Fastwin
Well-known member
Boating during this warm weather is starting to piss me off! The sun is great, I love getting a tan, setting anchor, reading a book on the bank, fishing, grilling with friends, and beach volley ball. What I don't like are numerous encounters with inconsiderate boaters! SLOW DOWN IF YOU SEE A SMALL BOAT ANCHORED OR NOT UNDER WAY!
Wakes are annoying. Wakes from ski boats are usually manageable but an experience this weekend took things to an entirely new level. I left my fishing gear at home and traded it for a book and hammock. I set out about 10AM and found a great spot to anchor, jumped out of my boat onto the land then claimed a set of trees. About an hour later a blue/white Sea Ray Sundancer was heading down river slowly about 15mph with it's ass WAY down in the water. I thought to myself, "wow, that's the biggest wake I have ever seen," then continued reading feeling confident my boat could ride them out. As the boat passed and the wakes approached, I saw just how large they were and I sat up to watch my boat which was anchored about 15 feet from the bank.
When the first wave hit, my bow shot up and over, then to my horror I saw the next several waves were easily 4-5 feet tall. The waves were packed closely together then nailed my boat hard. The next wave caused my bow to shoot up way into the air and as it came down, I could see the anchor had been ripped up and the boat started to rotate sideways while being pushed into the beach causing me to jump into the water without hesitation to save my boat. The next giant wave slammed my boat parallel to the shore causing my lower unit and trolling motor to impact into the sand. As designed, my motor had been locked but when it hit the ground it unlocked but the skeg was buried into the ground so I couldn't tilt it up against the force of the waves. As I am in the water desperately trying to push my boat away from the rocks, I fear that my engine is going to rip off as the waves just continue to pummel my boat and lower unit into the sand. Then I feel something brush against my leg and looked down still pushing with all my might against the waves. My trolling motor was gone and hanging on by the battery cables. When the wakes settled I grabbed my air horn then unloaded the entire canister with one hand and flipping them off the other.
I pulled out my submerged trolling motor, now full of sand and inspected my transom for any cracks but thankfully don't see any on the surface. I can see a lot of fresh scratches on the hull but no "major" dents or missing rivets (so far). The skeg was still buried in the ground and I had to dig it out. I pulled my anchor up and it was fine, but I will need to replace it with a true river anchor since the mushroom didn't properly bury its self this time. The conditions and proximity to the channel didn't allow me to use the 7:1 anchor ratio so I only managed a 3:1 and I didn't tilt my motor completely out of the water. I try to avoid it as much as possible because it looks like it's bad for the engine, but I don't know for certain. . . any comments James?
I discovered new anchoring techniques on Google for beaching a boat, but I don't think they account for small boats and 4' waves breaking on the shore. Most articles recommend "beaching" with your motor in about 3 feet of water and assume you're in the ocean or lake, but I need dry access to my boat when camping or when the water is cold so I need to run the keel onto the sand. Any advice on what to do about anchoring with the threat of large waves? There is a large tree I can tie off to like a dock but I don't want to wake up to a boat full of water. I plan to camp on this piece of land so I need my boat to be secure against waves that large. The problem is the height of waves as the break on the shore - further away they just roll.
If I report a vessel HID as operating recklessly and it's direction of travel to the Coast Guard will anything ever be done?
If the owner of a blue and white Sea Ray that was in the Gorge on Saturday about noon heading towards Nick-a-Jack is reading this, send me a PM - you owe me a new trolling motor and an air horn. I hope you don't treat your mother and your kids the same way you treat people with boats smaller than yours. WITH NO RESPECT! You are NOT in the ocean! You do NOT need your trim maxed out! There are many small boats and people in sea kayaks and canoes on the river every weekend! There is NO justifiable reason to create a wake so large through the Gorge!
Wakes are annoying. Wakes from ski boats are usually manageable but an experience this weekend took things to an entirely new level. I left my fishing gear at home and traded it for a book and hammock. I set out about 10AM and found a great spot to anchor, jumped out of my boat onto the land then claimed a set of trees. About an hour later a blue/white Sea Ray Sundancer was heading down river slowly about 15mph with it's ass WAY down in the water. I thought to myself, "wow, that's the biggest wake I have ever seen," then continued reading feeling confident my boat could ride them out. As the boat passed and the wakes approached, I saw just how large they were and I sat up to watch my boat which was anchored about 15 feet from the bank.
When the first wave hit, my bow shot up and over, then to my horror I saw the next several waves were easily 4-5 feet tall. The waves were packed closely together then nailed my boat hard. The next wave caused my bow to shoot up way into the air and as it came down, I could see the anchor had been ripped up and the boat started to rotate sideways while being pushed into the beach causing me to jump into the water without hesitation to save my boat. The next giant wave slammed my boat parallel to the shore causing my lower unit and trolling motor to impact into the sand. As designed, my motor had been locked but when it hit the ground it unlocked but the skeg was buried into the ground so I couldn't tilt it up against the force of the waves. As I am in the water desperately trying to push my boat away from the rocks, I fear that my engine is going to rip off as the waves just continue to pummel my boat and lower unit into the sand. Then I feel something brush against my leg and looked down still pushing with all my might against the waves. My trolling motor was gone and hanging on by the battery cables. When the wakes settled I grabbed my air horn then unloaded the entire canister with one hand and flipping them off the other.
I pulled out my submerged trolling motor, now full of sand and inspected my transom for any cracks but thankfully don't see any on the surface. I can see a lot of fresh scratches on the hull but no "major" dents or missing rivets (so far). The skeg was still buried in the ground and I had to dig it out. I pulled my anchor up and it was fine, but I will need to replace it with a true river anchor since the mushroom didn't properly bury its self this time. The conditions and proximity to the channel didn't allow me to use the 7:1 anchor ratio so I only managed a 3:1 and I didn't tilt my motor completely out of the water. I try to avoid it as much as possible because it looks like it's bad for the engine, but I don't know for certain. . . any comments James?
I discovered new anchoring techniques on Google for beaching a boat, but I don't think they account for small boats and 4' waves breaking on the shore. Most articles recommend "beaching" with your motor in about 3 feet of water and assume you're in the ocean or lake, but I need dry access to my boat when camping or when the water is cold so I need to run the keel onto the sand. Any advice on what to do about anchoring with the threat of large waves? There is a large tree I can tie off to like a dock but I don't want to wake up to a boat full of water. I plan to camp on this piece of land so I need my boat to be secure against waves that large. The problem is the height of waves as the break on the shore - further away they just roll.
If I report a vessel HID as operating recklessly and it's direction of travel to the Coast Guard will anything ever be done?
If the owner of a blue and white Sea Ray that was in the Gorge on Saturday about noon heading towards Nick-a-Jack is reading this, send me a PM - you owe me a new trolling motor and an air horn. I hope you don't treat your mother and your kids the same way you treat people with boats smaller than yours. WITH NO RESPECT! You are NOT in the ocean! You do NOT need your trim maxed out! There are many small boats and people in sea kayaks and canoes on the river every weekend! There is NO justifiable reason to create a wake so large through the Gorge!
