Saturday, July 13, 2013

What An Imbecile!

If there's one thing that really pisses me off, it's power boaters who don't have a clue.  Sure, there are sailors who don't have a clue too, but any damage they do is usually to themselves.  Power boaters can endanger the well being of others, and their property.

Yesterday, Pam and I decided to attend a music festival in Stillwater, New York at Admirals Marina, which is on the Hudson River north of Albany.  This is also the Champlain Canal.  Between sets, I wandered down to the water to get my boat fix when I saw three boats leave the lock headed north.   A small runabout, which headed towards the marina.   A canal boat, which was traveling at a leisurely couple of knots.   And a red trawler which decided it had to pass the canal boat as quickly as possible, and in doing so tossed up a huge wake.


You can see how close he is to the marina in the pic above.  In the photo below, you can see his bow pointed skyward, and his huge wake.  


When his wake hit the marina, boats and docks rocked like crazy, as you can imagine.  If anyone was on the docks, especially children, they would have been tossed into the Hudson.

This is, of course, not only dangerous but illegal.  In New York, it is against the law to operate a boat at more than five MPH within 100 feet of a dock, the shore, or a moored boat.  Five MPH is a fast walk.  This clod was motoring at least twice that speed.

Quite honestly, this is one thing that I don't miss about boating.   The inconsideration of others, that their time is more valuable than your safety, or that of your property.

If you see the owner of this boat,  please give him a link to this blog.  Thanks.

12 comments:

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    1. Speaking of taking care in all situations so as not to irk fellow boaters ... The link you provided is to the PREVIOUS OWNER's blog. This boat was sold a few months ago. Just read the blog, and you'll see that the previous owner is a competent and curtious captain. And then kindly apologize to the previous owner.

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  2. You just can't cure stupid. They're everywhere.

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  3. I see it all the time while working on and around Roundout Creek-- Morons!!

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    1. Hey Rick,

      I'm sorry you took heat for something done by the new owner of your boat. It's apparent that he either doesn't have a clue, or he just doesn't care about the safety and well being of others.

      I just checked your blog and I'm glad to see that you've updated it.

      To all my Drift Away blog's followers, it appears that poor Rick took a beating here. Please consider following his blog. I've added it to my blog list, at the bottom right of this page.

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    3. Rick - Where do you see a link to your blog? Nowhere, except where you've posted it yourself.

      You've explained that you no longer own Good Fortune in your reply here. That should suffice. And quite honestly, I'm hoping that the new owner of Good Fortune finally gets made aware of this blog and his careless actions. Someone could have been seriously hurt as his two foot wake slammed into the marina's small docks.

      You've made it clear that it wasn't you, but the new owner who was at fault. Let's leave it at that. But to help you somewhat, I'll remove your old boat's name from the post.

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  6. Guys - this boat was recently sold - the owner of "Good Fortune" has a new 45' Mainship and is very much a courteous seaman. As pictures do not lie - it is obvious the boat formerly named "Good Fortune", which incidentally is also my former boat "SeaChelle", a 2005 34' Mainship Trawler - was underway under the command of the new owner.

    Please know that the link to their blog listed above - is the old owner. The new owner took delivery about 2 weeks ago and was to have headed up to New York.

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