I wanted to relate a story that happened during our cruise yesterday and get
some feedback from you all.

We were cruising in the Thousand Islands, crawling along at about 7 knots
and not too far from shore.

From behind us came three big cruisers, each around 30', making about 20+
knots it seemed. They passed us close on the port side, maybe 200'. They
were lined up one directly behind the other and they were close enough
together that all three had passed before the wakes reached us.

The wakes hit us hard, tossing us about so when the way was clear I turned
into them. Although I saw it all coming, I couldn't turn directly into them
right away because there was other traffic to consider, however I was the
only one taking it directly on the beam.

I believe that one boat's wake might not have been too bad but all three in
a row like that made it quite uncomfortable, borderline scary. Anything
smaller than us (I'm 30'), or especially a pontoon boat would have been in
some amount of danger I think. Once we had ridden out the wakes I returned
to my course.

I understand they may not have wanted to go to the trouble of powering back
especially since they were trimmed for flight. But there was a whole lot
more room that they could have used.

So I'm not sure how I should think about this. Should they be considering
the impact they may be causing and make efforts to minimize that?

Or is it every man for himself out there?

The one thing I will do differently should this situation crop up again is
immediately adjust course to take the wakes on the bow.Even though it would
have required a number of course adjustments from the other boats in the
area -- and possibly caused some confusion -- they'll just have to
understand that I didn't "start" this whole thing.

A little earlier that day, on the downstream leg of our cruise I was on
plane making about 28 knots and made a wide course adjustment to keep me
well clear of an anchored dive boat. While it seemed a large, seaworthy
craft I imagined (probably correctly) that they didn't really need to be
turned into a rocking chair and I also had a lot of water to maneuver so I
figured it was the right thing to do.

Any thoughts you guys have would be appreciated, I have a lot to learn.