wake liability while in channel?
- Thread starter eahearn
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tugboat kevin
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ok let me throw a different scenario at you this happened at a poker run a few weeks ago in the st lawrence seaway thru the thousand islands just past brockville where the channel is very wide this 30something bubble boat decides to drive thru the back of the spectator fleet at least a few hundred boats with a wake large enough to go over the stearn of a few boats everyone was waiting for the fleet to flyby as this is where they can air them out. My Way is a 50 foot mystic carbon fiber cat with 2 4000hp turbines it has run 223 in testing hes doing over 150 and hits this guys wake wrong launching the boat and landing on its side with extreme hull damage around the turbine we expect boat and ship wakes but one boater digging a big hole in the water can do a lot of damage its a different more powerful wake ......www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOGI5aA_n5Y&feature=related thats the end result here is the crash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKRNWnCkqkM&feature=related
What's a "bubble boat"?
I'm not going to intentionally fly by anyone. Actually, with my boat, I can't "fly by" anyone.
I remember with my previous boat, unintentionally going past a kayaker at a good clip and with a pretty big wake. I was going under a wide bridge that has no speed restrictions and the kayaker was on the other side of the bridge, hidden from me by the bridge support.
Oh well, s*** happens.
Many kayakers, paddle boarders, etc. don't consider themselves to be boaters and don't concern themselves with the rules or the conditions larger boats create on the water. We have a couple around here who launch at the public boat ramp and then casually paddle back and forth in the vicinity of the ramp getting in everyone's way instead of launching and heading up or down the river.
I'm not going to intentionally fly by anyone. Actually, with my boat, I can't "fly by" anyone.
I remember with my previous boat, unintentionally going past a kayaker at a good clip and with a pretty big wake. I was going under a wide bridge that has no speed restrictions and the kayaker was on the other side of the bridge, hidden from me by the bridge support.
Oh well, s*** happens.
Many kayakers, paddle boarders, etc. don't consider themselves to be boaters and don't concern themselves with the rules or the conditions larger boats create on the water. We have a couple around here who launch at the public boat ramp and then casually paddle back and forth in the vicinity of the ramp getting in everyone's way instead of launching and heading up or down the river.
Several points.
1) If he can't identify your boat and has no witness, you are not liable.
2) Liable for what? There has to be some damage or loss. If his kayak was forced up against a bridge piling and was smashed and sunk and if he could identify you and had a witness, you might be liable. If it just flipped and he got wet, there's nothing to be liable for. There has to be a loss of some monetary value. You are not liable for his loss of pride.
3) If the kayaker claims some sort of loss and he can identify you and has a witness, it boils down to the paricular state and its laws and each side's lawyers. His will try to claim that you were careless in the operation of your boat, yours will claim that he was at fault for being where he was and not taking proper precautions to deal with a wake from a passing boat.
smurfmeister
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I agree with you. I don't get why people are intent on crossing back and forth across a busy channel - which happens in my case. I had 3 kite surfers going back and forth across the channel into my marina. If I deferred to them I would never have gotten to my marina as they were staggered and at any given time, one of them was crossing my path.
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Pretty broad, and stupid, assumption on your behalf.
BJL, I see what you are saying. When you were on long island, you knew what the channels were like. Not very wide. The channel isnt like a freeway where there is constant traffic..They seem to wait till the channel is busy to make their crossing...
yes, the channels are pretty narrow. But......maybe when they start crossing it isn't very busy but got busy real fast with power boats. I guess if they wait for no boats they'd be sitting on one side all day! Eventually ya gotta cross somewhere
Just sayin............
Just sayin............That's true... I have an electric-powered canoe with a top speed of about 4 knots which is a fair sight faster than I could paddle it; but I've been yelled at for "going slow in the middle of the channel". Hell I was CROSSING the channel and going as fast as I could, but some of these stinkboaters think the channel is there for their exclusive use. When they're flying along at 40+ mph, they seem to come out of nowhere.