Rules of the road

[Jim Rampello]

Holiday weekends usually involve a fairly slow cruise to the boater swim area, tossing the anchor, and floating in place for several hours (amongst other things). Then back to the dock!! Too many people who boat two or three times a year out there for me, dangerous operation can be observed on every holiday!!

 

[Alicedream]

Fortunately are lake is big and there is always an area where no one can be found. Are lake does not have any of the amenities of the lake of the ozark but it can be used all through holiday weekends. It also has water patrol out and about everyday.

 

[Jack M]

If I were right on the lake it would ( or could ) be different . I have to travel 35-40 minutes on the Indian River to make it to Mullett lake to the north or Burt Lake to the south . Which is all a no wake ,no tubing no skiing zone .
Last year one weekend ,there was a long line of boats headed to Burt Lake , "somebody" in a rental boat figured he would stop and feed the ducks .

 

[Dev75]

Thanks for posting. I remember when we decided to purchase a boat not too long ago. My boating experience had been pretty minimal so my family all went through the boater safety course and still to this day revisit different boating safety topics.

What really threw me for a tail spin was my first year with a new boat on the water. We were riding around making a solid effort to follow the rules while constantly encountering other boats just out there not paying any attention at all. I started questioning myself on whether I was actually doing it the right way at times.

Our boating season is fairly short up here in the northeast but I definitely think some bodies of water need much more law enforcement presence during busy boating times.

 

[Jim Rampello]

Yep! What Dev75 said! Your head has to be on a swivel at all times! Last year while on my friends pontoon cruising around 15mph a boat pulling a tuber cut in front of us 30-40 feet away, granted he was going faster than us, but why did he cross in front. If that kid falls off the tube at that moment who knows what happens! It is things like this that drive me crazy!!! Why not cross behind???? Years ago he had a jet ski cross his tow line while he was pulling tubers!!! People are just crazy!!!!

 

[w5pfg]

My horn has been out of service for a few weeks, so I have been carrying a can-style air horn at the helm. The approaching holiday weekend put the appropriate pressure on me to replace the horn. Ours is mounted under the starboard-side deck, near the bow. Fortunately with the boat on lift, I was able to access it.

Even though Texas doesn't require boater education for people born prior to September 1, 1993, I believe everyone benefits from knowing "the rules of the road." I learned quite a few things when I took the course.

 

[Pittsburgh]

Pet Peeves On A Private Lake

I would like to ask Boat Owners A Serious Question
Why would you allow your Guests, people with no experience to drive or operate your Boats or PWC's ?
With the costs of PWC's being this high does it make sense
Everyone knows your craft on a private lake it reflects directly on you when GUESTS act poorly
They have no idea what they are doing and cause more problems and accidents than all Owners Combined !
One more peeve...
People drinking Beverages especially the notorious Bottle of Water
Try to keep them in your boats or PWC if they fly out RETRIEVE them
I spend time each summer with a net pulling debris out of our Lake placed there by people who feel it doesn't matter

 

[BigKahuna]

Very rarely go out on Holidays or weekends unless we have out of town guests. If we do we'll ski/tube in the morning then find a No Wake cove to anchor/hang in in the afternoon and let the Boaters in the main channel fight it out. Ha!

 

[Alicedream]

I really don’t allow many people to drive my boat. I do let kids drive and they love it. The thing with my lake I can go to areas of our lake start driving in a direction and go 8 miles without seeing another boat on weekends.

 

[H2GO]

Pet Peeves On A Private Lake

I would like to ask Boat Owners A Serious Question
Why would you allow your Guests, people with no experience to drive or operate your Boats or PWC's ?
With the costs of PWC's being this high does it make sense
Everyone knows your craft on a private lake it reflects directly on you when GUESTS act poorly
They have no idea what they are doing and cause more problems and accidents than all Owners Combined !
One more peeve...
People drinking Beverages especially the notorious Bottle of Water
Try to keep them in your boats or PWC if they fly out RETRIEVE them
I spend time each summer with a net pulling debris out of our Lake placed there by people who feel it doesn't matter

We were on Lake Fenton two weeks ago on a Friday and there were several pontoons linked up with I would guess 50 kids under 18 in total. A DNR officer turned the corner to come into the cove maybe 500 yards away and it was unbelievable to see these kids throw all of their empties and even full beers into the lake. It was like an island of empties drifting across the lake. The kicker is the DNR officer did nothing about it. We were shocked he at least didn’t tag them for littering. A bunch of spoiled brats who have a plenty of life lessons ahead of them. I thought the DNR could tag people for underage drinking but maybe not.

 

[Illibuck]

My biggest pet peeve. People who don't obey No Wake zones. Yelled at a few over the years.........Or should I say "educated" them.

I couldn’t agree more. ‘The word’ is they will be clamping down on no wake zones on our chain this year. We’ll see. So far this season I’m witnessing more out of compliance than in.

 

[Pittsburgh]

When we bring guests to our Lake , we introduce them to a lifestyle and an appreciation for Lake Living. We stress the importance of The Lake and Community installing respect we hope for both. If that doesn't work a second visit is unlikely, fortunately friends and family appreciate time spent at The Lake. With saying that I paid for the Boat which means I drive the Boat.

 

[Jim Rampello]

When we bring guests to our Lake , we introduce them to a lifestyle and an appreciation for Lake Living. We stress the importance of The Lake and Community installing respect we hope for both. If that doesn't work a second visit is unlikely, fortunately friends and family appreciate time spent at The Lake. With saying that I paid for the Boat which means I drive the Boat.

What lake is this??? I work in Pittsburgh out by the airport.

 

[Tin Diesel]

I completely support the complaints about speed in the no wake zone. But the other weekend I had a interesting experience. We were heading towards a public dock at a shopping center that had a Starbucks. Adjacent to the public dock, was a group of private docks associated with a yacht club. I was motoring reasonably slowly, but admittedly not dead slow. A guy at the Yacht Club yells at me to slow down. Now, I'm driving a triple hull pontoon boat. Doesn't exactly make much of a wake, and I looked back and checked, and sure enough it was barely a ripple.

At first I was kind of irritated at him. But the more I thought about it, I realized they must always struggle with people going too fast and creating big wakes. He was probably just reacting to the perceived speed, without realizing I wasn't making a wake. But I am at that Lake only occasionally, and decided that to show respect for the folks who have to put up with it everyday, I will go extra slow.

 

[Pittsburgh]

Jim RampelloWell-Known Member

↑

When we bring guests to our Lake , we introduce them to a lifestyle and an appreciation for Lake Living. We stress the importance of The Lake and Community installing respect we hope for both. If that doesn't work a second visit is unlikely, fortunately friends and family appreciate time spent at The Lake. With saying that I paid for the Boat which means I drive the Boat.

Click to expand...
What lake is this??? I work in Pittsburgh out by the airport.

Jim.
The Lake is lake Tomahawk Ohio , a 12 mile drive outside of Chippewa Twp PA
It is a Private Man Made Lake which I hadn't heard about either with my other home only 22 miles away in Beaver County
I searched multiple Lakes in our region from Erie to Deep Creek and this made sense allowing me to work and still live here throughout the summer and a great escape during the school season for the kids. Now retired we spend most of our time lake Front enjoying every second of every day.

View from our Lower Patio

"Lake Living is Living at it's Best"

 

[RodEarl74]

Boating primarily on Lake Havasu we see our fair share of IDIOTS!!! Many people borrow/rent boats and dont have a clue how to navigate the water ways! Personally PWC operators are the WORST! They rarely look before making a turn and think they own the Lake... Fortunately we have 5 agencies patrolling our lake.

 

[lakeliving]

Well this weekend was the first time we took water over the bow. Some moron was coming through a channel under a bridge while doing the "Lets see how much wake I can create while being oblivious to my fellow boaters because I'm a D bag" mode. Needless to say I was at idle and had no where to go so the wave hit us pretty good, to the point I had water splash up on the seats. Luckily there was no damage or injury but it really irked me. If it would have just been me on the boat I would have turned around and given chase. I didn't even get a chance to verbally address this guy as I was focusing on controlling the boat.

 

[Rick from Rocky Mount]

Fortunately you didn’t have any damage. I seen many pontoons have the front panels dented by taking big wakes over the bow, including my brother in law last year on his brand new boat. One of the reason I insisted on getting a Q with fiberglass front panels instead of an R series, although I suppose even the fiberglass panels could be damaged if hit just the wrong way. We have a lot of those dbags/morons here on LOTO!!

 

[TomS]

Well this weekend was the first time we took water over the bow. Some moron was coming through a channel under a bridge while doing the "Lets see how much wake I can create while being oblivious to my fellow boaters because I'm a D bag" mode. Needless to say I was at idle and had no where to go so the wave hit us pretty good, to the point I had water splash up on the seats. Luckily there was no damage or injury but it really irked me. If it would have just been me on the boat I would have turned around and given chase. I didn't even get a chance to verbally address this guy as I was focusing on controlling the boat.

Yeah, that's bound to happen in these parts. It's one of the primary reasons (besides the salt) that I decided not to move the pontoon to the ICW. It's not a matter of "if", rather "when" you get waked and over the bow, because there are a lot of "those guys" out there. Total disregard for boaters and conditions around them, so you can't do anything about it.

That was one of the charms of being on a small community lake with a limited access ramp, as you're mostly all neighbors. Everyone knows who did what, for the most part.

 

[lakeliving]

Luckily we're in an area that gives us options on where we can boat. We can stay in the St Lucie river area (the north fork is like a huge lake it is so wide) or we can go towards the ocean and ICW. I can't blast through the huge wakes but overall I'm happy with how our boat handles the area. Given the minimal comforts of a CC and having a 2 year old, the Benny still makes sense for us.
This incident took place at the bridge under the Se in Sewalls Point. We live in the neighborhood where the pen tip is.