Rules of the Road

[Rockport24]

most kayakers have no idea of the risk of what they are doing, its pretty amazing actually. They just think they can go tooling around out there with no PFD and just have a laugh. I usually stay very close to shore and stay out of channels as much as possible (sometimes have to cross them of course).

The real yahoos out there on the north shore are the rowers (their backs face forward - like crew rowing) and they are way out there in the boat traffic its unreal. I've seen them in the fog too, paddleboarders too!

[bloocrab]

No qualms about it...kayakers, paddleboarders, skishindudes...they have every right to be out there, way out there too....but best they use their heads instead of lose them, one way or another.

Although I understand, .......it can get quite chaotic at RP when you have 1/2dz kayakers zig-zagging thru the parking lot on the point. Boats don't have brakes

Rules aren't always easy to decipher, with the correct word-twisting, they can be made to mean something different or at least lead one to believe...just like some of the rules of the road.

[Got Stripers]

Clearly none of you guys have sailed based on what I'm reading and it appears many think it's as simple as hard about and changing tacks to get out of the way. Having raced sailboats in my youth, then running two sailboat lesson centers for Scituate and Hingham during college summer breaks and working crew on two delivers out of Ft. Lauderdale after college; I have decades of sailing experience.

In my youth on my International 110 and with a 10-15 mph breeze, I could quickly come about and change tacks, but even then it takes time to get back up to any kind of headway speed. Lighten the air and it's a slow process. Make the boat bigger and heavier with that same light air and you could have coffee and a donut in the time it takes to tack and change course. If this has to happen in a harbor with traffic, current and boats on moorings, it's best to hold course and maintain headway steam and let the guys under power yield. Now if this is outside and there is an ocean full of room, again why should a guy under sail power only yield to a guy under power? I've altered course dozens of times in a season in Vineyard sound in my boats and see no big deal in yielding to the guys under sail power only and am happy to do so.

Then there is the experience factor and who's on board, tacking a mid-large sailboat, a finicky hobiecat, or anything without too much experience isn't as simple as turning the wheel, or pushing the tiller hard over. Put up a spinnaker and it's getting a lot more challenging. I think you guys need some good aged cheese to go along with your wine, wah, wah, wah. Rules of the road have been the same since I was a kid and they are there for a reason, safety on the water for ALL.

Inside or out and a guy in a 30 foot sailboat is under power, as far as I'm concerned he's just another powerboat.

[piemma]

[QUOTE=Got Stripers;1105904]Clearly none of you guys have sailed based on what I'm reading

Not true! I crewed on a 39' Southern Cross (made by C. W. Ryder in Bristol) for years. I know how to sail and what it takes to tack. That's not the point. The point is when a Sailboat is under power they are required to obey the rules that apply to power boats because , "They are a power boat when they are running on aux power other than under sail. End of story....I think.

[Got Stripers]

[QUOTE=piemma;1106001]

Originally Posted by Got Stripers

Clearly none of you guys have sailed based on what I'm reading

Not true! I crewed on a 39' Southern Cross (made by C. W. Ryder in Bristol) for years. I know how to sail and what it takes to tack. That's not the point. The point is when a Sailboat is under power they are required to obey the rules that apply to power boats because , "They are a power boat when they are running on aux power other than under sail. End of story....I think.

Really never saw anyone make that point, but I'd agree as you saw by my post above, they should be under power entering a congested harbor and then they need to abide by the rules of the road like anyone else.

I know a lot of sailboat owners, my parents saved for years to buy a 39 foot Corbin hull and spent every free moment building what turned out to be a beautiful boat; they were so far removed from your description of "Blow Boaters" its not funny. Most of their friends in the Scituate Boat Club were the same hard working class people, who all just loved to sail and didn't want to hear an engine after clearing the breakwater.

I'd bet a lot of the high end fishing boats are a lot more money to buy and run then some of the sailboats I've admired every time I make my way out of Westport Harbor. I worked for a guy who would fit your description and his boat has brand new 300 HP four strokes on the back end and no sail bags in is slip locker. I really think the "most" is so far from the truth, I know far more hard working, truly nice genuine sailboaters than what you describe.

I guess it depends on who you have had experience with in life, I know more powerboat owners that fit that description then sailors. I guess now that I've downsized to a Kayak I will fit into someones generalized catagory of A-holes who shouldn't be forcing them to alter course or slow down so they don't capsize someone. That's all right, I will be happy to pass on a single finger salute as someone hell bent on getting to his fishing hole powers buy throwing a 2 foot wake my way.