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A "What would you do" situation


gregtay

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Here a question for everyone to give their thoughts on.  I had an interesting situation on the water this week while pulling my kids on tubes.  Everything worked out just fine therefore I "did the right thing" but in my 25+ years of boating it was the first time I had a hair raising navigating situation.  So here is the scenario:

We were pulling my 5yo and my 8yo very slowly on tubes (about 8mph... 5yo is still embracing being back there without an adult) up the Spokane river off of Coeur d'Alene.  This is a very narrow river but watersports are allowed (locals have tried to shut down surfing, etc.. but still an open water way.)  It can get a little crazy with boats packed so tightly but it really isn't an issue if you know what you are doing.   Anyway... of we go sputtering up the river pulling my kids I was staying  as close as I could be to the river shoreline on my starboard since I was going slow.   At some point we end up with another newer 23LSV around us full of people. we saw them stopped in the water, then pass us, stop again, etc.  i think the local dealer might have been taking people out on either a delivery ride or they were on a demo ride because they seemed to be going through all the paces with no riders, etc.  Anyway, at some point this other 23lsv is in surf right mode (again, no surfer) and slowly overtakes us about 40-50 feet on my port side.  No big deal.  As their surf wake catches up with the rear of my boat we start to "ride" their wave and get pushed enough that my boat starts to accelerate (cruse control was off.. but the wave was pushing us pretty good.)  The transom of my boat came up enough that you could hear the surfpipe surface and expose the exhaust.  The wave starts to slowly turn my boat to the port and I correct with steering input but not much response.  At this moment the other boat decides they are done demo'ing their surf wave and they stop about 50' in front of my and 40' to my port, as they stop their boat turns/spins to the starboard reducing the amount of separation a bit more.  At this point I am full right/starboard rudder with no response, the bow of my boat is still tracking off to the port. and we aren't that far off from heading directly towards the now stopped 23LSV.  I had a few options... one was cut the throttle but I know my boat well enough that we would have just kept riding the wave forward and would have likely spun even more to the port putting us on a direct path towards the other boat (with no control options of my own.)  The other option was to throttle up and attempt to regain some rudder control but adding power while you are full right rudder (with no response) and headed towards another boat (while getting pushed by a wave) is a little nerve racking.  The last option was to throttle down, toss the boat in full reserve and get get her stopped as quickly as possible... certainly the emergency option but again I had tubers and two ropes behind me so that could have ended a little ugly if I pulled the ropes under the boat and into the prop.  The whole thing happened very quickly, so not a lot of time to evaluate my options.

In the end I added a little throttle which was just enough to stop my boat from continuing to turn to the port, it did not want to come to the starboard at all...but I managed to get it to go straight (with full right rudder) that we were able to pass about 25' off the bow of the other boat, once I went by their wave obviously reduced (since they stopped) and I regained control and we carried on with our fun. So all ended well, no big deal.  If my boat didn't respond to a little more throttle I was just going to go full reverse and get it stopped before we hit the other boat.

I don't blame the other boat, again, it is a narrow river and that is just how you have to run. Overtaking me (with a surf wave behind them) and then immediately stopping wasn't the coolest thing but I didn't think much about it till I realized my slow speed combined with their surf wave caused some control issues (for obvious reasons.)  

For those visual thinkers... here's a little diagram:)

So... what would you have done?  

 

839098357_boatrube.JPG.5c68311d64c3d6947849342cc91cd9a5.JPG

 

 

 

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I have had that happen.   The boat chine gets stuck on the wave.   Every situation is different.  Glad the extra power worked for you. 

I have cut the power and let the wave carry me out as well.   Rope under the boat IMO would not happen easily even with emergency reverse unless you powered backward for quite some time.

We boat on a "narrow" river most of the time.  Can be stress inducing at times.  Safety of the crew and those being towed is the priority.  :)

 

 

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1 hour ago, Eagleboy99 said:

Dad had three boat rules:

1) Don't hurt anyone

2) Don't trash the boat

3) If you have to  choose between Rule 1 and Rule 2, trash the boat.

I would probably have turned hard to port.  Collected my kids then paid the other boat a "visit".

Me too!

 

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I would have definitely said something to them, especially if I knew it was a dealer. 

Normally, the boat pulling someone has right of way over one that isn't pulling someone.  In a passing situation, the overtaking boat has to yield to the boat being overtaken.  Finally, casting a huge wave on someone from a close distance is just plain crappy.  They failed in several ways (but granted, they had completed the overtake). 

I have been known to turn left in front of drivers like that before they overtake me to force them to stop flanking.  I probably wouldn't do it while towing little kids (not even yours). 

Did I mention I would say something to them? 

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On 7/2/2020 at 3:12 PM, justgary said:

I would have definitely said something to them, especially if I knew it was a dealer. 

Normally, the boat pulling someone has right of way over one that isn't pulling someone.  In a passing situation, the overtaking boat has to yield to the boat being overtaken.  Finally, casting a huge wave on someone from a close distance is just plain crappy.  They failed in several ways (but granted, they had completed the overtake). 

I have been known to turn left in front of drivers like that before they overtake me to force them to stop flanking.  I probably wouldn't do it while towing little kids (not even yours). 

Did I mention I would say something to them? 

As someone mentioned earlier... it was like a chine-lock situation, in fact that is exactly what I said to my wife as it was happening.  I think the chine locked into the wave plus I was getting pushed and riding the wave from the rear port corner which effectively caused a slight turn to the port.. plus the wave was pushing me forward reducing the effectiveness of the prop thrust on the rudder.  I have always sort of felt the rudder on my 2019 feels(and looks) too small.  I have been tempted to toss the bigger rudder from the 25LSV on their just to try it out.

If i didn't have my kids out back I would have certainly stopped and said something.. provide some education.  Under the circumstances it wasn't an easy place to double back to them with the kids out back.  Plus, the day before my wife had gone "crazy woman" on two jet skiers who decided to go back and forth and "jump our non-existent 8 MPH wake" about 20ft behind my kiddos on their tubes.. complete idiots. no clue what they were doing.  I stop the boat and told them to stay away, educated them on the law and hwo to be considerate of others on the lake, we started back up and they immediately start zig zagging across our wake again near my kids.  I stop the boat again, waved them over (one of them almost hit my boat in the process, thankfully I caught the jetski before it did) and I this time I was a bit more animated in my communication with them... one of the boys starts telling us he is doing nothing wrong, riding with a legal distance across our wake.. then my wife literally lots it and start screaming at these kids like mothers can do... she went so far off the deep end she actually freaked our own kids out... I don't think they had seen her get quite that mad. Needless to say the boys quickly left when I started taking photo's of the reg numbers and started calling the Sherriff.  Anyway... there was a little piece of me trying to avoid that scene again (for my kids sake more than anything.... took a few hours of explaining to my 5yo why mommy was so angry!)

 

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A 10 ga. salute cannon is the tool of choice to really get someone's attention.  I have often wanted to mount one on my bow just for these situations. 

I was about 8 or so when dad explained the rules to another boater.  The talk quickly ended with him holding the fish gaff up and explaining into which of the fellow's bodily orifices he would insert it if the guy persisted.  I don't recall needing a few hours of explanation to know what happened.  I guess times have changed. 

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