NOYB wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
One guy weaving back
and forth up a channel while trolling called me a "Stupid f**k"

Hell, Chuck. You don't have to leave rec.boats to get called a stupid f**k.

Oh so true.

Difference is, anybody calling me such a name in the NG has likely got
some
grounds for such an opinion. Imagine the terrible things this guy would
have said if he actually knew me!

The "seaman" (alternate spelling may be appropriate) in question in
this incident was the skipper of a vessel that was part of a fleet of
little fishing boats scattered all across a passage. (Obviously, that
must have been where the fish were at that particular time).

You have to go through the fleet *somewhere*, and I thought I picked a
likely looking spot. Two boats were approaching. One boat was trolling
immediately behind another, and there was a pretty good gap off the
starboard beam of the lead boat but lots of boats in tight proximity
off his port beam.

Just at the critical moment when I'm about to commit to the course the
seemed initially apparent, the lead boat bears off to starboard fairly
hard, and the following boat bears off to port. The best passage is now
between them, so I slow down to dead slow (no point rocking the
trollers)
and make a course adjustment to pass through the gap they have opened
up.

(Both boats were trolling over the transom, with downriggers, so no
shallow lines and no lines on either side).

The guy in the following boat stands up behind the windshield and
starts waving his hands frantically. I don't know what that's all
about, but I think he might be in distress. Instead of passing at dead
slow about 20 yards from this guy, I drop out of gear entirely, coast
to about 15 yards away and open the pilothouse door to see if he's got
some sort of emergency.

His comment was "You dumb f**k! Can't you see I'm trying to fish here?
Why do you have to run your boat down the middle of the school and
screw up the fishing?"

He continued waving, but this time used a gesture that was easily
understood.

I waved back. :-)

Funny thing about the incident, the fishermen were passing one another
much closer than I passed the guy who was waving his arms in panic. I
guess if I had been dragging a line (and I would have been going about
the same speed) the same guy would have smiled, asked if I had caught
anything, and offered me a beer. Only other thing that could have
caused his concern may have been that his boat was pretty small, and he
may have been all but run down by other guys in larger boats all
morning long and was just fed up when I happened by.