Boating

THE RULES OF THE GAME

Sharing the water takes concern as well as knowledge.

- By Kevin Falvey

They weren’t lost in the fog. They didn’t have engine trouble. They hadn’t run aground. They were anchored and swimming, smoke from grilling burgers billowing off the stern, in the main navigation channel!

Most boaters know that we are responsibl­e for any damage or injury caused by the wake created by our boats. But do we really need to operate on the theory of death and destructio­n?

How about we slow down and reduce our wake in advance of other boats or a nearby shoreline because it’s a courteous thing to do? What if we or our kids or our friends were in the boat getting waked? What if we or our friends or our kids owned that piece of shoreline our wake is eroding? I say we chuck the law, metaphoric­ally speaking, and just do the right thing.

Just as the tide causes a moored boat to swing both ways, so does putting ourselves in another boater’s Top-Siders. On a recent photo shoot, we came across a family in a small cruiser anchored in a narrow channel, on a river with plentiful commercial and recreation­al traffic. They weren’t lost in the fog. They didn’t have engine trouble. They hadn’t run aground. They were anchored and swimming around the boat, smoke from grilling burgers billowing off the stern, in the main navigation channel!

They shook their fists as ferryboats and every other boat— most of which slowed down to no wake speed—tried to squeeze by. That boating family’s ignorance doesn’t mean they deserve to be hit by a big rolling wake, but it doesn’t excuse the fact that they should have considered how their choice of anchorage made things uncomforta­ble—if not unsafe—for them and for the other boats on the water.

Similarly, in crossing situations, a boat approachin­g from the right

(starboard) should be given the right of way. (Legally, by the rules, that boat is known as the stand-on vessel.) That boat is legally obligated to maintain course and speed. The other boat (give-way vessel) is obliged to slow down or change course so that the stand-on can pass safely. Both boats have an obligation: one to maintain its course, and the other to avert.

But too many times, when I see or am engaged in this scenario, it turns into a race. One boater, upon seeing the other, bumps up his speed. This often causes the second boater to speed up thier boat as well. One or both adjust course so as to get ahead of the other boat sooner. Epithets get hurled, and sometimes crew aboard the boat that beats the other can be seen high-fiving and laughing as their boat powers away. Would it really have been so hard for either of them, after feeling that first burst of competitiv­e adrenaline, to just let the other boat go? Is backing off and enjoying the day such a horrible fate?

Now, I could rail about boaters who lack knowledge of the rules. Or I might bemoan the old days when, it seemed, a higher percentage of boaters knew the rules. Or I could take the high road and champion the importance of boater education. I’d be confident in the correctnes­s of all three tacks. But I’m not writing this to wag a finger, or to shame or assign guilt.

Instead, I’m asking all of us to think about the other guy and the reasons we go boating in the first place.

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