Capt John wrote:

Just a few comments.

I've done the ditch back and forth between NY and Florida many times
delivering boats. Most power boaters know enough to slow down when
overtaking a slower vessel, and most sail boaters know enough to turn
into the wake as they go by. Their are a few bad apples on both sides,
I have seen several sail boats that refused to move aside and let
anyone pass, most learned the hard way that was the wrong thing to do.

Sometimes if the channel is narrow, the sailboat can't move to the
side. We saw one guy near Barefoot (in the Rock Pile) who was
attempting to be courteous by moving into what looked like an inlet
area. What he didn't realize that there was a rock ledge right under
the water. He was stuck there for a considerable time as a result of
trying to move aside and probably had damage to his boat's bottom.

Sometimes power boats just have to be patient and wait to pass in a
better place.

And their are some sail boaters beleave that the water should be
without a single ripple, that's not going to happen, get over it.

We were passed once by two power boats - one went on the port side and
one went on the starboard side. We were bounced around a bit, but not
badly. However the sailboat ahead of us (a bit to our starboard), did
not see the power boat that passed on our port side because it was on
the other side of us. They had a bit rougher go because of that.

The fact that there may be non-manmade waves does not exempt power
boaters from being responsible for their wakes.