No Wake Signs

[timjet]

In my travels through GA, S.C. and N.C. I've seen numerous "No Wake Signs" along the ICW. Below are a sample of some in 2 days of travel in northern S.C. and southern N.C. None of these are official and they were all ignored by everyone I observed.

The official no wake signs in FL are easy to spot and have a start and end sign creating a zone. It seems our northern neighbors do not take signs as seriously as FL.

 

[psneeld]

My research seemed to indicate NC did have a law against unauthorized no wake signs. Good luck getting it enforced.

I'm glad as I try to be a gentle as possible when transiting and it's easy with my speed... but when delivering yachts...no wake can be an issue for time, money, wear and tear, etc...etc on the transiting yacht.

I can respect marinas and most commercial establishments that obviously have history along the ICW...but I have no mercy for a new McMansion that should have spent money on a boatlift than exorbitant landscaping and a cheapo store bought or hand painted no wake sign.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
I am quite aware of my wake at various speeds and I do slow down for small boats (usually fishermen) that may be affected by my passing. I also abide by the official speed/wake notifications but I'm hard pressed to justify, if I am at normal cruise, minimizing my wake for every home built notice. I do realize I am responsible for my own wake but I am NOT responsible for a homeowner not taking care that his/her waterfront/vessel is well secured in an area where there are no legal wake restrictions. I think it was mentioned in another thread that people move into an area around an airport and then complain about the noise.

 

[markpierce]

If there aren't people or boats on/at the dock within 200 feet, an unofficial no-wake/5-mph (1100 RPM for me) sign is irrelevant to me. But then, the Coot doesn't make much of a wake.

 

[markpierce]

Yes, give the guy a break (no wake).

 

[markpierce]

The 37-knot Vallejo-San Francisco ferries run at a reduced speed of something like ten knots in narrow Mare Island Strait. Nevertheless, I find it necessary to make a "crazy Ivan" and turn into their wakes (while reducing speed to idle) to avoid beverage-spilling rolling.

Ferry at cruising speed:

 

[BruceK]

The Lane Cove River where I moor, an extension of the Harbor, has "Reduced Wake Zones" along it. It is lined with expensive houses both sides, many with jetties and or poles for boats. It is also infested in summer with water skiers, whose reason for being involves creating as much wake as possible, as deep as possible, as fast as possible, plus breaking the rules on towing distances off objects, observers, etc. There is no speed limit, 8kts would probably work. I keep speed down to avoid wake, the sign says to, people live there,some have little beaches, even haulout facilities, lots of boats are on moorings, people go fishing, kayaking, sailing and racing in dinghies,even proper rowing with 8s and other shells.
I suggested to "Roads & Maritime" they either implement a speed limit(which would cure both wake and infestation), or I`d regard it as ok to power up and put out lots of wake. My email was lost for 3 months,(they were about as keen to pick it up as a poisonous black snake) then the local BSO (Boating Service officer) got in touch, decided no action was warranted except to better police the ski boats more, which he has. I still don`t power up, and put up with the ski people, partly for fear of having my boat vandalized later if I take them on. Co-existence I guess, not on my terms.

 

[markpierce]

If there aren't people or boats on/at the dock within 200 feet, an unofficial no-wake/5-mph (1100 RPM for me) sign is irrelevant to me.

Like here:

 

[markpierce]

Approaching "no wake" zone regardless of signs:

(Lakeville, on the Petaluma, CA river/slough)

 

[Bay Pelican]

My rule:

Observe all official "No Wake Zones" and courtesy to all. Unofficial signs are ignored.

 

[rwidman]

Some of the homemade signs are good imitations of the official signs and when you're out of your home state you may not know what the official signs look like.

My boat doesn't make a huge wake at seven knots but there is a wake. I do my best to distinguish the official signs from the homemade or unauthorized signs and obey the former and ignore the latter.

A waterfront homeowner or business has no more right to install a no wake sign than I have to install 15 MPH speed signs in front of my home.

 

[rwidman]

............. I can respect marinas and most commercial establishments that obviously have history along the ICW...but I have no mercy for a new McMansion that should have spent money on a boatlift than exorbitant landscaping and a cheapo store bought or hand painted no wake sign.

What's the difference? It's someone's property. Do you differentiate between rich people's property and poor people's property?

 

[Steve]

How about the guy, who has the boat lift and still gets waked while putting or taking the boat out of the the boat in the cradle, that is worse than being waked out on the water. It has happened quite a few times with my fishing boat. Or at the boat launch.

 

[psneeld]

Being careful on the water that you don't cause damage or injury is a full time awareness thing...not just about signs or rules.

There are plenty of times doing something is appropriate and sometimes it's not. I try to be very sensitive for the gut with a boatlift BECAUSE he knows better than to try and make his front yard a no wake zone and clog the ICW...so he gets no wake and a friendly wave...but only no wake when loading unloading.

Ramps, marinas, construction zones all get some slack to because they HAVE to be there or there's people on the water doing something that takes concentration away from keeping a proper lookout for other boats and wakes.

The real trick on the water...is to take in the big picture. Some here think there should be hard and fast rules all the time because it then doesn't require judgment or thinking.....what's funny is my relationship with most forms of water LEO all feel the same way. Marine laws are often created by non-water users or certainly influenced too much by them and the LEOs think that their discretion becomes important to harmony on the water....they can tell when boaters are "going with the flow" so to speak.

 

[Jeffrey S]

I updated the ActiveCaptain database to handle hazard regions about 6 months ago. All of the developers were given the new API for it this month. One of the uses coming with that is that we'll start collecting all of the official no wake, minimum wake, and speed zone regions through all waterways. I'd like to have that in place this fall. The database work is all done.

Part of each boat's eBoatCard profile is their no wake and minimum wake speed. The intent is to be able to do much better route planning for ETA to catch the times when your route goes through one of these zones. The new database capabilities allow easy detection to know when you're inside a zone versus outside any of them.

I'd also like to see warnings given at your helm when you're approaching an official zone like this and when you're leaving it. I've stayed at no wake speed for miles passed the end of a zone because I didn't' realize we had passed the end.

Taking all of that into consideration, we're all still responsible for our own wakes no matter what's posted. Speeding through an official zone can easily earn you a fine though even if no damage is caused.

 

[rwidman]

What many landowners and possibly some LEOs don't understand is that the water may be moving as well as the boat and that affects the speed we are making or the speed we need to make to keep control of our boats.

If the sign says "Idle Speed, No Wake" and you're bucking a strong current, you may not be moving at all at idle speed. You'll have to speed the engine(s) up to get through the zone. If you are traveling with the current, you may need more than idle speed to maintain control of the boat.

 

[Billyfeet]

One reason that I chose a Pilgrim 40 is that it has a very small wake at it's normal cruise speed of 7.5 Knots. And if I pull back to 5 Knots I can qualify for NO WAKE! I am a Golden Rule kind of guy. If I see a boat that my wake could cause damage to or upset the people on board I slow down to avoid causing a problem. I do delivery work. I am up front to the boat owners that I work for that I will be slowing for situations that I feel may cause trouble for other boaters of land owners. If they don't like this method of operation I'm sure that there are plenty of captains willing to throw Mom and Pop on their sailboat gunnel to gunnel while making excellent time delivering that SeaRay to it's anxious owner.

 

[psneeld]

I updated the ActiveCaptain database to handle hazard regions about 6 months ago. All of the developers were given the new API for it this month. One of the uses coming with that is that we'll start collecting all of the official no wake, minimum wake, and speed zone regions through all waterways. I'd like to have that in place this fall. The database work is all done.

Part of each boat's eBoatCard profile is their no wake and minimum wake speed. The intent is to be able to do much better route planning for ETA to catch the times when your route goes through one of these zones. The new database capabilities allow easy detection to know when you're inside a zone versus outside any of them.

I'd also like to see warnings given at your helm when you're approaching an official zone like this and when you're leaving it. I've stayed at no wake speed for miles passed the end of a zone because I didn't' realize we had passed the end.

Taking all of that into consideration, we're all still responsible for our own wakes no matter what's posted. Speeding through an official zone can easily earn you a fine though even if no damage is caused.

It certainly seems you are headed in that direction...but a centralized repository for as much boating info as there is would be a great help.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
I seem to recall some sort of speed limit sign posted around Rio Barcelona (a largish canal in Ft. Lauderdale, FL just north and a bit east of the Los Olas bridge over the ICW). Something to do with manatees and the times water skiing was allowed. How the manatees knew when they could or couldn't water ski was always a mystery to me.
Along the same lines, how does the manatee know where the channel is?

 

[rwidman]

Along the same lines, how does the manatee know where the channel is?

The channel is marked.

 

[psneeld]

Greetings,
I seem to recall some sort of speed limit sign posted around Rio Barcelona (a largish canal in Ft. Lauderdale, FL just north and a bit east of the Los Olas bridge over the ICW). Something to do with manatees and the times water skiing was allowed. How the manatees knew when they could or couldn't water ski was always a mystery to me.
Along the same lines, how does the manatee know where the channel is?

I like the compromise....manatees are safe in most of the waters they enjoy yet man gets a little leeway too....

 

[SCOTTEDAVIS]

Many manatees have a difficult time maintaining 25mph for any prolonged period of time anyway, so they stay outside the channel.

 

[Northern Spy]

Hey you guys! Quit picking on healhustler!

I got your back Larry.

 

[Mule]

Many manatees have a difficult time maintaining 25mph for any prolonged period of time anyway, so they stay outside the channel.

The issue is, do they throw a wake?

 

[Poach]

What's a wake? Any displacement of water? A displacement that displeases someone? Anything that rocks your dock? Who's definition of courtesy are we using here?

 

[Rambler]

I was headed down the gulf ICW west of Pensacola, but had not made it to Mobile as of then. Wind gusting pretty strong and whitecaps on the water. We were passing a marina on the far side of the channel at a slower speed that the wake, if any, wasn't making it to the marina, when this yahoo "wake police" came blasting out of the marina over to us bitching about our wake. Oblivious to the wake he just created.
Apparently there are good wakes and bad wakes, Good is when the wake police make it, bad is when you make a wake that doesn't reach the marina before it's swallowed up by the whitecaps.
When we came back through, we maintained the same speed we had going, and no one said anything. So yeah, it depends on who is ruffled by the wake if it's a wake or not. Skiers love big wakes BTW.

 

[Billyfeet]

The Florida Wildlife website lists the following under boat speed limits:
Any vessel operating in a speed zone posted as “Idle Speed – No Wake” must operate at the minimum speed that will maintain steerageway.
Any vessel operating in a speed zone posted as “Slow Down – Minimum Wake” must operate fully off plane and completely settled in water. The vessel’s wake must not be excessive nor create a hazard to other vessels.
However, the determination is up to the officer and there are many officers with differing opinions

 

[rwidman]

I was headed down the gulf ICW west of Pensacola, but had not made it to Mobile as of then. Wind gusting pretty strong and whitecaps on the water. We were passing a marina on the far side of the channel at a slower speed that the wake, if any, wasn't making it to the marina, when this yahoo "wake police" came blasting out of the marina over to us bitching about our wake. Oblivious to the wake he just created.
Apparently there are good wakes and bad wakes, Good is when the wake police make it, bad is when you make a wake that doesn't reach the marina before it's swallowed up by the whitecaps.
When we came back through, we maintained the same speed we had going, and no one said anything. So yeah, it depends on who is ruffled by the wake if it's a wake or not. Skiers love big wakes BTW.

That happened to me once when I first got my current boat. I called the DNR later and got the scoop, then called the marina. They denied anyone did that even though we saw the jerk race out of the dry stack building and jump in the boat.

If I could go back in time I would have videotaped the whole event.

 

[CaptTom]

What's a wake? Any displacement of water? A displacement that displeases someone? Anything that rocks your dock? Who's definition of courtesy are we using here?

The oft-repeated saying "you are responsible for your wake" is actually over-simplified.

By federal (and most state) law, you ARE responsible for ANY negligent action on your part. Throwing a wake that you know, or should know, would cause injury or property damage, COULD be considered negligence in court.

Just creating a wake - any ripple or line in the water behind you, is not by itself against the law.

In federally controlled (navigable) waters, the Coast Guard has given the local municipalities broad discretion in establishing no-wake zones. Still, they have to be approved by the appropriate authorities and permitted with the CG. In many areas the CG budget does not support strict enforcement of this, so non-permitted aids (signs and buoys) are common. But still illegal.

If you violate an illegal sign, I wonder how the courts will resolve that.

For me, I'll just stick with courtesy and common sense and hope that I don't become the test case.

 

[High Wire]

The Florida Wildlife website lists the following under boat speed limits:
Any vessel operating in a speed zone posted as “Idle Speed – No Wake” must operate at the minimum speed that will maintain steerageway.
Any vessel operating in a speed zone posted as “Slow Down – Minimum Wake” must operate fully off plane and completely settled in water. The vessel’s wake must not be excessive nor create a hazard to other vessels.
However, the determination is up to the officer and there are many officers with differing opinions

It least FL is fairly consistent. What I dont get is in the river to the City of Ft. Myers. Slow Speed, Minimum Wake Manatee zone in the deep channel but 25 MPH zone in the shallows where the manatees hang out.