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.

Yes, when your in international waters like that, that is part of the St.
Lawrence Seaway so there are even larger ships navigating through there. I
think it may be the "every man for themselves theory". Basically it is also
the largest ship rule, you have to see them coming and take precautions.







"Paul" wrote in message
ble.rogers.com...
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.

33 years of driving has taught me that 90% of automobile drivers fall into
one or more of these categories:

1) Dead. Actually, really dead. Nobody's bothered to remove them from the
car.

2) Drunk, regardless of the time of day.

3) Completely distracted by one thing or another

4) Blind, according to any legal or medical definition

5) Stupid - too stupid to operate a toaster, much less a car.


There's no reason to believe that boaters are any different, and the horror
stories in this newsgroup are proof of the theory.

Paul Writes

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.

I am *very* new to all this, but if the boats were overtaking you their
wakes would approach from your stern quarter. Could you have steered to
starboard thus taking the wake square on to your stern? Obviously less
comfortable than bow-first, but more stable than beam-on, and you'd not
impede the overtaking vessels.

--
Trevor Dennis
Remove s-p-a-m to email

Hi Trevor,

Thought about this a lot since, and of course this weekend during cruising
as well.

Yes, there were things I could have done in hindsight and I think you're
right, taking them on the stern was a possibility however I was fairly close
to shore and taking them on the stern would have meant turning into shore.
But by turning and dropping power it would have worked. So doing the same
thing but taking them on the bow would have worked as well. Learn, learn,
learn.

This weekend I was a lot more aware of this type of thing and found that it
wasn't too hard to deal with the various wakes I encountered. I didn't
encounter anything near what I wrote about last week but even if I had I
felt much more capable of dealing with it.

This time when being overtaken from behind I altered course slightly for a
while beforehand (heading away from the overtaking boats), then after being
overtaken I would correct back a little more acutely, getting back to my
original line while taking the wakes more directly. Once through the wake, I
would correct once again back onto my original course and all was well with
the world. Obviously I was looking a lot further out than before and being
more aware.

I also did this once when meeting another boat coming towards me on a
parallel course. He was moving about my speed (6-7 knots) but it was a
working boat with a displacement hull (trawler style) and he was moving a
fair amount of water -- quite an amazing amount really, he must have been
heavy. Gently steered away from him and then cut back in a little more
sharply, took the wake and then resumed original course.

After a while I found this becoming sort of a habit or a reflex. I began to
notice less that I was doing it. Also the adjustments were probably not
really that noticeable since I was looking further.

All in all, although the experience was a bit upsetting, if it had not
happened and had the people here not given their input this valuable lesson
would have taken longer to learn.

And if I may digress, I was very pleased with how my boat handled when
cutting some of the larger or more confsued wakes this weekend. She has a
fairly good vee going on and she cut them, even coming down off the top of
them right into another without any slamming or pounding. I don't know how
else to say it except it was very knife-like.

I have been in other cruisers that have pounded down off the top of waves,
almost sounding like a big drum, but my boat seemed to do it almost silently
except for some spray squirting out from the bow.

It was actually kind of cool and increased my confidence on her ability to
take care of us.



"Trevor Dennis" wrote in message
...
Paul Writes

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.

I am *very* new to all this, but if the boats were overtaking you their
wakes would approach from your stern quarter. Could you have steered to
starboard thus taking the wake square on to your stern? Obviously less
comfortable than bow-first, but more stable than beam-on, and you'd not
impede the overtaking vessels.

--
Trevor Dennis
Remove s-p-a-m to email

Paul writes
Hi Trevor,

Yes, there were things I could have done in hindsight and I think you're
right, taking them on the stern was a possibility however I was fairly close
to shore and taking them on the stern would have meant turning into shore.
But by turning and dropping power it would have worked. So doing the same
thing but taking them on the bow would have worked as well. Learn, learn,
learn.

I was also assuming adequate freeboard of your transom. My limited
experience is with RIBs which would have taken on water from a large
stern wave.

And if I may digress, I was very pleased with how my boat handled when
cutting some of the larger or more confsued wakes this weekend. She has a
fairly good vee going on and she cut them, even coming down off the top of
them right into another without any slamming or pounding. I don't know how
else to say it except it was very knife-like.

From the speeds you've mentioned, I don't know if yours is a planing
boat, but do you know about setting the trim to handle rough seas? I
feel a bit of a phoney talking about this, having just come off the RYA
course, and having no real sea experience, but we were shown to trim the
bow down when against the swell - thus putting the V-hull into the
waves, and to trim the bow up when powering with the swell, so as to
prevent the bow nose diving into the troughs when cresting a wave.

Learning this stuff somehow made the whole boating experience immensely
more enjoyable. Unfortunately It's going to be a while before I can put
it into practice, because we are not getting our own boat till we move
to New Zealand in a year or two.

--
Trevor Dennis
Remove s-p-a-m to email

From the speeds you've mentioned, I don't know if yours is a planing
boat, but do you know about setting the trim to handle rough seas? I
feel a bit of a phoney talking about this, having just come off the RYA
course, and having no real sea experience, but we were shown to trim the
bow down when against the swell - thus putting the V-hull into the
waves, and to trim the bow up when powering with the swell, so as to
prevent the bow nose diving into the troughs when cresting a wave.

Much appreciated info. Don't worry about whether you've had a chance to try
it or not, you're up front that you haven't tried it personally yet so
that's fair.

We'll be taking our course this fall/winter. Would have taken it sooner but
that's when the next one starts.

Yes, it's a planing hull with twin 5.7 Alpha I/Os. I haven't had it up over
30 knots yet but I may give it a shot this weekend depending on traffic and
water conditions. I think there will be plenty to learn about trimming it
properly.