Why.....?

[paulburton44]

Been in the Solent this weekend....only my second time...


Why do motor boats insist on coming so close to my small yacht....

Over the weekend on several occasions a large motor boat would come past us at speed very close.... There is a huge amount of water and could have headed 100yards from us...

Is it my wife or maybe my children that they wanted to look at ???

But we ended up being thrown around, the dog sh@t scared and most of our gear ending up on the floor.

And you lot do give of a lovely smell as you go past....


Why do you do it .....?????????????

 

[l'escargot]

Paul, you weren't coming out of the Hamble about midday Sunday were you?

 

[Greg2]

Don't tar us all with the same brush.
Some simply don't appreciate the problems a wash can cause (it never looks as big when you are on a mobo) and I guess some are just inconsiderate, just as <u>some</u> sailors are when abusing the power gives way to sail rule.
Personally I always try to steer clear, particularly as my wash is reported to be huge /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[lazyliz]

I was on the Solent coming out of Hamble the weekend and if it's any consolation I was in a 8 metre mobo and I got the same treatment. I am begining to think that (generally) the bigger the boat, the bigger the yob. Funny how they always look away as they go past to avoid the mouthful. It's also funny that anything over 40 feet can't do less than 6 knots on the Hamble - sail or mobo. Mobo Monthly published a letter from me about this last year.

 

[coastwise]

Hi Paul,
People much more considerate in the Wash, Nth Norfolk & the Humber. Let me know when you come up here to Hartlepool.
Paul Martin

 

[Gludy]

I normally use a large power boat and do my best to avoid stealing the wind or throwing up a lot of wash when near raggies.

I am not used to the Solent but having headed out on two days last week, I was as usual messed about in the channel with small racing raggies racing across the channel. I had to stop and one raggies actually ended up just 20 foot right in front of my bow stopped. I was stopped without steerage and it was lucky that there was no wind otherwise I would be drifting out of the channel without much control and no doubt being hit by other raggies racing around me.

So my limited experience down south is one of complete lack of understanding by raggies - the other way around .... why do they do it?

This does not excuse passing too close with wash but 50% of the time going in/out of Emsworth I am messed up by raggies who really should not be racing across channels and should not be causing me to a total stop without steerage.

 

[Malcb]

Probably because they've set a course in their autopilot and don't know how to alter it /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

And before I get flamed, I do have an autopilot, linked to the chart plotter, and I do know how to alter/amend it /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Stoaty]

There's no manners anymore. You hardly see anyone slow down when passing smaller boats. Hardly anyone swings their bows to make their intentions clear. Hardly anyone can be bothered to give a little extra sea room when it's there. Hardly anyone observes speed limits. It's just bad manners and bad seamanship.

 

[BrendanS]

Errmm, there are loads of us that DO make their intentions clear, and give substantial amounts of clearance when the situation allows.

 

[Stoaty]

Of course not everyone is like that, but we are in the minority.

 

[KCook]

Paul - I don't know practices in the UK. But slowing is one thing, full stop quite another. I would not come to a full stop. After all, they CAN tack away from your course. I used to race sailboats myself.

rude colonial

 

[BrendanS]

The minority are those that don't have a clue. The majority do.

The minority just have a high visibility factor and cause complaints, while the majority don't get applauded for their actions.

 

[Gludy]

I really had no choice but to stop otherwise I would have mowed them down.

One actually came to a complete stop right centre in front of my bow without even intending to. They still think they have the right to do this and from what I have observed first hand in that area are taught that by their teachers.

I had slowed down in and out of neutral to a mere crawl because they were in the area but a stop was the only way out with the inexperienced crews in front of me - they were teenagers. They did thank me and did not understand my response which was to try to explain that they should not race across the navigable channel whilst large boats are passing through.

I generally find the south coast boaters ruder than in the Bristol Channel - one MObo overtook and then cut right across my bow forcing me to slow down and take avoiding action.

 

[Bajansailor]

Sailing boats often seem to have a magnetic attraction for motor boats with large wakes - and this attraction seems to be magnified when jet-skis are involved - for some reason they think every sailing boat pottering along is a suitable turning mark for an impromptu race with their mates......

The moboers might one day see the light though, and get themselves efficient power cats instead of blood and thunder planing machines that create enormous wakes...... when we took the 49' power cat in my avatar photo out for sea trials here after she was re-fitted with larger (2 x 115 hp, instead of 2 x 70 hp) engines, we took her up to 21 knots and cruised past a small sailing yacht under way at a reasonable distance off - they gave us the classic Gallic 1 fingered salute in anticipation of an enormous wake to follow, and were perplexed and surprised to find that a significant wake never materialised....... (I dont think that our 6 - 8" high wake was too significant).

If it is any small consolation, remember that the cost of the fuel being used to create that impressive wake probably varies exponentially, or at least with the cube, of the height of the wake produced!
On second thoughts, no that is not really any consolation for having beers or tea mugs spilt, things flying off shelves, or personal injuries sustained as a result of the subsequent motions experienced.

I often used to sail in the Solent, up until 12 years ago, and it seemed crowded then on a weekend - am sure it is much 'worse' now. What baffles me is why fast mobos so often seem to feel compelled to do 25 knots to cover a distance of perhaps 2 or 3 miles between one anchorage (or marina) and the next? A 4 mile passage takes 10 minutes at this speed, whereas at 8 knots, the same passage would take 30 minutes, which is still a pleasant little potter.

Don't worry, I can see the reasoning behind doing 25 knots to cover a long offshore passage - 4 hours at sea to cover 100 miles in settled weather is often going to be preferable to spending 10 hours on passage at 10 knots, if a speed of 25 knots is achievable.

 

[BrendanS]

You are talking crap. 8knts on most large mnobos will cause a huge wake. Planing at 20+ knts will cause far less wake.

If you are going to be antagonistic, at least get facts correct first.

 

[Bajansailor]

OK, 6 knots then if you like - the total time taken to reach the destination is not going to be much longer if it is just a few miles.

 

[BrendanS]

Why have a planing boat then. Get a displacement boat if you are going everywhere at 6 knts

 

[Bajansailor]

Well, even I can see that most folk on here would prefer to have the choice of being able to go fast when required or when the situation is appropriate - I would not want to condemn them to a life at 6 knots!

All I am saying is that in congested waters, for short passages, why is there this compulsion to travel at high speed?

The same question applies even more so to those folk who have to get their RHIB tender up on to the plane to travel 200 (OK, maybe 300 at the most) metres from ship to shore / dock / beach. This happens all the time out here in the Caribbean, and I am sure the same situation happens in the Med and around popular boating anchorages in Britain.

 

[BrendanS]

even in congested waters, you can normally do planing speeds without inconveniencing other users of the water. At busy times, it just takes a bit more work. At non busy times, the chances are that there will be no one else out on the water anyway.

 

[lyc]

[ QUOTE ]
Sailing boats often seem to have a magnetic attraction for motor boats with large wakes - and this attraction seems to be magnified when jet-skis are involved - for some reason they think every sailing boat pottering along is a suitable turning mark for an impromptu race with their mates......

.

[/ QUOTE ]

It would seem that sailing boats have quite an attraction to racing boats also A non-racing yacht sails through the Laser SB3 fleet /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif