I live on the bank of Kanawha River in Winfield, WV and keep a 1977
Thunderbird S-18 docked there.

I was crawling around on my riverbank yesterday filling in some blank spots
in my rip rap, when a tsunami hit. I turned toward the dock and saw my boat
being slammed around violently and was genuinely concerned that it might be
damaged. Sometimes when I'm out there and I see a big wake, I'll sit down on
the dock and hold the boat off with my legs, but this was so severe that I
was afraid to get near it. At the time it seemed to last forever, but my
guess is the really violent part lasted for about 60 seconds. Fortunately
nothing got broken. Except that there was now another gash in my rip rap
where the waves had rearranged some more of the rocks.

I get bounced around a lot at my dock, but I'd never seen anything quite
this bad. If there'd been any unsecured items or people in the boat, they
would have been in real danger of being thrown out. After the waves settled
down, I looked up river and saw the culprit, a big cruiser plowing along at
maximum wake speed, right up on my side of the river. That's something I've
seen a zillion times, so I really don't know what made this particular
incident so bad.

It's always the plowing cruisers. It's not strictly a size or speed thing.
Tugs pushing huge strings of barges don't rock my boat much. And we get
those long skinny offshore type boats (that are apparently propelled
entirely by noise) going by at ludicrous speed and they don't make that big
a wake. Even the cruisers when they're on plane don't seem to cause much
trouble.

I don't really know what my point was with all this, other than to bitch
about it.

I hope you feel better, now that you've expressed yourself.
Holding the boat off the dock with your legs is just asking for injury.
Place some fenders where they'll protect the boat. If you've got the money,
use those flexible poles to keep the boat away from the dock.

"Joe Blizzard" wrote in message
...
I live on the bank of Kanawha River in Winfield, WV and keep a 1977
Thunderbird S-18 docked there.

I was crawling around on my riverbank yesterday filling in some blank
spots in my rip rap, when a tsunami hit. I turned toward the dock and saw
my boat being slammed around violently and was genuinely concerned that it
might be damaged. Sometimes when I'm out there and I see a big wake, I'll
sit down on the dock and hold the boat off with my legs, but this was so
severe that I was afraid to get near it. At the time it seemed to last
forever, but my guess is the really violent part lasted for about 60
seconds. Fortunately nothing got broken. Except that there was now another
gash in my rip rap where the waves had rearranged some more of the rocks.

I get bounced around a lot at my dock, but I'd never seen anything quite
this bad. If there'd been any unsecured items or people in the boat, they
would have been in real danger of being thrown out. After the waves
settled down, I looked up river and saw the culprit, a big cruiser plowing
along at maximum wake speed, right up on my side of the river. That's
something I've seen a zillion times, so I really don't know what made this
particular incident so bad.

It's always the plowing cruisers. It's not strictly a size or speed thing.
Tugs pushing huge strings of barges don't rock my boat much. And we get
those long skinny offshore type boats (that are apparently propelled
entirely by noise) going by at ludicrous speed and they don't make that
big a wake. Even the cruisers when they're on plane don't seem to cause
much trouble.

I don't really know what my point was with all this, other than to bitch
about it.

"William Andersen" wrote
I hope you feel better, now that you've expressed yourself.
Holding the boat off the dock with your legs is just asking for injury.
Place some fenders where they'll protect the boat. If you've got the
money, use those flexible poles to keep the boat away from the dock.

I have fenders in place. And I haven't yet been able to bring myself to
spend $3-400 on mooring whips when the book value of my boat is in that same
general range.

Joe Blizzard wrote:

"William Andersen" wrote

I hope you feel better, now that you've expressed yourself.
Holding the boat off the dock with your legs is just asking for injury.
Place some fenders where they'll protect the boat. If you've got the
money, use those flexible poles to keep the boat away from the dock.


I have fenders in place. And I haven't yet been able to bring myself to
spend $3-400 on mooring whips when the book value of my boat is in that same
general range.


Us a bundle of chimney rods or cheaper, layed up fiberlass to make
your own mooring whips.

Terry K

Some advise from another river boater. Whips. I have tried lots of bumpers,
and riggings to protect my 21' bow rider. Whips are the best.
I noticed the same thing, bow high cruisers.
I get very aggravated with there arrogance. My dock is just up from a
marina. (If you can call it that it is just a mess of docks stuck in the
river.) They will be on the radio yelling at every passing boat to slow
down, but as soon as they leave the "marina" they are bow high and to hell
with everyone else. I think they should either learn to tie there boats to
avoid damage or rent a slip in a sheltered marina.
We had one guy come out of the marina go up about 1/2 mile and start to do
donuts so his kids could have some good waves to jump with there jet skis.
His Boston Whaler dingy was bigger than my boat. There are more private
docks than marina docks. Maybe we should all go take a few spins around the
marina. I bet all us combined could make the wake of one of there boats.
Anyway I feel your pain.

"Joe Blizzard" wrote in message
...
I live on the bank of Kanawha River in Winfield, WV and keep a 1977
Thunderbird S-18 docked there.

I was crawling around on my riverbank yesterday filling in some blank
spots in my rip rap, when a tsunami hit. I turned toward the dock and saw
my boat being slammed around violently and was genuinely concerned that it
might be damaged. Sometimes when I'm out there and I see a big wake, I'll
sit down on the dock and hold the boat off with my legs, but this was so
severe that I was afraid to get near it. At the time it seemed to last
forever, but my guess is the really violent part lasted for about 60
seconds. Fortunately nothing got broken. Except that there was now another
gash in my rip rap where the waves had rearranged some more of the rocks.

I get bounced around a lot at my dock, but I'd never seen anything quite
this bad. If there'd been any unsecured items or people in the boat, they
would have been in real danger of being thrown out. After the waves
settled down, I looked up river and saw the culprit, a big cruiser plowing
along at maximum wake speed, right up on my side of the river. That's
something I've seen a zillion times, so I really don't know what made this
particular incident so bad.

It's always the plowing cruisers. It's not strictly a size or speed thing.
Tugs pushing huge strings of barges don't rock my boat much. And we get
those long skinny offshore type boats (that are apparently propelled
entirely by noise) going by at ludicrous speed and they don't make that
big a wake. Even the cruisers when they're on plane don't seem to cause
much trouble.

I don't really know what my point was with all this, other than to bitch
about it.

On Mon, 1 Aug 2005 08:59:28 -0400, "Joe Blizzard"
wrote:

I live on the bank of Kanawha River in Winfield, WV and keep a 1977
Thunderbird S-18 docked there.

I was crawling around on my riverbank yesterday filling in some blank spots
in my rip rap, when a tsunami hit. I turned toward the dock and saw my boat
being slammed around violently and was genuinely concerned that it might be
damaged. Sometimes when I'm out there and I see a big wake, I'll sit down on
the dock and hold the boat off with my legs, but this was so severe that I
was afraid to get near it. At the time it seemed to last forever, but my
guess is the really violent part lasted for about 60 seconds. Fortunately
nothing got broken. Except that there was now another gash in my rip rap
where the waves had rearranged some more of the rocks.

I get bounced around a lot at my dock, but I'd never seen anything quite
this bad. If there'd been any unsecured items or people in the boat, they
would have been in real danger of being thrown out. After the waves settled
down, I looked up river and saw the culprit, a big cruiser plowing along at
maximum wake speed, right up on my side of the river. That's something I've
seen a zillion times, so I really don't know what made this particular
incident so bad.

It's always the plowing cruisers. It's not strictly a size or speed thing.
Tugs pushing huge strings of barges don't rock my boat much. And we get
those long skinny offshore type boats (that are apparently propelled
entirely by noise) going by at ludicrous speed and they don't make that big
a wake. Even the cruisers when they're on plane don't seem to cause much
trouble.

I don't really know what my point was with all this, other than to bitch
about it.


Submarine?

:)

--
John H.
On the 'PocoLoco' out of Deale, MD

"John H." wrote
Submarine?

Now you're talkin'. (I could torpedo the sumbitches.)

I thought that boaters were responsible for there wake and any damage that
said wake causes........


"Joe Blizzard" wrote in message
...
I live on the bank of Kanawha River in Winfield, WV and keep a 1977
Thunderbird S-18 docked there.

I was crawling around on my riverbank yesterday filling in some blank
spots
in my rip rap, when a tsunami hit. I turned toward the dock and saw my
boat
being slammed around violently and was genuinely concerned that it might
be
damaged. Sometimes when I'm out there and I see a big wake, I'll sit down
on
the dock and hold the boat off with my legs, but this was so severe that I
was afraid to get near it. At the time it seemed to last forever, but my
guess is the really violent part lasted for about 60 seconds. Fortunately
nothing got broken. Except that there was now another gash in my rip rap
where the waves had rearranged some more of the rocks.

I get bounced around a lot at my dock, but I'd never seen anything quite
this bad. If there'd been any unsecured items or people in the boat, they
would have been in real danger of being thrown out. After the waves
settled
down, I looked up river and saw the culprit, a big cruiser plowing along
at
maximum wake speed, right up on my side of the river. That's something
I've
seen a zillion times, so I really don't know what made this particular
incident so bad.

It's always the plowing cruisers. It's not strictly a size or speed thing.
Tugs pushing huge strings of barges don't rock my boat much. And we get
those long skinny offshore type boats (that are apparently propelled
entirely by noise) going by at ludicrous speed and they don't make that
big
a wake. Even the cruisers when they're on plane don't seem to cause much
trouble.

I don't really know what my point was with all this, other than to bitch
about it.

"Renegade" wrote
I thought that boaters were responsible for there
wake and any damage that said wake causes........

Only if they're caught ...

Joe Blizzard wrote:

I live on the bank of Kanawha River in Winfield, WV and keep a 1977
Thunderbird S-18 docked there.

I was crawling around on my riverbank yesterday filling in some blank spots
in my rip rap, when a tsunami hit. I turned toward the dock and saw my boat
being slammed around violently and was genuinely concerned that it might be
damaged. Sometimes when I'm out there and I see a big wake, I'll sit down on
the dock and hold the boat off with my legs, but this was so severe that I
was afraid to get near it. At the time it seemed to last forever, but my
guess is the really violent part lasted for about 60 seconds. Fortunately
nothing got broken. Except that there was now another gash in my rip rap
where the waves had rearranged some more of the rocks.

I get bounced around a lot at my dock, but I'd never seen anything quite
this bad. If there'd been any unsecured items or people in the boat, they
would have been in real danger of being thrown out. After the waves settled
down, I looked up river and saw the culprit, a big cruiser plowing along at
maximum wake speed, right up on my side of the river. That's something I've
seen a zillion times, so I really don't know what made this particular
incident so bad.

It's always the plowing cruisers. It's not strictly a size or speed thing.
Tugs pushing huge strings of barges don't rock my boat much. And we get
those long skinny offshore type boats (that are apparently propelled
entirely by noise) going by at ludicrous speed and they don't make that big
a wake. Even the cruisers when they're on plane don't seem to cause much
trouble.

I don't really know what my point was with all this, other than to bitch
about it.


I feel for ya. A big wake machine, heavy cruiser doing max wake
speed (it must be marked on his speedo as "cruise" or something)
broke a dock line, ripped up a rubber rub strake and spilled dinner
all over at the Murray canal. I complained to the bridgekeeper by
radio, and he would not let the blighter pass, so he came back to
bargy with me. He couldn't get docked where I had sailed in to moor
on a caisson as the wind and waves and wakes were too big for him,
he was afraid to scratch his boat docking and I was not gonna catch
his cheap poly string he used for mooring, so he went back to the
bridge and argied there until they called the police. The RCMP drove
the guy up to me to see what the argy was about, stood there
watching while I gave him **** about his wake and his lack of
ability to understand his wake was his responsibility, and his lack
of docking skills, etc. I did get his insurance info, and he
bitched about old boats and milking rich Americans for repairs.

It cost him about two hours, and I enjoyed it immensely. I was so
tempted to ask about the funny smell like burning leaves that I
didn't really notice, but was satisfied enough that he not go
throught the wait for the drug dog delay.

The pretty girls on his foredeck were really ****ed off by the time
they got away.

He probably didn't learn a thing.

I Hope he stays in the states from now on. Yes, we Canadians can be
real pricks about little things like lack of respect for other
folks' property.

Now, I am on a river mooring and the same stuff goes by every day.
Too bad gas doesn't go so high that theses idiots really take a
concern for economical speed, and small wakes. They are the same thing.

I mean, what's the hurry, you are on your boat, does it not feel
good if you aren't burning twice as much gas as you need to to get
somewhere at 7 instead of 9 knots? We get the same 4 cigarrette
boats going up and down every weekend. I don't mind them much, as
their wakes on plane aren't much, even if the noise is a real
pollution problem. I bought my place for peace and quiet.

Prosecute! Publicise! Hit one for the Gipper.

I still think getting a perfect score at "wake unbombing" should be
a requirement for a powerboat license. Any boat with a high horse
power to weight ratio capable of big wakes should be taxed and
harrassed out of business, and a fund established to repair shore
damage (I have a few ducks) and other property damage. The only
waves we get are from pleasure craft wake, commercial vessels take
care to minimise fuel burn, and that minimises wake.

How I will get my floating dock to not bang up my boat will be my
next problem, right after I finish building and launching my docks.
Of course, that problem will hopefully be less than at a grounded dock.

Spring pole gangways?

I think the best approach would be some serious prosecutions for
wake damage, heavily publicised.

Any airborne patrol could identify wake offenders while looking for
highway speeders. A tort supported by coincidental observances and a
good photo should win. Should habeus corpus and common law prevent
gov emps from recording the truth when they see it? A database of
photo evidence could help.

How about a wake tax for boat fuels for designated boat types?

Terry K