BOB ADRIANCE
seaworthy
Boat Wakes And Bad Tempers
n a recent summer afternoon,
the Coast Guard cutter Vice was
resetting day marker #20 on an
especially busy day on Florida’s
Horton, who describes himself as a
frequent fist shaker whenever his boat is
rocked, says he understands the Coast
Guard captain’s frustration. So do a lot of
other skippers. Wakes make people angry.
Lt. Scott Olson of the Florida Marine Patrol
says he’s been rocked quite a few times
himself, even when his boat was in no-
wake zones. It doesn’t make him angry,
however, because he says most people
don’t realize their boats are creating large
wakes. Olson is a patient man; he says
he turns on his blue light and “educates”
them. Depending on the county in Florida,
the cost to learn how to reduce the size of
your wake is somewhere between $90 and
$140.
What About Your Boat’s Wake?
You can save a lot of money and also
avoid being the recipient of rude gestures
from other skippers by using a little common sense and courtesy. This means coming completely off plane when you enter
a no-wake zone or any area where your
wake could compromise the safety of other
boats. All too often the skippers react to a
no-wake sign by slowing the boat slightly
and then plowing through with the boat’s
bow up in the air and the stern dug down
into the water. Instead of reducing the size
of the boat’s wake, this token reduction in
speed — not quite on plane — increases
the size of the wake.
No wake means NO WAKE. The first
rule is to slow down so that the boat is
level (without using trim tabs) and the
size of the wake is negligible. Look back
at the wake you’re creating. You can help
to reduce the size of your boat’s wake by
positioning passengers toward the center of
the boat to keep it level. Too much weight
aft lowers the stern and increases the size
of the wake. Finally, keep an eye on your
depth sounder; shallow water increases the
impact of your boat’s wake.
