A Wake Question

[Bobby Bass]

When you are still fishing from a boat, which would you rather have when a boat passes. Have them slow down and send you a lot of slow rollers or have them maintain speed and just hit ya with a few big rollers. I have always slowed down and then after I think my wake will be past them I speed back up this is say you are passing with in a 100 yards or so. Any thoughts?

[papasoco]

Slow down and give me the slow rollers. I try and be respectful of others on the lake and when they blast by me wide open I think it's rude. Maybe it's just me.

[eyepatrol]

I try not to be within 100 yards of another boat. It would seem as fast or faster to me to keep the motor open and go around the boat(s) as it would to slow down and go between or near them. If I had no other choice but to come within 100 yards of another boat, I'd likely slow down. Canoes, kyaks, small sailboats are another story though.

I also don't mind opening up and taking off within 100 yards of boats that are coming to or leaving the launch site, as long as they are not fishing.

Just my thoughts.

[Fishin4Life]

Personally, from being the guy in the small boat, both are expected and also excepted. There isn't much you can do to avoid waves. I just ask that people try to keep their distance. I don't mind them keeping their speed up as long as they aren't like 10 feet from my boat. Waves happen, use your best judgement, if you slow down people might look at you more kindly, but in the end the waves are about the same unless you drop to trolling speed which I would not ask anyone to do.

[harvey lee]

I would think that it would be nice if all boaters would stay a far distance away from other boaters and slow down a bit ahead of time.That would be the polite thing to do.If its a smaller lake or alot of boats,slow down more and move as far away as possible.It only takes a minute to be a little considerate.I know many just blow by a guy and that will probably never change.

I would guess this comes down to the Golden Rule,do unto others as.

[BobT]

I don't agree with the slowing down part as I mentioned in a different post. When a boat is up on plane it leaves very little wake to speak of. It's when the boat is slowed down and begins to drop off plane that the wake becomes excessive. That's because at high speed the boat displaces very little water but at low speed it displaces much more.

Naturally, aside from being rude and intrusive it is also dangerous to buzz past someone at any speed within close proximity, save for a no wake speed.

I would rather someone fly by at 30mph 100' away than pass me at about 15mph any day.

Bob

[Bobb-o]

yeah i agree with Bobt, last year up on Rainy we had several boats slow down like twenty feet from us trying to be nice (we were in a 12 foot boat) only to send waves over the sides of our boat, we got much less waves from the people who just stayed up on plane.

[eyepatrol]

I guess slowing down to me would mean basically a no-wake. Slow down enough to put a ripple on the water, say 5mph or less. That's why I feel driving out and around, plenty far away from boats is my preference because it would be much quicker to get where you're going. Unless of course there are no other alternatives but to go by slowly.

I just try to be as courteous to others as possible. Like HL said....do unto others as you'd have them do unto you.

[gunflint]

Good Topic,I pass alot of canoes on a narrow lake. I used to slow down in order to appear nice. The truth is that if I'm on plane, they have alot less wake to deal with so now I blow by them as far away as possible. But if they're are in the middle of the bay I'm not risking going into the rocks either. They can certainly paddle anywhere they like but they have alot more options with their paddles than I do with my lower unit. Obviously if the distance between us is too close I'll slow way down but I can't slow down for every canoe on the lake or I'd never get home.

[BobT]

You bring up a good subject. I believe that we need to remember also that motorized boats are required to yeild right-of-way to non-motorized. Correct me if I'm wrong of course.

Bob

[hovermn]

Power boats must yield the right of way to non-motorized boats including canoes and sail boats. As it says in the boaters guide, small boats should not insist on the right of way when approaching large commercial vessels, ie: Barges on the river.

I boat on the river a lot and will say that the person that insists a barge yield to them is someone looking to be dredged from the bottom.

[Ice9]

interesting post.

Experience suggests that a boat slowing down throws a bigger wake than one zinging past on a plane. But I'm not so sure. Physics was a long time ago but I think the boat going faster adds more energy to the water and therefore creates a bigger wake. I think being on a plane and therefore higher on the water surface doesn't matter. The wake disturbance may be more spread out, or take the form of more wave forms, or even travel faster. I don't know. Any science types out there care to weigh in?

As for politeness, it counts. As a small boater, I always appreciate the gesture of the slow-down, and I'd say that I appreciate it even if it doesn't create less of a wake. On the other hand, as long as they don't run me down I feel blessed.

ice

[TSCTSC]

Yeah, I do agree with some of the posts. It may seem that you are more considerate by slowing down. But I have realized that in actual fact, a boat that is on plane definitely gives smaller waves than one that is plowing. As long as they are not too close, I dun mind if people pass me while on plane. I guess, the only thing I would appreciate is if they try their best to give as much space as possible.

[Mr.Perch]

I canoe a fair amout just give me as much room as you safely can waves are not a big dael if you have some warning

[papasoco]

Another thing to consider is the ability of the boat to plane out. I have a 16.5ft with a floor, console, live well, etc and a 28hp on it. Smaller motor cause I don't need anything bigger for the water I prefer to fish so the extra cost wasn't in my best interest. Light load and I can plane out ok, but with me and two other guys in the boat, plus boxes, cooler, etc...we tend to drag down a bit so for me going slower by others as far away as possible is my best option.

[musky hunter]

Slow down but do not come off plane! The size of the wake, interestingly, is not dependent on the speed of the boat but on how much water it is displacing. When a boat mushes down off plane it displaces much more water and makes a larger wake. Obviously, the best is maintaining distance. But that is not always possible. Most boats will maintain plane at about 22 mph, go much slower and it mushes. There is common sense to invoke here and if in doubt slow down and move through at trolling speed well before you swamp someone.

[art]

my 2 cents here. The wave is definitely bigger when coming off plane. With my boat, and I believe most boats, when you start up or slow down to get on or off plane the bow goes way up and the stern way down thus displacing more water than on plane. That being said,I've spent many, many hours in canoes and really don't like people slowing down for me because it usually goes like this. The see me, try to be courteous and slow down. Waves go out from the boat at a diagonal, forward and out. They don't slow down until they are close enough that the bigger wave moving forward as well as out hits us anyway. You need to slow down far enough in advance so that big wake coming off plane doesn't move directly at the other boat. Personally, if not too close, I'd rather they just keep on going full speed.

[BobT]

A wake is caused by the rapid displacement of water by the boat. In other words, the water is "pushed" into a wave. Liquids, such as water, do not compress like gas (air) so when it is displaced by an object it must go somewhere. For example, if I have a 5-gallon bucket filled to the rim with water and then drop a 3” diameter rock into it, what will happen? The bucket will overflow precisely the amount of water that was displaced by the volume taken by the rock, which would be approx. 14.14in^3 or 1 cup. If I drop a bowling ball into the bucket I would displace the amount of water equal to the volume of the bowling ball. To be certain we are all on the same page the word “displace” means to move, relocate, transfer, or put out of place.

When a liquid is suddenly displaced a wave is created and it is transferred throughout the water column. Another example of this was the December earthquake a couple years ago. When a section of the floor of the ocean lifted suddenly, it displaced a large volume of water and the resulting wave which we saw at the surface was the tsunami.

When a boat is plowing, a large portion of the hull is being driven into the water and displacing more water in the lake causing a wave similar to what the earthquake did in the ocean, only at a much lower scale.

When we leave no wake we are going slow enough the water is able to flow around our boat without trying to compress it ahead of the boat. As we increase speed, the water can’t flow fast enough and a wave or wake is born. The more water we displace and the faster we do it, the larger the wake. As boat speed decreases, the largest wake will be just as it comes off plane because this is when you are displacing the most amount of water at the fastest rate.

Bob

[nofishfisherman]

I believe the laws are a 150 foot rule.

It is illeagal to pass within 150 feet of a stationary boat if you are creating a wake.

Basically with 150 feet of a boat, shore, dock, or any other stationary object is a no wake zone based on the laws.

Correct me if I am wrong, I couldn't find the law explicitly stated.

[The Chemist]

When at the time my 3yr old and I were using my 14ft w/ a trolling motor, I had someone out for a tour of the lake come by at a slow speed, problem was the "moron" had the motor trimmed at about half. Putting up a 3-4 ft wave. had one wave come over the back before I saw it. I know I probably shouldn't have done it (but at the time it ticked me off as the boat could've easily sunk if another wave came in) I went back to the cabin and got the big boat and repayed the favor. If someone is anchored or trolling slow down if you have to go "near" them (plan ahead), slow down early and then when you have cleared them 50ft or so go again.

I guess I look at it in the same manner as on the road, put yourself in the the other boat, and what you would want to happen. Just like merging onto a HWY or making a turn onto a road near a red light. Allow space.

It all comes down to common courtesy.

[V-12 Merlin]

In searching the 2006 MN boating regs, I see a thing about not passing a diver's buoy within 150 feet. There's another reg about a PWC passing within 150 feet of a non-motorize watercraft ("must maintain 5mph or less within 150 feet", "must not jump a wake within 150 feet of another watercraft"), but that's about it. I find that curious, because it would seem that ANY motorized watercraft would pose an equal hazard to non-motorized watercraft, but I'm sure there was a logical (or political) reason for making the rule specific to PWC. It does mention that non-motorized watercraft have the right of way, and that boats must pass other boats with enough distance to avoid creating a hazard. But, that's all I could find.

[Ice9]

Thanks, Bob.

More: how fast do boatwakes go? They seem to go at about the same speed. Not logical.

ice

[nofishfisherman]

Thats all I could find for the regs as well. I just thought I remember hearing that boats have a specific distance they have to be from anchored boats.

[BobT]

I am not able to provide a reliable answer for that. If I were to guess, I would be inclined to think that the larger a wave is, the faster it will travel. My thinking is that the weight of the volume of water in the wave column (surface to bottom) might be part of the equation. Consider the size of the tsunami and how it was estimated to move about 500mph. I know a boat wake doesn't travel that fast. The volume of water of a wave column in a lake vs. the ocean is considerably different and the amount of water and its subsequent weight is likewise. Maybe there's a physics type person out there that can provide a more reliable answer.

Bob