No Wake Zone

T

tom&shan

New member
So - on average - how slow do you have to go to be in compliance with the No Wake Zone areas?
We are always going through these areas around La Conner, etc., and I never see any bouncing on our wake the way we do when other boats come roaring past us.


Cheers,
Tom
 
Florida has several "no wake" zones--one is "Idle speed, no wake means a vessel must proceed at a speed no greater than required to maintain steerageway and headway. At no time is any vessel required to proceed so slowly the operator is unable to maintain control over the vessel"

The other is "Slow Down - Minimum Wake" must operate fully off plane and completely settled in water. The vessel’s wake must not be excessive nor create a hazard to other vessels. Generally this is accepted to be 5 knots.

In most areas, if you are going 5 knots and no wake which will disturbe vessels, this is acceptable--but law enforcement has the final say--and it can be subjective.
 
I have a serious grumble about that....... the damm Coast Guard yells at me when I am doing 4.4 .....not even 5 mph..... and at the same time some commercial scow plows by me doing 10 plus and they don't even bat an eye... I usually just act deaf and slow down ..... but not happy about it..

Joel
SEA3PO
 
It varies by boat; when we were traveling with Discovery this past winter, we found that the CD-25 tosses more wake at 5 knots than the TomCat. After running at 15-20, pulling back to a no wake speed can feel like you're hardly moving.

Look behind your boat... if you are making wake, then you need to slow down... sometimes that's around 3.5 knots for us, depending on how heavily we're loaded.

Going past Antelope Marina at Lake Powell, we got hollered at for making wake and we were doing just under 4 knots. I looked behind us, and - sure thing - wake. I slowed down.

Keep in mind that many of the "No Wake" signs you see are posted by property owners and are not the law. However, you are responsible for any damage caused by your wake, regardless of the speed.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
most of the no wake zones around here have a 5 mph speed limit. The bottom line, you are responsible for any damage your wake makes..
20 mph is good as it leaves people less time to yell at you, a good rule of thumb is that if folks are yelling at you, and you notice them, you're going to slow :)
 
All kidding aside, back when I still had he little 12 ft Gregor aluminum boat with a 15 hp Johnson on it, I could run 20 mph with virtually no wake as the light boat slipped accross the top of the water on full plane.

Slowing down to 10 mph, the speed limit on one lake I used to fish on in the Bay Area, the boat was making the biggest wave it could at any speed!.

Irony in the rule of laws!

Joe.
 
I have some ambivalence about no-wake zones. While I'm a firm believer that the more courtesy one can show, the better, but sometimes, no-wake zones don't seem to make sense. An extreme example is someone that thoughtlessly ties up his boat unfendered to a pile of rip-rap in the back of his cottage, then hollers at anyone that goes by faster than a gnat can swim. The idea that I'm totally responsible for damage my wake causes in such circumstances doesn't seem right.
 
On the very first outing in the summer of 2004, when my boat was new, I was pulled over by the New Rochelle Harbor Master for speeding in a no wake zone marked at 4mph. I was given a summons with a $200 mail in fine if you plead guilty. I knew he was wrong. Fortunately I had my Garmin chartplotter on. After downloading the GPS track to the Mapsource software on my computer I found that each of the "breadcrumb" points had GPS data including time, date, speed and direction. There was no data more than 4mph on the day, location, and time noted on the summons. I plead not guilty and in court the case was dismissed. Always keep you chartplotter on and know how to download its data.
 
Pete your my new hero !!!!! What a first class thing to do....I am impressed... guess I now need to learn how to do all that fancy stuff on my chartplotter..... someday they are going to give me a ticket for doing 4.4 in a 5 mph zone.... seems like they always yell at me... and as far as I can see I am not putting out a very large wake....must be that I just look fast...

Thanks.... I am proud of you !

Joel
SEA3PO
 
Pete in NY said:
I knew he was wrong. Fortunately I had my Garmin chartplotter on. After downloading the GPS track to the Mapsource software on my computer I found that each of the "breadcrumb" points had GPS data including time, date, speed and direction. There was no data more than 4mph on the day, location, and time noted on the summons. I plead not guilty and in court the case was dismissed. Always keep you chartplotter on and know how to download its data.
Click to expand...

COOL, now I just need a couple spare chart plotters, one for the Outback, and one for the Pickup. :wink I have got to learn more about how to utilize all the aqutrements. Some times the cruise control sneaks up a bit.
Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
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