Reply With QuoteMost dangerous thing? http://www.***boat.com/ubb/graemlins/idea_2.gif
One time, I tried to take the beer cooler away from RiverDave. That was pretty focked up.
Remind me of something George Carlin once said. "Have you ever noticed, when you're driving, that anyone driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone driving faster than you is a "maniac"? "
I know everyone has an easy time trying to bang on people driving a different way than they do, but in the teams we learned a very important lesson.... "If you are the only one right... you are wrong".
I wish the folks I see out on the water would just pretend for a minute that there are other people out there. One of the reasons I tend to drive my boat, ride my motorcycle or drive my car "aggressively" is for the predictability of it. If you are passing people, they have little opportunity to hang out in your blind spot and turn into you. You are moving along, and as such can be through and around potential problems better than most can.
The most dangerous thing I see out there are people driving slowly and cluelessly, feeling irrationally that their slow speed means they can pretty much do whatever they want. Same with anchoring in an unsafe area, floating in a traffic stream, making violent turns to slow down, etc...
Another term I will coin from my time in the service is "Situational Awareness". I find that when moving right along, I tend to be very, very focused on what I am doing, and have a heightened amount of situational awareness, truncated to "SA" for those in the know.
Flame on, but I think that lollygagging in a congested area, driving on the wrong side of the river, putting yourself in a head-on condition with ANYTHING let alone another boat or making aggressive turns with no apparent consideration for other traffic is the most dangerous combination of boating faults on the water. I have found that most of the time something like that has been observed by me, it was someone just tooling around cluelessly, and rarely involved a high performance boat moving out.
So, to be serious for a minute, what do you all classify as the #1 most dangerous thing you can do on the water? Drinking and driving doesn't count. That isn't unsafe on it's own, it fosters a situation where you do unsafe things. What I am asking is, what is the most unsafe thing you can do on the water, regardless of sobriety?
My answer is simple. Anything unexpected. A right turn out of nowhere, coming to a complete stop for no reason, dropping off a ski rope in traffic because your arms are tired, doing a 360 on a Jet Ski in traffic, darting out perpendicular to the shoreline on a river, turning across traffic. You name it, 9 times out of 10 the most dangerous things you can do in my book are based in unpredictability, not illegality.
One of my basic rules of boating involves the concept that you should never take the right of way, only give it.
Nobody wants to be dead right.
To recap the question, "what is the most unsafe thing you can do on the water, regardless of sobriety?"
Most dangerous thing? http://www.***boat.com/ubb/graemlins/idea_2.gif
One time, I tried to take the beer cooler away from RiverDave. That was pretty focked up.
Most dangerous thing? http://www.***boat.com/ubb/graemlins/idea_2.gif
One time, I tried to take the beer cooler away from RiverDave. That was pretty focked up.
I said dangerous, not suicidal dude...
I'm suprised you didn't pull back a bloody stump!
Nobody wants to be dead right.
To recap the question, "what is the most unsafe thing you can do on the water, regardless of sobriety?"[/QUOTE]
Ride a Water Couch (Lake Lice).................
I hate to be serious but I will throw down a little.
When I was 15 years old, I was skiing with a buddy. No spotter. It was the middle of the week, there wasn't another boat on the entire lake, and we were in the middle, alternating between swimming, skiing, and sitting in the boat until our skin caught fire.
On one of my buddy's trick ski runs, I remember looking down, just outside the boat, to see a swimmer.... in the middle of the lake.... about 15 feet from the boat. The first I saw of the swimmer was when he was right beside the boat. It really freaked me out.
We went and talked with the swimmer. He was swimming across the lake, about 2 miles. It was mid-week and it was something to do. He said he saw us there but didn't think much of it.
I used to swim way out into the lake too but stopped after that event.
In my mind, the most dagerous manuever while underway boating, is to not look over your shoulder or behind you when you are going to be turning to the right or left. I've been cut off far too many times by drivers who just don't look around before they make a turn to the right or left when I'm overtaking them. I know they have the right of way but to me it seems like it would be just common sense to look around before you decide to change your line.
Great post! It is all about "SA"...I have been boating/driving for 7 years now and every year I learn something. When I drive I prepare for the worst. I try to assume the boater never see's me and that he will make a sudden turn in to my path...If I see a boat ahead of me I look to see if his view is blocked from a passenger and put myself in a position to be seen, either by passing him or next to him. If I see a flag raised in a boat, I slow down to 20-30mph (planning speed) wave to the boat so that they see me and I break either right or left. I don't have rear view mirrors on the boat, so I tend to have a habit of looking to each side pretty often. If I see a boat from a distance coming head on, I make a tight change of direction so he knows I see him, I don't play chicken and wait for him to make the first move. I am a defensive driver by nature (I drive a lot) and this has kept me really safe on the roads and on the water....Even when I don't need to watch for other boaters because the lake is pretty empty, I still do...Just to make a good habit of it, just in case something does happen I react on instinct...Just be aware of your surrondings.
In my mind, the most dagerous manuever while underway boating, is to not look over your shoulder or behind you when you are going to be turning to the right or left. I've been cut off far too many times by drivers who just don't look around before they make a turn to the right or left when I'm overtaking them. I know they have the right of way but to me it seems like it would be just common sense to look around before you decide to change your line.
I agree, this is what I see the most of. Had a dude or dud? Any way he was looking over his right sholder and turning left, into my path. I get this every time I go out. You would think that when they pay to use the ramp some one there would make sure the driver has his head out of his azz before letting him on the lake or river.
I will drink a Miller Chill to that Wes!!1
Wes, you are right on target with that post in somuch as a good offense is the best defense. I also agree that unexpected movements and movements that have no apparent reason are the most dangerous on land and also at sea. However, I believe that rules of navigation and physics differ on the water to some extent. This is in part because of the changing water surface that tends to keep operators focused forward and to the sides, but rarely rearward, and because of the lack of braking ability. Even when on land, overtaking is a risky business and the person overtaking the "lolygagger" holds the responsibility to gauge correctly - even allowing for those sudden "senseless" moves to port or starbord....
And another thing, quit posting the agressive mindset secrets
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