those fast boats wakes die down much quicker than the slow boats.(Fast boat= no displacement. Slow boat = big displacement)
Their wakes settle down to just very small waves almost fifty feet away from them, and the jet skis settle down almost immediately.
It is the slow moving ones that put out the big wakes.
I would rather a jet ski come by at fifty feet than a john boat with a ten hp motor.
Another hint: If you are trying to get away from a boat wake, don't go all the way into shallow water. The waves build up worse.
The worst for wakes on the water is a big tug pulling a barge. It is very easy to get out of their way, but their wake will get you sooner or later. But I imagine they are not on you local lake.
Take your place on the water as the other boats have, follow the rules of the road as Mark mentioned, and you shouldn't have any problems unless there is a stray drunk out there, and then everyone on the lake has to watch out.
With all that said, retirement is great. We paddle the big lake during the week, and the little one that prohibits motorized craft on the weekends.
Wow I paddle most every time I paddle with many power boats of all types from jet skis to 100’ yatchts, and larger commertial traffic. I can’t say I have ever noted any hostility. That is with two exceptions, fisherman don’t want you close when they are fishing and people at the boat ramp seem to always be in a hurry.
Kayaks are just another type of boat out on the water sharing a great resource. The vast majority of people out there are there to have fun and are in a good mood and it shows.
The wake thing is just part of it.
And Jack, there is at least one thing worse than a tug with a barge. The great big turbin powered three decked tour boat out of Carolina Beach travels at 30 mph plus and leaves the tallest wake I have ever seen, you have to actually look up to see the top, LOL.
powerboats vs paddlers This is an interesting topic. I drive a variety of ski and tubing boats for our local youth camp on a very busy lake. We also have a fleet of canoes and kayaks which occasionally venture out of our quiet camp lake onto the busy one. I own a pontoon boat and paddle at our cottage in northern WI. I have been buzzed repeatedly and needlessly by powerboats while out in my own canoe or kayak.
I’ve seen a great deal of rudeness and stupidity in all of these areas. Paddlers have the ability to stay close to shore in the shallows, but sometimes choose to go right down the middle flipping off every boat which goes through. Inatentive boat drivers watching their skier or the birds or other unknown things cause way too many close calls. And speedboat drivers intent on getting from point A to B in record time are content to fly by anybody who dares to get in or near their path.
I enjoy many forms of boating, and have years of experience and official certifications. Obviously many of those I encounter have neither. A drivers ed course when I was a teen taught defensive driving - always watch out for the other guy and assume they do not know what they are doing. Plan your evasive moves before needed. A good idea when paddling in high traffic areas, I believe, as well as using some common sense in regard to where we are in relation to other boats. We all need to share the water sometimes.
Lotso reflection and high color. You can get reflective strips at most marine stores, put them on the end of you paddle shafts down by the blade. They really help you show up, expecially because the paddle is moving. Amazingly bright.
And keep your eyes out - but yeah, some places in the Adirondacks can be more trouble to handle than it seems they are worth at peak vacation times. We avoid paddling in Lake George anywhere south of Northwest Bay after July 4 because of the dratted jet skis and kids running boats around.
One note - the boat drivers are terrible in some parts of the lower Adirondacks. A lot of the people behind the wheel are teenagers, not adults, and the adults can be quite scarey too. One of NY’s most foolish things is that, while anyone under 18 has to pass a course to get a basic motor boat license, there are no requirements whatsoever for adults. If you are over 18 and can afford to buy a boat, you can legally take it anywhere. So there are always a fair number of people out there in summer who really don’t have a clue about the basic navaigation rules. They run into the markers for rocks, pass on the wrong side, you name it. After the summer season is over, it’s mostly the ones who can drive.
visiblility The big boats do not want to have a collision any more than you do, so if they see you they will avoid you. The most visible thing you have as a kayaker is your paddle - it is high in the air, moving and usually a contrasting color. Keep paddling or wave your blade in the air.
If you can avoid high traffic areas, like channels or water ski ramps, do so. Or cross them quickly and at a right angle so you can get out of the way sooner.
When you are a six knot paddle craft dealing with a 30 knot power boat, it us best to do what other posters have already suggested - be predictable and let them maneuver around you.
see and be seen I paddle in a busy lake at busy times 'cause I feel like it. I have a yellow boat, yellow PFD, yellow paddles and usually an orange ‘do-rag on top. In addition, I have reflective stripes on my PFD, my skirt and my paddles. The big white reflective stickers they put on semis work on paddles too. Put two bars on each side of each blade. People tell me horror stories about how bad my lake is, but I only had one close call and it was my fault. The rules of the road are basically hand-powered craft have ROW to everyone but wind powered craft. I had a sailboat sneak up on me because I was watching the shoreline instead of the traffic. The same people that complain about the boaters on the lake also tell me how freakin’ visable I am in any situation…storms, night, interstate tunnels, on land. I don’t think it is a coincidence.
Interetsing replies. Back to the about to be hit scenario for a moment, has anyone noticed that it is very hard to tell if a motorists is coming right for you or not. Sometimes it looks like they're going away from you, then they veer and for several seconds look like coming right toward you, and then finally--with a sense of relief--ah, they turned away... all in one long arc turn for the motorist. Some drunk yahoo someday though is going to correct the turn and head right for us paddlers, I can see it now.
Sure, paddling fast to make a break for it is a good idea, but will have little impact on any distance at all if the motor boat is bearing down, intentionally or not, on the kayakers. Especially if in rough water, particualrly if one is sitting still in the water and has no initial momentum at all.
Thought: rather than tipping over deliberately, which I think would be a splendid idea except for the pesky PFD keeping one afloat for a little "prop shave" off the old buttock and spine and noggin, I am wondering now if it'd be best to turn away/point kayak bow away from the oncoming boat. Not at first, at first it is visibility, wave paddle high, etc. But when the inevitable is going to happen, and here he comes barreling down on you with that Merc 225 on the glittery bass boat, maybe it's best to quickly j-stroke and get pointed away from him so that you'd have a narrower profile in the water, less for him to hit, and as someone above posted, more chance to have a glancing blow that'd simply push you and the kayak off to the side. Better maybe that taking a 50 mph bow broadside. Thoughts?
Greyak Has It Correct In the event that you are in danger of getting run over, it is my opinion that Greyak is more right than wrong.
Turn to 90 degrees from the direction of the boat bearing down on you and paddle like hell. This has the best chance of communicating your intensions to the other boat and the best chance of getting out of the way.
Placing your boat between you and the boat bearing down on you thinking that it will afford some protection is just plain silly.
Turning over would be about as much help as berying your head in the sand.
Of course many power boats are many times faster than and could counter act any changes a paddler makes, but the best chance lies with proactively attempting to get out of the way. Someone else correctly pointed out that power boaters want to hit you as much as you want to get hit. Turning to 90 degrees and paddling quickly is your best way of communicating your intensions.
But for all those that think you can get up speed and paddle out of the way, especially when the speedboat is going at you tangentially, i.e. at a vector that wouold be very hard to define when viewed from the front, check out this video... these are the types of yahoos on my lake: http://www.yourdailymedia.com/media/1131799624
paddle along shore. try to be invisible. when the bigass boats are nearly alongside, paddle out fast! it will be too late for them to reduce their wake even if they try. get 100-200 feet off shore, then wait for the biggest wake, maybe the 3rd or 4th one. wait, be patient. when you are just in front of the big one, paddle like hell! and hope to get a really cool ride down the wave face. expect to practice some spontaneous braces and sweeps to stay with the energy, and…enjoy!
Wow! Lots of great posts here! I never really intended this thread to spark such discussion but I guess its probably a good thing that it did. Hopefully other new-boaters can gain some knowledge as I have from this thread.
To Clearify my intentions: I'm not looking for the other boaters to work around ME, and I have no problem with their wake (as someone else said, its fun! Lets me take a break and carries me a bit, as long as I'm traveling in the correct direction). I was more looking for some suggestions on typical water etiquette. I'm a new boater and I dont expect to limit myself to Kayaks - I doubt I'll ever own a big high powered boat but maybe a small motor boat eventually. That being said, the discussion in this thread has been great and is quite valuable.
I do plan on picking up some reflectors for my paddles and maybe some reflective tape. I used it when I mountain biked, so why not when I boat? Typically I will use it to signal to other Kayakers to say hello and make them aware of me, so that I don't sneak up and scare them. The mirror on the PFD is a good idea as well, if not for more than always having a signaling mirror attached to me (one of those "I broke my leg and am stranded in the wilderness" situations come to mind).
As for paddling on Lake George - never! Or at least not yet, or with my typical paddling partner (neither of us are very experienced It would have to be a very early morning for me even to hit the Northwest Bay. I was up there scouting on Saturday and it was quite busy even there. A ton of traffic, which I can get on smaller lakes that I am more familiar with.
I can certainly tell I paddled quite hard on Sunday, since today I am pretty sore (and I know I am learning the correct way to do it, since its mostly my entire core thats sore).
Thanks to all for the suggestions and discussion here. As I said before - it certainly is very informative.
first thing The first thing I always see with other kayakers coming towards me is their moving paddle blades. Keep paddling and you’ll have a better chance of being seen. This (IME) is more important than a yellow/orange/red boat, paddle and PFD but those don’t hurt either.
Paddle predictably to other boaters. If you have to cross a busy area, do it quickly and in the shortest route that you can. When I cross a busy river, I do it at a spot that has good visibility both directions, go quick and straight across rather than diagonal. If you’re in a group, stay together.
Having said all of this, the main “rule of the road” for paddlers is to remember that there’s a good chance you just won’t be seen. Assume that nobody sees you and paddle accordingly. I avoid one great place for paddling between Memorial Day and Labor Day just because there’s too much fast traffic on the weekends when I can get there. Plenty of other places to enjoy, and it’s almost deserted by mid-September.
I guess nobody paddled in Lake Powell in Glen Canyon. I’ve been reading all the articles on how the lake level is down and it’s a great time to explore the Canyons. After a few hours of dealing with motorboat after motorboat racing down the narrow canyons creating waves that would reflect off the canyon walls making it impossible to head into to them, all we wanted to do was get out of the canyon and off the lake. It was chaos in the canyons. Some boats would slow down only to gun the engines slightly past my canoe. If we would have been capsized, there wouldn’t be no where to get out of the water and the water was cold. I was with my wife and two dogs and had our canoe loaded since we were planning on spending a few nights exploring some of the canyons. We couldn’t find any place to get off the water because of the steep cliffs with no landing spots. We spent most of the afternoon hiding in a corner of the canyon in our canoe trying to stay out of the boat wakes. When the traffic finally died down we found a great campsite. Later in the evening a houseboat cranked up it’s generator so we spent the evening listening to it echo in the canyon. This was in early May. We headed back the next day and got wind bound so spent another night in a canyon lisenting to another night’s rendition of houseboat generator serenade. It must be insane in the summer. If you think playing with powerboats is fun, then I’d recommend Lake Powell.
Heavily loaded open boat - in conditions you don't feel you can handle (if you have to head into the wakes - you can't handle them. Same if you have to find a spot to hide out from them) - with cold water - and no landing spots!
I agree that was not the place for you to be.
Glad you came through OK.
Have both of you practiced what to do in a capsize? By actually capsizing? With all that gear and the dogs?
Stuff happens. That would have been a bad place to try things you hadn't already practiced together. With some WW background I'd assume you would - but I've learned not to assume - and it's good stuff for general discussion anyway.
Have done some touring_kayaks, but mostly paddle canoes. Get your skill level up to where you have no difficulty in handling big, rough waves. Once at that level...waves are often one of the most fun aspects to a day's paddling. As far as paddling's "Rules of the Road", there probably are indeed distinct issues, yet the #1 rule I've always found to exist is that you'll meet other boaters who don't give a hoot about others' rights or safety....so, just like in driving, never take for granted that others will make the correct moves out there...always give yourself a way out...
$.01...
Steve