Mere Suggestions

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In the know

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So last night I am out in the kayak in Allens Harbor - a very clearly marked no wake zone.

When what do I see? A Sea Ray 44 coming in throwing as big a wake as they possibly could.

Harbor Master and RI DEM happen to be in the harbor and the harbor master throws on his light and signals for the guy to stop.

Being less than 10 feet away, I can hear everything clear as day.

Harbormaster - "Captain, you not only passed one, but two no wake signs and you proceed throwing a wake like that?"

Sea Ray Captain - "Oh, I thought those signs were mere suggestions and not binding"

ITK - openly laughs

Harbormaster - "Captain grab that courtesy mooring, we are going to have a talk"

I paddled for about an hour, and they were still "chatting" when I left. The DEM boat had joined them on the mooring as well.
 
Funny as it sounded to you at the time, it's either sad or infuriating that people are so stupid. These are the same people who cause traffic accidents on the road or water because they are so consumed by their own stupidity and arrogance. You laughed - I might have yelled out "what a F'ing moron!" as loud as I could just to further embarrass him.
 
quote:
Originally posted by In the know

...Sea Ray Captain - "Oh, I thought those signs were mere suggestions and not binding"...

Click to expand...


Probably lives near a pineapple arch!
 
Man, I'm going to start believing that some of those Sea Ray Owner jokes might have some base in reality... Around here it seems whenever I am amused by someone who has no clue how to anchor their boat, it happens to be a (newer model) Sea Ray every single time.
 
<<...."Probably lives near a pineapple arch!"....>>

LOL! Technically, that's a pignoli (pine nut). But, I know where you mean. I won't mention it's name, but it's initials are F.H.

Oops. Correction. Just looked it up. That arch is actually a sculpture of "La Pigna" .. a pine cone....the Italain symbol of hospitality. It's Newport where you see all the pineapples as symbols of hospitality.
 
Part of the blame has to lay at the feet of MarineMax. We were heading into Baltimore a few years ago and I heard all the squawking on the VHF. There were 15 or so Sea Rays headed to the local MarineMax for some reason. The radio was going crazy, and soon they caught up with us. I've never been waked so badly and by so many boats at one time. They almost ran us into a sea wall.
 
I have also noticed a large number of Sea Ray's being operated by idiots. But, Sea Rays are one of the most common brands out there, so it makes sense that a lot of the "offenders" are Sea Rays. A lot of the good operators are also Sea Ray owners.
 
You might be right, Glenn, but I don't usually find myself cursing at Formula or Tiara owners :-)
 
There's just so few Tiaras out there compared to Sea Rays. But, you're right. Tiaras and Formaulas always seem to have good captains.
 
Perhaps there's a scale of cost to purchase vs smartz that might be helpful.

There seems to be a dip in the smartz metric between 200 and 300 grand ?
 
I mean, though it WAS based on real observations, the comment was tongue in cheek, as I'm sure there's lost of good Sea Ray captains out there that, because they're good, you just don't notice.

However, I do think it's real that there's a lot of bad operating happening out there mostly by what I'll call the 'glossy magazine yuppie boating crowd', who are attracted to the "glossy" express cruisers (of which I believe Sea Ray sells the higher volume) and buy boats as if they were buying toys, but lack the knowledge and expertise to operate and maintain them properly. Honestly, I was very close to being exactly that 6 years ago LOL, though with the background of growing up boating in a Hatt seems to have saved me. People who eventually buy higher quality, more practical and less trendy/sexy boats have gone past the glossy magazine phase, know a lot more about boats and hence usually do better at operating them responsibly.
 
I'm waiting for the person who buys a brand new shiny express cruiser (any brand) with IPS/Joystick control. The only way they know how to operate the boat is with the joystick. One day, most likely when there's wind and/or current, the joystick system fails for one reason or another just as they're trying to dock. Oh, that would be priceless to watch :-)
 
I spent my last two nights as a transient in a marina I was the in a no wake zone that no one or at least few observed. I was never rocked so much in my slip as I did there. At least at night it calmed down but by 5:30am the fishing boats started rocking me again and blowing their horns I couldn't wait to get out of there.
 
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