Why do watermen feel so entitled?

[Woodland Hills]

LOL, the older I get the more that I find this true.

Interestingly, some of the most entitled folks that I have seen on the water are at the helm of large recreational boats, like sport fishing yachts, throwing up hugh wakes in narrow channels, bouncing the he!! out of the smaller boats.

Jim

Lot of those guys are 6-pack charters with a captain and crew on their way out to the where the big ones are. Just because your boat is a sport fisherman and you take clients who do all the work does not mean you aren’t a professional fisherman.

 

[Alisske]

Why do they feel entitled? Part ignorance, Part aggressiveness, and the final part is impunity.

I can from a commercial fishing family, I worked my pops boats until I graduated college. That being said, I hate the ahole commercial guys when they rock me on the mooring, but like it or not, I get the pecking order.

What I mean by impunity is that these guys are generally out in the water year round, and after January a lot of the police/constables etc.... either are not in the water much, or at all. (Especially north of the Carolinas, after December).

I don’t know how many times the local authorities reached out for help with issues on the water. (Pull a boat that broke loose to the dock, answer an SOS call, pull a channel marker dislodged in a storm etc....)

Long story short, the authorities rely on these guys to help manage the water and they are not going to screw with the guys that are gonna help them when they are in a jam, and ice is floating around in the water, lmao.

Theres the story of the Pelican, a head boat that capsized off montauk in a squall. It was the local “waterman” that risked their lives going out and pulling bodies, both dead and alive, out of the churning waters. That’s why they don’t give a **** and do what they want.

That being said, as I get rocked on my boat, I laugh as I see people bitching to the constables and cops about the commercial guys. I see the constables/cops shrug their shoulders and say “oh, I’m gonna talk with them!” Meanwhile knowing they will never say a word to them.

 

[Choices]

I have been waked by the Coast Gaurd and USNavy more than any professional fisherman.

 

[DCatSea]

OH PER---LEASE!!

In my experience on the Chesapeake it's the recreational boaters (usually those in large, over-powered cruisers), NOT the so called "watermen" who are most likely to be charging around at high speed in the fairway, oblivious to all around them.

Anyways - what's a bowl of soup compared to a few bushels of crab or oyster at market on time to sell to the go-fast crowd?

My thanks go to the professional Chesapeake watermen for all they do to put food on our tables, and for their efforts in helping to Save the Bay. Not to mention that they are often the first to arrive when recreational boaters get in trouble.

 

[DCatSea]

I have been waked by the Coast Gaurd and USNavy more than any professional fisherman.

They are probably responding to a recreational boater in trouble; hence the speed.

 

[markpierce]

I have been waked by the Coast Gaurd and USNavy more than any professional fisherman.

My worse waked was by a USCG motor boat in open waters. I needed to play closer attention. Did right (closer attention) on the boat's return.

 

[4blade1]

I must be missing something because out here on the west coast if you are over 5mph in the marina you will get popped big time by harbor police. I watched them arrest someone and impound their vessel for blatantly throwing a wake in the 5mph zone. My bet was they were DUI as well. Once you are past the 5mph bouy all bets are off and if you happen to be on one of those cheap $150 / mo moorings in the bay then you will get waked. If you don't want to get waked then pop for the big $$ and pay $25-50/ ft. for a slip at the marina.

 

[Woodland Hills]

OH PER---LEASE!!

In my experience on the Chesapeake it's the recreational boaters (usually those in large, over-powered cruisers), NOT the so called "watermen" who are most likely to be charging around at high speed in the fairway, oblivious to all around them.

Anyways - what's a bowl of soup compared to a few bushels of crab or oyster at market on time to sell to the go-fast crowd.


My thanks go to the professional Chesapeake watermen for all they do to put food on our tables, and for their efforts in helping to Save the Bay. Not to mention that they are often the first to arrive when recreational boaters get in trouble.

So selling crabs to rich people gives permission to speed through manatee zones? I did not know that......
Spilling soup or being woken at dawn are one thing, but slicing up endangered animals with propellers is on a different level of selfishness. One might think that spending all day on the water earning a living would give folks empathy for the creatures that share the sea with them, but perhaps familiarity breeds contempt.

BTW, the 80’ or bigger trawlers are not the offenders, it is the 40 to 50 foot crabbers that are always in a hurry along with the charter boats.

 

[HiDHo]

4Blade1,
How gauche, boats on moorings.

 

[BandB]

I would say, from sixty years of observations, that the distribution of a-holes in the human race is pretty uniform, no matter what profession, income level, or education.

100% on target. Funny how regularly there are complaints about some group of boaters on every boating forum. One week it's sailboaters on forum A and the next week it's Sportfishermen on forum B and on and on. The reality is every group has it's good and bad. Of course, we only complain about the bad and as we do it gives the appearance a group is all bad. Why? Because the bad ones are the news. They are the exception in all groups. The great majority of people do try to be courteous and respectful.

 

[Datenight]

Most likely he went to publik skool and was tutored in SELF ESTEEM, for 12 years before being handed a diploma he couldn't read.

FF,

I have said this to you and others before. Spend a day or two in any public school and you will change your tune. I would invite you to spend it with me but I am retired after 35 years.

Sorry to go off topic,

Merry Christmas!

Rob

 

[Datenight]

Yes FF I know you spent some time in the (I think) New York City system.

Merry Christmas again,

Rob

 

[JLD]

FF,

I have said this to you and others before. Spend a day or two in any public school and you will change your tune. I would invite you to spend it with me but I am retired after 35 years.

Sorry to go off topic,

Merry Christmas!

Rob

"... any public school.." is a pretty broad brush!

I think I got a very good education at the public school that I went to for 12 years. Same thing holds true for the public universities where I went for undergraduate and graduate school!

Jim

 

[BandB]

I think I got a very good education at the public school that I went to for 12 years. Same thing holds true for the public universities where I went for undergraduate and graduate school!

Jim

We both went to public schools and a public university. My wife continued at the public university for her Masters and Doctorate.

The public schools I went to were excellent. The ones she went to were good. The college and grad school were very good quality.

 

[HiDHo]

T.....h......r......e...a....d D.......r....i.....f.....t

 

[BandB]

T.....h......r......e...a....d D.......r....i.....f.....t

Defensive measure. lol

So, now that we've beaten watermen up, what is the next group of boaters to attack?

 

[hmason]

How about kayakers with blue kayaks that are near invisible in certain light and sea conditions? We can beat on them for awhile.

 

[Peter B]

How about kayakers with blue kayaks that are near invisible in certain light and sea conditions? We can beat on them for awhile.

How about we just consider the issue beaten do death, and go have a cuppa and a lie down..?

 

[grandbanksbayfield]

Glad you can see it from their side, yet they get a bit scary at times.

 

[BandB]

How about kayakers with blue kayaks that are near invisible in certain light and sea conditions? We can beat on them for awhile.

Oh, I remember when grey and silver metalflake was in and on the lake you couldn't see silver very well at dusk.

 

[FF]

"How about kayakers with blue kayaks that are near invisible in certain light and sea conditions? We can beat on them for awhile."

NAA, the big PIA is jet skis who can harm other folks.

The stealth kayaks folks become chum with little damage to others.

 

[Woodland Hills]

"How about kayakers with blue kayaks that are near invisible in certain light and sea conditions? We can beat on them for awhile."

NAA, the big PIA is jet skis who can harm other folks.

The stealth kayaks folks become chum with little damage to others.

I must not be as callous as some, because chopping someone up into chum with my props would freak me out! I once knew a guy who accidentally killed another in a farm accident and he was a changed man after that, not the same person at all. I do not think he would describe the eventual outcome as “little damage” to his life since he never got over it.

I assume this was an attempt at humor, but the whole idea of kayakers or paddleboarders being chopped up by my boat doesn’t really seem funny given how close some of these folks get when we are maneuvering around the harbor. And how unsure some of them are about the rules of the road and how quickly a 50 ton boat can turn or stop. I’ve often thought that hitting one of them was not outside the realm of possibility which takes away a lot of the potential for making jokes about it all. Jet skis, I’m more worried about them running into me!

 

[CaptTom]

I don't think it's callousness. An I own a kayak myself. The problem is, so many of them are operated by the totally clueless. They're a very real danger to themselves, and as Woodland Hills points out, present real problems for us, too.

Crude "chum" jokes are just a way to let off a little steam; to relieve some of the stress they cause us. We call them "speed bumps" in our area, but would never intentionally run them over. "Speed bump off the port bow" is a warning to the helmsman, not a threat to the kayaker.