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Old 04-21-2012, 01:33 PM   #29
Marin
Scraping Paint
 
City: -
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 13,745
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tony B View Post

If the truth be known, other than in this forum, most power boaters are totally clueless about the rules of the road and feel no responsibility for their wake....as you just found out. Most sailboaters are very aware of the rules of the road because they can put themselves in a situation they can't get of.
I think this comment is 100% on the mark. A fair number of the members of the boating club we belong to are sailboaters. We have taken several longer cruises into BC in the company of a couple with a sailboat. In the early 80s I was on the racing crew of a co-worker's sailboat for a few seasons. And I sailed with friends who had sailboats in Hawaii for many years.

In my observation and experience this notion that sailboaters are sailing along totally ignorant of their surroundings while singing Kubayah is total bollocks. The sailboats I have had occasion to talk to on the VHF were immediately responsive and their radio reception and broadcast power and clarity was as good as any powerboat. And in talking to the sailboaters in our club, their experience level and knowledge of our local waters is in general much greater than the average powerboater I meet.

Having raced a sailboat I can tell you that they are not automatically the quietest boats in the world. With a good wind and under sail there can be a fair amount of noise from the water and wind. And under power you have the engine noise which is generally not as great as it is on a powerboater. But a lot of sailboats--- all the ones I've had experience with were like this--- have their nav and communications equipment down below to keep them out of the weather. Perhaps this is changing with the more water resistant radios that are on the market today. But it is certainly possible to simply not hear the radio under some conditions. So that might account for some of the "never answer the radio" accusations a lot of powerboaters make against sailors.

The people I have talked to in our marina since getting our GB about local knowledge, anchoring techniques, best routes in and out of tight places and so on have almost exclusively been sailboaters. Because they're the ones who know. I do know a few powerboaters--- Carey for example--- who posses this same level of knowledge and local experience, but not many.

But if we want to talk about clueless boaters, about boaters who are inconsiderate, who ignore what's going on around them, are worthless when it comes to using the radio, who clearly do not know or understand the Colregs and worse, don't care, whose knowledge of navigation is surpassed by my dog's, who haven't a clue about how the systems on their boats work, you'll find yourself talking to a powerboater almost every single time.
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