"John" wrote in message
ups.com...
Sorry, but the bottom line when it comes to wakes was stated above:

"A vessel operator is always responsible for any damage
caused by the vessel's wake."

It does not matter how far his wake went. If his wake is that large,
then he needs to go slower to control his wake.

Think about that for a moment, and imagine being on a jury presiding over
these two cases:

1) Recreational boat, throwing an enormous wake, plows through a group of
small, anchored boats carrying fisherman, one mile outside of the normal
channel, in nobody's way. Someone's killed or injured.

2) Freight ship in the St. Lawrence River travels at sufficient speed to be
controllable for the prevailing wind & current conditions, in the normal
channel, obeying all rules. A small recreational boat gets too close to the
wake, someone's tossed overboard and drowns.

Would you (and I specifically mean YOU) assign blame to the pilot of the
freight ship in the same way you would with the moron in the first example?