# Clueless boaters on Bayou Chico



## alcaniz (Jul 4, 2015)

I keep my sailboat in Bayou Chico. Every time I sail in or out of the bayou, I seem to encounter boaters who have absolutely no clue what the rules of the road are. 

Yesterday as I was heading out into the bay, on sail power, through the Bayou Chico channel, a 30' cuddy-cabin was coming at me full speed. I had to jump up and literally wave my arms and shout before he changed course, maybe just 100' from my boat. He first responded by trying to angle to pass on my starboard side, before at the last second zipping back over to pass my portside. As he passed, he gestured and pointed toward my starboard side, as if I should have been "further over", even though I was already on the far right side of the channel. 

This occasion was particularly infuriating, but I seem to encounter this kind of idiocy on some level pretty much every time I enter or leave Bayou Chico, where people with motor boats have no clue how right of way works around sailboats. As a person who owns both a sailboat and a motor boat, I find it inexcusable. People need to understand how right of way works before they head out on the water.


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## waterwings (Dec 11, 2007)

From my experience, yesterday was National Idiot on the Water Day! Pilot Defensively!!!


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## FleaBag (Oct 19, 2016)

)���� A vessel of less than 20 meters in length or a sailing vessel shall not impede the passage of a vessel which can safely navigate only within a narrow channel or fairway. USCG. Maybe stay under power til you get in the bay.


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## alcaniz (Jul 4, 2015)

Fleabag, the boat had pretty much the entire channel to the portside of my vessel to use -- I was on the far right edge of the channel. This was not a scenario where he had to run down on me, head on. 

USCG rule 14 states: "(a) [ Unless otherwise agreed ] when two power-driven vessels are meeting on reciprocal or nearly reciprocal courses so as to involve risk of collision each shall alter her course to starboard so that each shall pass on the port side of the other."

In this scenario, he had basically the entire channel to perform that, but failed to recognize it until the last second. 

Considering that I had stuck to the far right side of the channel, rule 18 also applied in this scenario: 

' A power-driven vessel underway shall keep out of the way of:
(i) a vessel not under command;
(ii) a vessel restricted in her ability to maneuver;
(iii) a vessel engaged in fishing;
(iv) a sailing vessel."

I wasn't impeding his path, he just wasn't paying attention. You need to consider all the rules in combination.


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## submariner (Oct 2, 2007)

1 post and it is bitching about power boats. why did you bother to post on a fishing form ?? While you have a point so does Fleabag ( name to proud of). leave the cove under power. Maybe he was saying he wanted to pass on starboard but didn't have enough room.


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

I always do a couple laps around them just to be sure I was on the right side.


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## polar21 (Nov 5, 2007)

Has to be a joke. Similar to the Angry Golf Course Guy who is mad that people cant keep the ball off of his house...


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## FleaBag (Oct 19, 2016)

"Whistle pissers" definition: any sailor, person who ties up at the fuel dock, gets out, whistles and says boy would you look at the price of that fuel. Hey can I use the bathroom.


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## Best Defense (Nov 8, 2007)

I agree. Just because someone is operating a boat (no matter how big or what type) doesn't mean they know what the rules are. Always best to give the 
idiots a wide berth. With that said, yell, scream, give hand signals if it makes you feel better. These "Boaters" are the ones who make the waters 
hazardous for all of us...


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

polar21 said:


> Has to be a joke. Similar to the Angry Golf Course Guy who is mad that people cant keep the ball off of his house...


Yea, that's such an unreasonable request. Don't hit my fucking house because you suck at golf. 

On the topic of this thread, leave under power. I've run into quite a few sailboaters tacking back and forth under the Theo Baars. Making everyone have to change course or stop. Big pain in the ass. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.


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## FleaBag (Oct 19, 2016)

my personal favorites are the tubers. its like navigating in a swarm of bees slinging the kids in every direction. have to pay close attention to the little one that might have fell off.


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## alcaniz (Jul 4, 2015)

MrFish said:


> Yea, that's such an unreasonable request. Don't hit my fucking house because you suck at golf.
> 
> On the topic of this thread, leave under power. I've run into quite a few sailboaters tacking back and forth under the Theo Baars. Making everyone have to change course or stop. Big pain in the ass. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.



I agree about running under power once you're actually in the bayou. I do that each time, so that I can have proper control there. It's definitely irresponsible to tack back and forth in that constrained area. The issue I created this topic about was out in the channel in the bay, running into the bayou.


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## floorman1 (Jan 10, 2012)

Did he pass you on leeward side.


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

...


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## oldflathead (Oct 3, 2007)

As a 20+ year resident, property owner, 46' sailboat, 25" 'toon, 22' Panga FOR FISHING, jon boat, skiff etc, licensed 100 ton, former teacher of sailing at USC, lived aboard and cruised 14 years. I agree some alpha hotel boaters don't have a clue. Particularly "wake makers' FOR THEY KNOWETH NOT THEIR FATHER.

Bayou Chico is posted, "IDLE SPEED ONLY". Pretty simple right - push the throttle forward to idle speed - NOT. I often am passed by other boats in the bayou, while I am at idle speed. I smile and try to tell them if the Authorities catch them it's a $75 fine. Mostly I get obscene finger gestures. Sometimes I take pictures of their wake and send copies to all the local boat insurance companies. 
I stay home on weekends and holidays as I consider it too dangerous to be on the water with idiots.


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## Best Defense (Nov 8, 2007)

floorman1 said:


> Did he pass you on leeward side.


Really ? Now you should know that NOBODY in Florida knows the windward
side from the leeward side !!!

And there's no point in installing turn signals on vessels either. Most drivers
in this state don't know what them things are for either...


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## Play'N Hooky Too (Sep 29, 2007)

That is a pretty narrow channel with a lot of traffic, especially on the 4th of July. Under those circumstances I don't think it would be prudent to try to transit in or out under sail. 

What gets me are the people that try to squeeze through the channel under the bridge beside the barges heading to the scrap yard or to the concrete casting yard.


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

Best Defense said:


> Really ? Now you should know that NOBODY in Florida knows the windward
> side from the leeward side !!!


...


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

Okay, my 2 cents worth, as someone who has operated everything from a small skiff, to civilian boats, to patrol boats to tugs and freighters to flying hovercraft...if you are running in a very narrow channel like the Chico entrance channel...leave the damn sails fueled until you get into open water. YOU DO NOT HAVE RIGHT OF WAY IN A NARROW CHANNEL...PERIOD. Sure, you look cool and manly sailing your boat out. You are impeding the channel. You were quoted the correct regulation telling you that you do NOT have the right away you assumed you had and come back with a regulation on two POWERBOATS passing.


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

oldflathead said:


> As a 20+ year resident, property owner, 46' sailboat, 25" 'toon, 22' Panga FOR FISHING, jon boat, skiff etc, licensed 100 ton, former teacher of sailing at USC, lived aboard and cruised 14 years. I agree some alpha hotel boaters don't have a clue. Particularly "wake makers' FOR THEY KNOWETH NOT THEIR FATHER.
> 
> Bayou Chico is posted, "IDLE SPEED ONLY". Pretty simple right - push the throttle forward to idle speed - NOT. I often am passed by other boats in the bayou, while I am at idle speed. I smile and try to tell them if the Authorities catch them it's a $75 fine. Mostly I get obscene finger gestures. Sometimes I take pictures of their wake and send copies to all the local boat insurance companies.
> I stay home on weekends and holidays as I consider it too dangerous to be on the water with idiots.


I took a 23 foot Proline with a Rude 200 on it out of my stepdad' s dock yesterday around to Harborview to fuel up for a trip today. I gave way to a lady operating what looked like a 20 GW with a 175 Merc on it...and at idle speed, had to keep throwing into neutral because her idle speed was a lot less than mine. Being passed when you are idling doesn't always mean the other person is speeding, flathead...it can also mean you have the wrong prop on your boat, too little pitch, which translates to you not moving forward as much as someone using a higher pitch.

When I had my flats boat, I used the highest pitch made for a Seahorse 115...and passed everyone at idle in the bayou. I was out for speed, not fuel consumption ( back then, there were only 4 other boats around that could catch me at wide open, Marine Patrol wasn't one of them).


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## tbaxl (Mar 13, 2013)

Kingfish501 for the win!


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## alcaniz (Jul 4, 2015)

kingfish501 said:


> Okay, my 2 cents worth, as someone who has operated everything from a small skiff, to civilian boats, to patrol boats to tugs and freighters to flying hovercraft...if you are running in a very narrow channel like the Chico entrance channel...leave the damn sails fueled until you get into open water. YOU DO NOT HAVE RIGHT OF WAY IN A NARROW CHANNEL...PERIOD. Sure, you look cool and manly sailing your boat out. You are impeding the channel. You were quoted the correct regulation telling you that you do NOT have the right away you assumed you had and come back with a regulation on two POWERBOATS passing.


Even given that rule, it doesn't give the other boat a right to run straight at me, then seem to cluelessly know how to respond as if I had just shown up out of nowhere. It's not like he was steering some ship with a 10' draft, it was a cuddy cabin that could run in 2' of water, and his initial impulse to correct was to actually run OUT of the channel, toward the sandbar, before he swerved back toward the OTHER WHOLE OPEN SIDE of the channel. My 8 foot wide boat, on the far right edge of the channel, doesn't impede his ability to use the other 200 feet or so of channel width. 

Amazing how you guys have found this one rule and are sticking to it as an excuse for poor boating skills. He was being reckless and frankly seemed drunk.


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## Splittine (Nov 24, 2007)

alcaniz said:


> Amazing how you guys have found this one rule and are sticking to it as an excuse for poor boating skills. He was being reckless and frankly seemed drunk.



Amazing how you come on a fishing forum and your first posts are bitching about someone. Maybe try a blowboat forum. New member complaints don't go over very well here, never had.


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

alcaniz said:


> Even given that rule, it doesn't give the other boat a right to run straight at me, then seem to cluelessly know how to respond as if I had just shown up out of nowhere. It's not like he was steering some ship with a 10' draft, it was a cuddy cabin that could run in 2' of water, and his initial impulse to correct was to actually run OUT of the channel, toward the sandbar, before he swerved back toward the OTHER WHOLE OPEN SIDE of the channel. My 8 foot wide boat, on the far right edge of the channel, doesn't impede his ability to use the other 200 feet or so of channel width.
> 
> Amazing how you guys have found this one rule and are sticking to it as an excuse for poor boating skills. He was being reckless and frankly seemed drunk.


Had a blowboat skipper in the Hampton Roads channel in Vs tried to force our ship, an Army BDL ( Beach Discharge Lighter), to give way to him. The Page was 338' long and our skipper told him point blank he was not maneuvering or giving way BY LAW. The sailboater started screaming over the radio that our skipper didn't know a damn thing about sailing, he was too stupid to sail, blah,blah,blah. At the time, the skipper of the Page was not only endorsed as UNLIMITED TONNAGE, ANY OCEAN MOTOR VESSELS.....he was the only person I have ever met who also held an UNLIMITED TONNAGE, ANY OCEAN SAILING VESSEL. When the skipper called him back, the sailboat " captain" couldn't understand why our whole watch crew was laughing hysterically on the bridge.


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## 192 (Oct 1, 2007)

alcaniz said:


> Even given that rule, it doesn't give the other boat a right to run straight at me, then seem to cluelessly know how to respond as if I had just shown up out of nowhere. It's not like he was steering some ship with a 10' draft, it was a cuddy cabin that could run in 2' of water, and his initial impulse to correct was to actually run OUT of the channel, toward the sandbar, before he swerved back toward the OTHER WHOLE OPEN SIDE of the channel. My 8 foot wide boat, on the far right edge of the channel, doesn't impede his ability to use the other 200 feet or so of channel width.
> 
> Amazing how you guys have found this one rule and are sticking to it as an excuse for poor boating skills. He was being reckless and frankly seemed drunk.


Your crew members have interesting uniforms


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## Play'N Hooky Too (Sep 29, 2007)

....


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

grouper22 said:


> Your crew members have interesting uniforms


Ohhh ho ho! Didn't know it was one of those boats. Won't have to worry about me getting around it..


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## Bluecape (Sep 29, 2016)

As for being passed in an "idle speed, no wake" zone, some boats have to "idle" faster than others to maintain steerage.


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