Spend a little time on High Rock Lake and it doesnít take long to realize there are some people who seem to have no idea what they are doing behind the wheel of a water craft.
So, in preparation for Labor Day weekend, I give you a refresher course on how you can be more courteous and safe on the water.
Some of the rules I mention here are legally binding. Others are my own obnoxious opinion. Both carry the same weight as far as Iím concerned.
First the legal stuff. You absolutely have to yield to a vessel approaching you from the right. Slow down, turn to the right and pass them at their stern, which is the rear. This seems like such an easy thing to do. But most people just arenít paying attention when they are driving a boat in heavy traffic.
If you are meeting an approaching boat head-on then you should keep them on your left. Likewise, when overtaking another boat heading in the same direction as you, pass them on their left.
But the law doesnít say anything about being courteous. So Iím going to fill in the blanks. Iíll start with fixed objects attached to the bank, such as docks.
Why do boaters insist on buzzing docks? Mostly, I think people simply donít care. Iíve seen 3-foot waves crashing into docks thanks to a heavy wake thrown up by a passing boat.
Swimmers in the water? Doesnít matter. Cleats being ripped from the dock as the waves thrust boats up hard against their dock lines? Big deal. It seems the freedom of being on the water trumps manners for some people.
For instance, how many of these situations sound familiar?
You are fishing about 50 yards off the bank and a pontoon boat full of people choose to run between your boat and the bank, rather than using the entire lake to go around you. Or, you are pulling your kids on a tube and you have a boat following right behind them.
Maybe youíve been speeding along on plane and you see two personal watercraft off to your left, sitting idle in the water. And, just as you approach, they decide to take off directly across your bow. Then they circle around and jump your wake.
Fishermen often wonder why they spend all their time being quiet when they are trying to catch fish when boats come close enough to knock them off their casting decks because of waves.
Adults pulling kids on tubes wonder why other boaters seem intent on running over their children. And those other boaters are, at the same time, wondering why the adults are trying to drown their own children by slinging them outside the wake so hard they have a massive wipeout.
Iíve concluded that personal watercraft riders rarely think at all. They are so wrapped up in going fast and jumping wakes that they donít see anything else on the water. I once observed two personal watercraft going back and forth behind a boat jumping the wake. They only stopped when they nearly collided trying to jump the same wake at the same time.
It really isnít that hard to slightly alter your course for the safety of yourself and those around you.
Heck, you could even slow down. I know that seems radical. But manners can be that way sometimes.
Glenn Hudson is a freelance fishing writer based in Salisbury. Contact him at littletuna67@aol.com