What would you have done

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I went straight over the top of some divers a few weeks back.

There is a beacon marking the corner of a reef at a turning point in a channel where there are usually a couple of boats fishing but we go past within 100ft, zero wash, never a problem, fishos always give us a wave.

This time as a got within about 100ft of a small dinghy I see a small divers flag, A4 sized rigid type running fore and aft and as boat was hanging to the breeze and we were approaching bow on, not noticed.
Worst part was they had a watcher on board staring at a mobile phone.
Knocked her out of gear asked where the divers were, pretty much under bow at that stage and rolled past giving him an ear full of abuse.

That big fan and nozzle on ours would have sucked them up and spat out chunks without missing a beat.
 
"Knocked her out of gear asked where the divers were, pretty much under bow at that stage and rolled past giving him an ear full of abuse."


AS a lit cherry bomb will continue to function when tossed into the water , an earful could be something these idiots might remember!
 
BruceK said:
Tough crowd.The OP set up a special safety watch for the passing manouevre, the divers were successfully avoided, the OP did not go aground, there was a frank exchange of views only after the divers instigated a discussion, and no divers were injured and no boats were damaged in the process.
I say the OP did a good job. The proof is in the injury/damage free result.Maybe some of us needed to be there.
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THANKS BruceK!!! You pretty much summed up the entire event!! And thanks to the majority of you who supported my actions. Other than sounding my horn, I felt I handled it as best as I could considering my options at that moment.

To a few who said I should have either turned around or dropped my anchor, I would like to remind you that I was in a 53 ft vessel in a 50 ft wide channel with a stiff crosswind!! Spinning around was not a good option, and EVEN IF I wanted to drop anchor, by the time it would have set in the cross wind, my very exposed props would then be resting on the bottom!!

AND "BandB", I love you guys, (especially WifeyB), and I most of the time agree with both of your comments, insights, and advice. But not this time. I want you to know, I absolutely positively knew there were no Divers of any kind in front of me or in my immediate intended path. As I stated in my original post, it's a shallow channel, it was low tide, AND the water there is crystal clear. From my high advantage point, i could clearly see the bottom, I intently watched for air bubbles, another Snorkeler, etc. With myself watching out front and my wife watching them, I knew I was passing with confidence it was safe for all. It was just too close for comfort due to the decision of an idiot!!

Again, thanks to all of your responses. I love this forum. (And WifeyB!!!) LOL!
 
geauxcruise said:
AND "BandB", I love you guys, (especially WifeyB), and I most of the time agree with both of your comments, insights, and advice. But not this time. I want you to know, I absolutely positively knew there were no Divers of any kind in front of me or in my immediate intended path. As I stated in my original post, it's a shallow channel, it was low tide, AND the water there is crystal clear. From my high advantage point, i could clearly see the bottom, I intently watched for air bubbles, another Snorkeler, etc. With myself watching out front and my wife watching them, I knew I was passing with confidence it was safe for all. It was just too close for comfort due to the decision of an idiot!!

Again, thanks to all of your responses. I love this forum. (And WifeyB!!!) LOL!
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She appreciates your love and I appreciate your love for her. Note, I was very careful to say I was not faulting what you did, but the question was not if you did the right thing, it was what would I have done. Those are two very different questions. Now, if I absolutely knew there were no divers, that might have changed it, but not sure how I would have known that based on the assessment the others were idiots and sometimes they run in packs.

Not faulting your decision, just unless I was 100% sure I wouldn't have had the nerve to proceed.
 
BandB said:
She appreciates your love and I appreciate your love for her. Note, I was very careful to say I was not faulting what you did, but the question was not if you did the right thing, it was what would I have done. Those are two very different questions. Now, if I absolutely knew there were no divers, that might have changed it, but not sure how I would have known that based on the assessment the others were idiots and sometimes they run in packs.

Not faulting your decision, just unless I was 100% sure I wouldn't have had the nerve to proceed.
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:thumb:

Hope we get to meet you guys one day. We are actually in Key West and plan on staying here until end of February. We go to Miami/Lauderdale (Via car) occasionally and planning a trip up there in the boat soon. I think our "Lifestyles" are similar!!
 
IMO you and wife did well.

I probably would have blown the horn often, had my haler on full and used it throughout as well as broadcast their boat registration #'s, incorrect position and incorrect actions all over the network.

Then wife and I would have simply smiled!
 
Art said:
IMO you and wife did well.

I probably would have blown the horn often, had my haler on full and used it throughout as well as broadcast their boat registration #'s, incorrect position and incorrect actions all over the network.

Then wife and I would have simply smiled!
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Wifey B: Hailers really can come in handy in such situations. :)
 
We have a similar situation when leaving or returning to our boathouse, 1/4 mile upriver from saltwater. There is a traditional fishery for Chinook salmon conducted from rowboats. Often when leaving from our boathouse, there are rowboats fishing right in the river channel. They act like they own the rivermouth. I wait to see what happens until we're 200 feet away, then I think about the horn. So far I haven't had to use it. I would expect that a 26,000 boat manouvering in a restricted waterway, perhaps 50' wide might have the right of way over a bunch of rowboats? Perhaps not?
 
Once traveling down Napa River on a friend's boat, on the river's narrow portion, there was a boat anchored in the channel, fishing. Friend's boat snagged the fisherman's line on the propeller. Our gracious captain unraveled the line and returned the fishing gear to the fisherman. No hostility or shouting.

Live and let live. That's an ideal difficult to live up to.
 
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saltcod said:
We have a similar situation when leaving or returning to our boathouse, 1/4 mile upriver from saltwater. There is a traditional fishery for Chinook salmon conducted from rowboats. Often when leaving from our boathouse, there are rowboats fishing right in the river channel. They act like they own the rivermouth. I wait to see what happens until we're 200 feet away, then I think about the horn. So far I haven't had to use it. I would expect that a 26,000 boat manouvering in a restricted waterway, perhaps 50' wide might have the right of way over a bunch of rowboats? Perhaps not?
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No such thing as right-of-way, but boats aren't supposed to block channels. I would maneuver around the boats but would not guarantee their fishing lines. Hopefully, my keel-protected rudder and propeller wouldn't snag their lines.
 
I had a diver "incident" several years ago. I saw a small boat with diver flag, and evidence of a diver moving about. In the wrong place. I knew a boat in my bay sank recently and where. I rowed over in my 8ft f/g dinghy, draws about 4" and I lift it on my own, to tell the man in the boat where to search, to an earful about endangering a diver down. "Well, I said, I only came over to tell you to search over there where the boat sank". Things got patched up,but maybe some divers, pro or not,can have lapses.
 
AT least you can see and avoid imbeciles anchored / swimming in the channel.


In Maine its not uncommon for lobster traps to be strung from buoy to buoy marking the channel, to make the pot string easier to locate for the local in fog..
 
A great deal of the time fishing folks, both commercial and pleasure, seem to think (mistakenly) that they are the only ones who should be on the water.
From the absolutely incomprehensibly rude and arrogant lobster fishermen in NE, to the fishermen who clutter the Muskegon channel even when faced with an 80' motorsailer trying to enter, to the idiots you described. And the USCG seems completely uncaring or unwilling to insure there is a navigable channel for other users of our waterways.

Some days it is almost with joyful glee that I imagine myself plowing through hundreds of lobster pot buoys in the NE with my spurs!!!! Payback for all my non-fishing brothers who have had to be towed, paid divers or had to haul and replace props, struts or shafts, because there was no clear passage in a buoyed navigable channel.
 
SoWhat said:
Let your wife handle it. She has good instincts. They were complete idiots. Regs state you must make "reasonable" efforts to avoid them and can pass them with enough speed to maintain "headway and steerageway." You apparently did just that.

You might look into "rolling coal" in case they anchor in the channel again :D
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Note to self... Yelling at my wife is never a good practice.
Diplomacy is a better policy
 
geauxcruise said:
So we are putting along at 5 knots returning back to our Marina after a great day on the water. We are in a long straight very narrow shallow channel that serves as access to a large city owned mooring field on my Port side. On my Starboard side is a very shallow flat (about 2 ft deep to nothing). This marked dedicated channel is 50 - 60 foot wide at best and is no more than 7 - 8 feet deep at high tide. The channel is used to access your specific mooring location, is used by the local charter fishing fleet, AND is the only access route for large boats to access our Marina. I am in a 53' Carver Voyager Pilothouse MotorYacht. I draft 4’ 9” empty!! The mooring field averages 5 foot deep. We were at low tide.

About half way down the channel, I see a small center console boat crossways
in the channel and it appears to not be moving. It was not in the center of the channel, but just off center towards the right side, which was my starboard. A quick look with my binoculars and I see that it is anchored and I see a divers flag. (It is Lobster season here in FL). And the anchor line (rope), was coming up from the middle of the channel. There was a stiff crosswind blowing port to starboard. I thought, you have to be kidding, right!!

As I got closer, I could see 2 snorkelers in the water around the boat. I know to steer far and wide when approaching divers in the water. But that was not an option for me. I slowed my speed down as slow as I could possibly go without going into neutral. Did I mention there was a stiff crosswind? My boat has a very high profile and the wind is not my friend. If I would have stopped forward progress to wait and see if the idiots would get out of the channel, the wind would have quickly pushed me into the shallow flat to my starboard. As I got within about 100 feet of the boat, one of the guys saw us approaching and actually swam out further into the channel towards us. So I moved to the port side of the channel as much as I could and then very carefully started to ease past them. And now due to the design and size of my boat I cannot see them or the boat, as I am driving up top and my helm is on the port side. My wife though, is watching them for me. I had to pass within about 25 feet of the bow of the boat AND the snorkeler!! Just about the time we are even with them, I hear my wife yell out, "Because you are anchored in the freaking channel you idiot!!!". I asked her was that necessary and she said yes, because he was waving both arms yelling "WTF" at her!! Let me just say, my wife does not take kindly to being cussed at when she knows she is in the right. Then she said he flipped her off!! She was not a happy camper at that point.

So, how do you guys deal with idiots? What should I have done differently? What would you have done? As I stated, to stop forward progress would have meant being pushed into shallow water. I did my absolute best in determining that there was no one in front of me in the water as I passed them, but this entire incident has really bothered me.
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Call the local Marine Patrol. By your description I'm guessing you were coming into Dinner Key marina. If so, call the Miami-Dade Sheriffs office either on cell phone or channel 16. The Dimwits in the channel were creating a dangerous situstion.

I've been "Buzzed" by jet skis, ocean racers and open fisherman where they come within 10 feet of my aft quarter. I got the name and model I the boat, called the County Sheriffs office on my cell and they had a patrol boat there in one quick jiffy. Ticketed the offenders every time!
 
I Yell “FIRST BOAT?”
 
I do not believe a vessel can be ticketed without the officer personally seeing the offense....not sure about video.



Wake damage is different and will require further investigation beyond a simple complaint.
 
If the cop show up and sees the boat anchored in the channel what more does he need! As for the times I reported unsafe boaters, I cannot say for sure that tickets were issued, but the operators were sitting in the police bistvegen i passed and didn't look too happy!
 
That's really a tough call. After having read most of the previous replies it seems that the majority would give the danger response on the horn of 5 quick blasts then get on the radio and warn other boaters about the fools blocking the channel. If there was a possibility of hitting the boat or divers or anchor line then I'd turn around and find a safe place to anchor and wait until they moved, while I notified the local authorities and CG.

That said; what you did worked so maybe it was the right call. Like I said - That's a tough call. I'm glad that it wasn't me.

Some Kayakers can also be a pain. Many of them act as if they have the right of way and paddle slowly in the middle of the channel. I don't understand why these particular kayakers stay in the deep water channel. I've had a run in with a kayaker. She yelled at me for passing her at about 7-8 knots. I stopped to talk with her. I suggested that she slow up and let me pass rather than follow her for a couple of miles until the channel opened to the bay or speed up to a point of being a danger to her. She was shocked at my suggestion. So I took advantage of both of us being stopped to argue and took off and got up to my usual cruising speed.

I guess us bigger boats are similar to being the big rigs on the road. Many drivers do not understand that big rigs need room to stop and are less maneuverable than cars. I see cars pulling in front of big rigs all the time and wonder what the hell are they thinking. They're not thinking!

Here's to safe and happy cruising!
 
A lot of good advice here. Maybe if you had a hailer, you might have briefly explained that they were blocking the channel. I've had similar experiences with fishermen anchored in channels, though wider ones that permitted me to steer around them safely. But I still felt it best to slow down considerably to avoid swamping them in my wake.


Just the other day, while I was about to enter a clearly marked narrow channel between rocky shallows going dead slow, a 45+ foot express cruiser (maybe $1.5m value) operated by a younger guy in a backwards-facing baseball hat, suddenly appeared on my port aft quarter a mere 10 feet away. His vessel was just beginning to come off plane, and creating a huge wake. He actually had the audacity to wave as he plunged by us. I had to struggle to remain in the channel and not be pushed out and into the rocks. My wife yelled at him, but to no avail.


I have found that most boaters, particularly those with larger boats, know and understand boating rules and etiquette. But occasionally, I come across narcissistic idiots who have no respect for others.


Anyway, a little off topic. But it does once again demonstrate the idiocy of some members of our species.
 
dennismenace111 said:
If the cop show up and sees the boat anchored in the channel what more does he need! As for the times I reported unsafe boaters, I cannot say for sure that tickets were issued, but the operators were sitting in the police bistvegen i passed and didn't look too happy!
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I was referring to your last post....

"i've been "Buzzed" by jet skis, ocean racers and open fisherman where they come within 10 feet of my aft quarter. I got the name and model I the boat, called the County Sheriffs office on my cell and they had a patrol boat there in one quick jiffy. Ticketed the offenders every time"
 
I have had guys blocking the channel fishing when I was trying to assistance tow a vessel. I asked for room and they told me to get f'ed.

Yep mostly good out there and some evil.
 
First I think you did the right thing--but there was still some risk to you and the anchored/idiot "divers". My first action would have been the 5 blasts--and a call to the Alabama Marine Patrol--not sure if you were going into Cotton Bayou area, Johnson Cove or up by Barber Marina (assuming that your home port of Orange Beach is where this occurred). I live on Perdido Bay, and there are almost always marine partrol folks around Perdido Pass. A recording of the incident would also hopefully give you some further legal protection if a bad outcome occurred. I have also found that recording dangerous encounters often helps to resolve them--in that the wrong doers are now on "record".
 
RossWilson said:
A lot of good advice here. Maybe if you had a hailer, you might have briefly explained that they were blocking the channel. I've had similar experiences with fishermen anchored in channels, though wider ones that permitted me to steer around them safely. But I still felt it best to slow down considerably to avoid swamping them in my wake.


Just the other day, while I was about to enter a clearly marked narrow channel between rocky shallows going dead slow, a 45+ foot express cruiser (maybe $1.5m value) operated by a younger guy in a backwards-facing baseball hat, suddenly appeared on my port aft quarter a mere 10 feet away. His vessel was just beginning to come off plane, and creating a huge wake. He actually had the audacity to wave as he plunged by us. I had to struggle to remain in the channel and not be pushed out and into the rocks. My wife yelled at him, but to no avail.


I have found that most boaters, particularly those with larger boats, know and understand boating rules and etiquette. But occasionally, I come across narcissistic idiots who have no respect for others.


Anyway, a little off topic. But it does once again demonstrate the idiocy of some members of our species.
Click to expand...


I wish I had a nickel for every 30' SeaRay that passed within 20 ft of me in my 29 foot sloop motoring into Port Everglades, going half speed pulling a 4 foot wake! And dumping everything I the cabin on the deck. Common sense and consideration are sorely lacking
 
Dennis, don't expect seamanship from SeaRay operators, or from any others. It is a jungle out there. ... Funny, 95-plus percent of the time I've had no negative encounters. But gotta stay "on one's toes."
 
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markpierce said:
Dennis, don't expect seamanship from SeaRay operators, or from any others. It is a jungle out there. ... Funny, 95-plus percent of the time I've had no negative encounters. But gotta stay "on one's toes."
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One important object, and likewise a subject, of life's agenda is to be thoughtful.

Thoughtfulness usually increases inside one person's actions when that person's mind can place themself in position of another person.

"Applied Empathy" can instantly become a working energy if a person simply thinks for the good of another. :thumb:
 
Speaking of jet-skis... I caught one. One fine day, while motoring through the pass at Panama City, Florida, after a day of sail-fishing (my version of trolling while under sail), I had my trolling pole in a holder and the lure hooked into a pole guide. Despite the line being tight and the drag being set fairly hard, for some reason it became unhooked and dangled about 2' from the water and about 6" from the stern. The stern on my sailboat had a long, high overhang. A guy on a jet-ski went under the stern and the treble hook became lodged in the rubber molding on the front of the jet ski on the far side. The drag on the reel, being set fairly hard, and the fact that the line was now laying across the guy's face or chest caused him to immediately let go of the throttle and the jet ski swung around. I had heard the line stripping off and quickly put the transmission in neutral. He meekly apologized and tried to pull the hook out of the rubber molding, but couldn't. I reeled him in and handed him a pair of needle-nosed pliers. After freeing the hook and handing me back the pliers, he said it was a good thing the hook stuck in the molding as his body would have been the next target. He said he was trying to impress others in his group of jet-skiers (all of which stayed about 100 yards away). I said something like; "I usually don't catch and release, but this was an exception" - his apology was very sincere. I think it scared me as much as it scared him.
 
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