Beware Your Wake
-By Nelson Spencer

“Do unto others as you would want them to….” Well, we’re sure that you know the rest.

This summer’s record flooding across the land is a wake-up call to mind our boating manners as most boaters do. No-wake zones can be permanent or temporary—some to accommodate the lay of the waterway or nearby property, others to facilitate river construction. New zones were established on rivers and lakes due to high water levels.

On lakes, undesirable wakes can create damage to property, boathouses, or lawns. These conditions also make it unpleasant for fishermen in anchored boats or fishing from shore. Anglers can find themselves muttering unprintable words as they watch a joyful boater disappear in the distance, while the wake he left behind causes havoc.

The picture is different on commercially navigable rivers. When river stages are high, limitations are established so that wakes from tows do not damage threatened levees.

Serious debate now rages on the issue of flood zones. Problems are major and widespread. As USA Today wrote, “Erosion vs. leisure put some in Midwest at loggerheads.” Homeowners in some areas petition authorities to establish no-wake zones to prevent boaters from speeding across lakes. In some cases, if rocks do not protect the private-property shoreline, waves erode the property. On the other side, one Minnesota resort owner said if people cannot use their boats, they will not book or will cancel their reservations.

Are we to conclude that a boater has the right to seek pleasure despite problems he may cause during emergency situations on rivers and lakes? We don’t think so. The boat driver who causes damaging wakes may find one day that he is on the receiving end.

Uncontrolled wakes often bother even other boaters. We don’t know if there is a boaters’ code, but there should be. Still, the “Do unto others” line will suffice.

If one thinks uncontrolled wakes represent no problem, we suggest checking Google, where we found 265,000 entries on the subject in less than 20 seconds.
A thoughtless boater is a problem for towboat operators. Individuals have been known to use personal watercraft to jump the wake of towboats. Other boaters have risked life and limb to pass between raked barges in a tow; some didn’t make it, but pictures of their destroyed craft made the papers.

Accident statistics tell us most boating mishaps are caused by human error. Alcohol is a major contributor to human errors that cause boating accidents and fatalities.
It would be best if boaters recognized that high water calls for increased caution to prevent injury to the boaters themselves and to prevent damage to property, shoreline
installations and even other boaters.

If the Golden Rule doesn’t appeal, one might consider that the penalty for violations can be severe. When the Coast Guard or water patrol are keeping an eye out for unsafe behavior on any vessel, they also watch for no-wake-zone violations. At Grand Haven, Mich., for example, the penalty can be a $110 ticket.

“Traveling at no-wake speed is the slowest speed you can travel and still maintain steering,” said one water patrol officer.

In case doubts remain about the seriousness of no-wake violations, let us cite 46 USC 2302(a) [which] states that “[a] person operating a vessel in a negligent manner or interfering with the safe operation of a vessel, so as to endanger the life, limb, or a property of a person is liable for a civil penalty.” As used in 46 USC 2302 (a), negligence is a failure to use that care which a reasonable person would exercise under similar circumstances. It is the operator’s breach of that standard of care that endangers the life, limb, or property of a person and constitutes a violation of the law.

The U.S. Code further explains that one who operates his watercraft in an erratic manner while in a clearly marked “no wake zone” is in clear violation of the statute.