On Wed, 26 Jul 2006 14:37:17 -0400, DSK wrote:

If your wake causes hazard or great inconvenience, that
makes you an inconsiderate asshole.


Wayne.B wrote:
That's a little extreme

Not really.


... Tell it to the container ships blasting along at 20+
knots.


Well now there's a funny thing... they're not doing it for fun.

If I'm leaving a wake it's because I'm trying to get somewhere, just
like the container ship. If I'm also having fun, that is incidental
and irrelevant. A wake is a wake.

What do you think of a person who, for fun, forces other
people to go out of their way to avoid danger?

See above.

Who, because
he can't be bothered, insists that other people can have
their possessions trashed and it's just "part of being on
the water"?

I call that an inconsiderate asshole, because that's what it
is. What do you call it?

I call it someone in a heavy displacement boat trying to get
somewhere. No one, other than a wake boarder, leaves a wake for fun.
At today's fuel prices, wake production is getting very expensive.


Wakes are funny things, one man's ripple is another man's tsunami.

True, but there is also a very quantifiable scale for wakes.
Not long ago, I videotaped a big sportfisherman going thru
the Adams Creek cut at 8 knots or so.

Do you live on Adams Creek? It's one of my favorite areas of the ICW.
Not all of it is a no wake zone however.

.. pulling a wake that
was literally rolling up over people's docks & bulkheads.

I have seen docks that were built too low for the type of exposure
they encounter. Who do these people yell at with storm waves?

Over the radio, the skipper insisted that he was obeying the
"no wake" signs.

Some people are truly oblivious.

I will reduce my wake for canoes, kayaks, small open boats, or
anything else that looks like it might be endangered.

That phrase "anything else" covers a LOT of territory. How
about anchored boats? Boats tied to docks? Shorelines
subject to erosion?

It depends. Endangered yes, discomforted no.


... I will also
reduce it in close quarters where a wake could cause loss of control.

I've never known a wake to cause a loss of control, OTOH
there are certainly places where it is difficult or
impossible to maneuver bow-on to a wake or otherwise
minimize impact.

Other than that, wakes are just another hazard of boating to be
watched for and dealt with like any other wave.

For the most part, I agree. But that does not change the
fact that every boat operator is responsible for his wake.

.... Other than a sportfish that once
trashed our television while I was waiting for a bridge to open, I've
never gotten too excited about it.


Did you call him names

Fresh Breezes- Doug King