wrong
Yo Gulfcoaster,
Should have told her where he was.
How does not telling someone where the stranded boater was make you better than the other jerk? Seems that there were two jerks (imo) on the water that day.
bill
opposite problem
How do I get close enough to bigger boats to get better wake surfing without them getting pissed or worse yet steering away in avoidance?
I guess he decided to be
the “smaller” person that day . . . .
That is pretty unbelievable. A guy acts like a jerk, buzzing him on his jet ski, and that’s worth hoping the guy drowns?
Real stand up guy, he is. I sure wouldn’t want to be on one of his tours and piss him off. Might get left to the gators . . . .
Find a high traffic area
with plenty of big boats and then wait for an oppurtunity to sprint out behind a big ass boat being careful to stay clear of other traffic.
If you are coming at a something like a right angle to the boat chances are the captain will figure out that you want the wave or to pass behind him. I try not to approach the boat from anywhere near the front quater. I think most boaters wont have a problem with you approaching from an angle that is clearly not a collision course.
Boat wakes move relatively slow. You have plenty of time to get close enough to catch a big wake without pissing off the captain as long as you stay out of his way.
I like to stay 50-60 yards off the boats heading at first and give him plenty of room. Then at the last minute sprint like crazy to get as close to the wake as possible before turning around and sprinting onto the wave.
At least that is what I do when I am desperate for surf.
tend your own boat
There is an ancient Zen proverb maybe called TEND YOUR OWN BOAT. It goes something like:
If a man sees another craft near him, he may signal it to move out of his path. He may hail it to be certain it does not him. And if it eventually does hit him, he will become quite angry and call the offender many bad names.
But if the boat were empty and the man, even if he is bad tempered and should run into it, would not feel so angry. And why? All because there is someone in the other boat. So he has someone to blame besides himself. So, the moral is to tend to your own boat and do not expect others to do as you wish.
Your life aboard will be much less frustrating. Consider these intrusions as any other obstacle and simply take the actions required to survive and enjoy your day.
That said, illegal and deliberate misoperation with carelessness or intent to endanger you should be reported to authorities.
You must have paddled away
humming “Macho, Macho Man”.
To the defense of gulfcoaster
If the girl was a victim of abuse, and I knew that when the tide came back in the jerk would be able to float off, I would have done the same damned thing...let him stew out there knowing that the canoer was able to blithely continue enjoying himself while he was cooling his heels. who knows? Maybe he had an opportunity to catch up on his regretting?
Paul
(I would have tried to find some chum to throw in his direction though)
Paul
no evidence
No evidence of abuse was given. And furthermore, he left the woman alone to worry about her companion. With more info she would know what action to take. leave, stay, call authorities, have a going away party.
How does he know that the bozo didn’t have the the car keys?
Now the bozo has even more irrational reasons to harrass kayakers with his jet ski. People like that don’t learn lessons. It’s never thier actions that are at fault. Everything bad that happens to them is someone elses fault. His revenge will be on the next kayaker he comes across.
Enough bad karma to go around from both participants in this event.
Macho, macho man.
Hi Paul
Sometimes I tend to be a doubting Thomas, and in Gulfcoaster’s story I tend to doubt that the guy zoomed by him at “six feet”. It was probably more like 6’-6" !
At any rate, that makes me doubt the rest of his story, unless he did or said something to get the guy PO’d to start with.
Cheers,
JackL
Hey, I wasn’t the only paddler he was
harassing that day. Maybe he thought of us as speed bumps. All I know is I've never again seen him on that river (or anywhere else for that matter) again. Good riddence, I say. The punk obviously cared nothing of the safety of anyone.
Did I mention I yelled at him for going through an area where children were swimming? In my book this clown has no redeemable qualities.
If the jerk stayed put where he left himself (I didn't tell him to follow me.) then when the tide came in he could've floated his vessel to a mangrove, broke off a stout branch and at least maneuvered out to SCC where some passing powerboat could give him a tow IF he remembered the way out of where he broke down. All he would need to do is watch what direction the water was flowing from and follow it...IF he has the reasoning capacity.
yeah two options
One: YOu could fire a warning shot through their head or
Two: Most dont understand, so a little education goes a LONG way.
If your are able to talk to them ask them this…
“what would you do if a boat went by at 250 mph and created a 15 ft wake?”
most likely the guy will look at you and go…
“Huh! What does that have to do with anything? I wasnt going that fast and my wake wasnt that big you idiot kayaker”
You then explain to him how the tops of his gunnels on his motor boat are about 4 times the height of you kayak…and your 30mph speed is 8 times fast than your kayak speed…so say to him by comparing a wake caused by a boat 4 times his gunnel height etc… and 8 times faster than he can go…that in comparison would be like a 15 foot wake at well over 200 mph…maybe he will begin to understand.
If not…a good ole flare into his windshield always makes them slow down.
nm
Two bad options!!!
Jeez, just learn to handle wakes! They’re a NORMAL part of paddling in many areas. If they are problematic for you - you probably don’t belong there.
Nothing beats someone expecting a wake to have some effect on you - and then you either paddle on as if it has no impact (usually shouldn’t), or even less satisfying for them - you enjoy it (usually should)! If this doesn’t describe your reaction to wakes - why not? Why should it be up to anyone else to change this for you?
This wake whiner paddler stuff is like listening to a lazy and uncoordinated “hiker” complain about every little incline and exposed root.
I have another option
paddle only where power boats are not allowed.
“Stuff” can happen anytime but I do not paddle where I do not feel comfortable.
I do not have skills to handle big surf and/or whitewater so I stick to “friendlier environments”.
I agree with Greyak, if you can’t handle it… you are in the wrong place.
Take a picture
I was paddling on the Silver River (no wake zone) and a moron went flying by me, I don’t mind the wake but the erosion is why it is no wake. I took his picture with his boat numbers visible and showing his boat on a plane. When I got back to the put-in the game wardens were there and I showed them the picture on the camera and they arrested the driver.
I hope you’re exaggerating your story
Whether the guy pissed you off or not, the young woman didn’t. She was concerned for her S.O. You had information that could have helped her and didn’t provide it. If something befell that guy for lack of assistance, it would have been on your head certainly by moral standards if not legal. If the story truly happened as you described and was not a troll or an exaggeration, then you surely made an immoral, petty choice by not telling the young woman looking for him the information you had.
Perhaps abuse
Or perhaps she got the black eye trying new tricks on HER jetski that her bum of an ex-boyfriend stole and she just wanted to get it back. As long as we’re making up stories to fit the facts, lets get crazy and make up a bunch…
I hang out…
On the wake-side of a “no-wake” zones. On busy weekends, there is a nice long line where you can choose the bigger boats to play with.
Sometimes, if the captain is paying attention before they get to the wake zone, they’ll know what you’re trying to do and throw you a bigger wake than normal.
I think…
A Giant Squid hopped up onto land, smacked her in the face with a tentacle and gave a hearty, “Yeah bitch, what’s up?” and then went back in the water feeling better about itself.
apologies
I have known some abused women and I let my emotions talk for me.
Paul