the normal chop.
Your wife shouldn't constantly feel unsafe.
We've been sailing in the Solent for 30+ years in all sizes and types of boat. Wakes aren't something that figures in our thoughts for 99.999% of the time.
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Perfectly summed up. Mountains out of molehills, or should it be a storm in a teacup?
To the OP, reassure your SWMBO, it's nothing to get all wound up about. The Solent is busy, not boring.
 
Resolution said:
Perfectly summed up. Mountains out of molehills, or should it be a storm in a teacup?
To the OP, reassure your SWMBO, it's nothing to get all wound up about. The Solent is busy, not boring.
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As with so much in life, other peoples' concerns seem exaggerated until you have experienced the problem yourself. As has been pointed out in this thread alone, a number of people have died as a direct result of wash from boats and ships. Maybe not in the Solent but I don't think the thread title excludes other locations. I know of several boats, one of them belonging to a relative, that have been severely damaged when wash smashed them against quays. Again not in the Solent but other locations are available. When we suffered the big wash that I mentioned on Page 1 we were thrown to at least 45 degrees with nearly no warning- do you consider that nothing to get all wound up about?
 
dylanwinter said:
I am amazed at these threads

most sailors consider the big wash generators to be inconsiderate bar stewards

the mobo blokes attitude is generally a refusal to change behaviour and expecting others to HTFU

They are like indoor pipe smokers or dinner party farters

- they just expect everyone to put up with the unpleasant by products of their pleasure seeking

D
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Dylan
I seem to remember that on your grand circumnavigation you particularly disliked the hubbub of the Solent and were peeved that many of the regular Solent sailors did NOT find this annoying? Your rant today about mobo attitudes is just that, a rant. Mostly quite untrue, and certainly unhelpful to the OP in his task of building up his SWMBO's confidence levels. Time for you to find a new hobby horse.
 
vyv_cox said:
As with so much in life, other peoples' concerns seem exaggerated until you have experienced the problem yourself. As has been pointed out in this thread alone, a number of people have died as a direct result of wash from boats and ships. Maybe not in the Solent but I don't think the thread title excludes other locations. I know of several boats, one of them belonging to a relative, that have been severely damaged when wash smashed them against quays. Again not in the Solent but other locations are available. When we suffered the big wash that I mentioned on Page 1 we were thrown to at least 45 degrees with nearly no warning- do you consider that nothing to get all wound up about?
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Vyv
The OPs original question did relate specifically to the Solent, but a bit of thread drift is absolutely understandable. What I was trying to do was to put a bit of perspective into the comments. You will know as well as I do, that in a lifetime of recreational sailing there will be some moments when danger and damage occur. But they are usually very rare and no worse than crossing your average High Street.
 
vyv_cox said:
As has been pointed out in this thread alone, a number of people have died as a direct result of wash from boats and ships. Maybe not in the Solent
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I recall an Iroquois being capsized in the Solent on a quiet night. In the absence of any proof, it was assumed that the large isolated wave that flipped them was a wash from a passing ship.
 
Resolution said:
Dylan
I seem to remember that on your grand circumnavigation you particularly disliked the hubbub of the Solent and were peeved that many of the regular Solent sailors did NOT find this annoying? Your rant today about mobo attitudes is just that, a rant. Mostly quite untrue, and certainly unhelpful to the OP in his task of building up his SWMBO's confidence levels. Time for you to find a new hobby horse.
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not at all peeved at other yachties

really pissed off at some mobos though that is for sure

D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqAuGf23jr4
 
As lifelong motorboater remain convinced that all who started their hobby in a small boat, have a far better appreciation of what it is like to be thrown about by wash and that memory remains forever..
It is probably very difficult to explain or convince somebody who has only ever known or started out with large fast mobos of how unpleasant wash can be other river users in smaller craft..
Do any of the RYA courses mention this,might be something to put on the top of the prospectus.

Thou SHALT NOT cause undue distress to craft smaller than your own and will take all measures to avoid doing so. :)

This does not of course apply in the Solent :)
 
snowleopard said:
I recall an Iroquois being capsized in the Solent on a quiet night. In the absence of any proof, it was assumed that the large isolated wave that flipped them was a wash from a passing ship.
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Quiet, in the sense of little traffic but blowing 20 - 25knots. Nobody assumed it was the wash from a ship, it was a theory. This was the first time anyone aboard had sailed a catamaran. Nobody died.
 
I've got to say that one of the reasons some of my family don't like to sail is because wash scares them.

I used to think it was my incompetence. Or my attitude, etc, but actually being thrown around by mobo wash scares them more then I ever can. Apparently.
 
onesea said:
The problem is that occasionally can be enough for a nervous crew or 5 year old daughter to put them off...

Scenario for you Motorboat in river doing probably a little over the speed limit, one 2 foot wash in tow. Us in tender sunny day going to go sailing.... See the boat coming try and get as far as possible from wake. Slow dinghy down head into it as slow as possible dinghy slamming and pitches water into the dinghy soaking wet 5 year old... No amount of consoling a days sailing cancelled it was nearly a month before I could get her out to the boat.

No one is asking MOB's to reduce speed whenever they see a sailing boat, just consider the effect of there wash when they are in proximity of other boats. Is it really that much of a problem to alter course a few degrees to give the extra 100m clearance or reduce speed a couple of minutes earlier instead of at the entrance to the channel or harbor? or drop below the speed limit if there wash is excessive?

Some of the views on here makes you realize why Yachties have such a bad reputation....
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100% agree with you.
 
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