Is My Thinking Flawed??

D

dumy

Member
Member
Joined
May 4, 2004
RO Number
13515
Messages
158
While recently trolling another boating site the question was " If you can not get a rich, full sound at 35-45mph in the open cockpit of a boat,change the speakers or look for a new head unit?"
So I couldn't help asking why anyone would NOT want to be able to hear the VHF, any warnings from any other boats, any alarms( depth sounder, low oil pressure, overheat, high bilge water etc) from your own boat just to be able to hear rich, full music at 35- 45 MPH.
The questioner recieved responses such as new amp, change speakers, fancy headsets etc.
Am I out of the loop here? Maybe I have the wrong idea of what's important while bombing along on the water at 45mph.
 
Ron, as I've said many times, there are mariners and their are boat owners. Personally, I've never even turned on my stero when underway. My music is the sound of other boaters on the VHF, the waves hitting the hull, the drone of the engine and the splash of spray. I want to be in tune with the sea around me, looking for a sea turtle or a fish jump, not listening to some landlubber on shore.
 
Let's try a different approach. US Law says, "Vessels not required to carry a VHF marine radio (e.g. recreational vessels less than 20m length and commercial vessels under 100 GT carrying less than 6 passengers), but which voluntarily carry a radio, must maintain a watch on channel 16 (156.800 MHz) whenever the radio is not being used to communicate. Effective 2004 if a radio is carried, it must be turned on and set to channel 16 whenever the vessel is underway."

If you have a stereo blaring that impedes your ability to hear the VHF, you are in violation. If you have an accident, you can expect a higher degree of liability and your insurance company may be able to walk away from the claim because you were in violation of the law.

I guess there are two ways to look at this. You can decide to be a prudent and safe mariner or you can behave like a 17 year old trying to be cool with complete disregard for your fellow boaters and the traditions of the sea. Age has nothing to do with the subject, but safety and consideration sure do.
 
ITK, You need to change your user name. Your "draconian interpretation" is a 2004 update to the law and the opinions are those of the primary enforcement agency. Frankly, your constant comments about other laws being broken sound very much like what I used to hear when my kids were 6 and 7. Sure you can violate speed limits. And people drink and drive. Eventually you'll get caught and suffer the consequences. Or perhaps get in an accident and be charged with negligent homocide. In this case, however, there's another level involved. There is no legal obligation on land to come to the aid of a fellow driver. There is on the water. There is also a centuries old tradition. Again, you can be a landlubber with a boat or a mariner. The choice is yours.
 
Jeff, the additional danger is not yours, except, perhaps, for missed CG weather and navigational hazards warnings but the additional danger you put your fellow boaters in by not listening.
 
NotITK, we have a correlation between violations of different laws. You are the one who first went down this path with your comment about radar and then speed limits. I was just trying an approach I thought you might understand. No one is hiding behind anything. I posted the law because our purpose is to educate. I also disagree with your "vastly different" comment. You can see from the posts here that most listen to their VHF radio. Speaking of correlations, it also seems that the more experienced the boater, the more likely they are to maintain a radio watch.

As far as coming to the aid of a boater is concerned, I'm not sure what you mean by "cut and dry." Here's the law:

§2304 Duty to provide assistance at sea

(a) A master or individual in charge of a vessel shall render assistance to any individual found at sea in danger of being lost, so far as the master or individual in charge can do so without serious danger to the master’s or individual’s vessel or individuals on board.

(b) A master or individual violating this section shall be fined not more than $1,000, imprisoned for not more than 2 years, or both.

I wouldn't know how to make it any clearer or more simple.
 
A couple of points. First, the CG rules are only applicable on "navigable" waters - the waters under the jurisdiction of the CG. Lake Mead is, I believe, under CG jurisidiction but most lakes aren't. But many states have used the CG regs for the basis of state law so you need to check locally for application. Secondly, a VHF radio, for those venturing out in "big" water, is the most important piece of safety gear you have. You should really take the time to learn how to use it properly, to learn what the different types of call are and to learn the proper terms.
 
Grady, he's talking about a small boat where the stereo would drown out the VHF - that was mentioned in the first post.
 
What is it with you two? The question posed here was, "why anyone would NOT want to be able to hear the VHF, any warnings from any other boats, any alarms( depth sounder, low oil pressure, overheat, high bilge water etc) from your own boat just to be able to hear rich, full music at 35- 45 MPH."

That is the question we were discussing. The law is the law. Prudent seamanship is prudent seamanship. Neither of you, nor will anyone else, ever convince me that listening to a blaring stereo is safer than listening to a VHF.
 
Very few come with a GPS, Depth sounder or a set of paper charts either. I don't think I'd infer that those items are not necessary. Folks, we have a responsibility to provide safe boating information here. In November, a slow month typically, we had over 1.2 million page views, had over 317 thousand visits from boaters and transferred over 96 gigabytes of information. I am not about to let any new boater read this forum and go away with the idea that surrounding himself with 90 decibels of music while underway is a safe practice - not when many new boaters will have small kids on board.

Granted, a VHF on Lake Gamaguchi or Lake Wannawaki is probably a useless tool, a VHF is a critical safety tool when on inland rivers, coastal waters and major lakes. I spent 8 years in the commercial marine assistance industry, have probably spent hundreds of hours searching for disabled boats that had small kids on board baking in the hot sun because the "captain" had no VHF on board and/or no GPS. Believe it or not, "We are in the white boat off Palm Beach" is not a satisfactory position report. Most marine assistance boats, as well as enforcement boats, have direction finders than can get a bearing on a VHF transmission. They can not get a bearing on an Incubus CD. Again, no boater is going to leave this forum with the concept that blaring stereos are an acceptable practice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top