How to spot a bad boat driver......

3727 Views 31 Replies 19 Participants Last post by havasu5150, Jul 21, 2009

2FORCEFULL

Discussion Starter · Jul 20, 2009

So, my wifes drive'n the boat and I say "Watch out for the bad drivers"
she says, "how can you tell who they are??"

I say " they're the ones that you are following and you never see their face!"

she says, " How does that make them bad?"

I say cause those are the one that think that they are driving lunar buggy on the moon
same as at the dunes..

when you drive a boat you must operate in a predictable manner.

if you want to turn left you must look to the left first, make sure its ok to turn. then do so.

not turn left, then look to see what you almost hit, or almost hit you...

so as she keeps driving, she says " I haven't seen a face yet on any of the drivers..

I said "yep, thats why I like lake mead...

it's like driving a lunar buggy on the moon"

See less See more

1 - 20 of 32 Posts

Moneypit

· #2 · Jul 20, 2009

Little fix......

2FORCEFULL said:
So, my wifes drive'n the boat and I say "Watch out for the bad drivers"
she says, "how can you tell who they are??"

I say " they're the ones that you are following and you never see their face!"

she says, " How does that make them bad?"

I say cause those are the one that think that they are driving lunar buggy on the moon
same as at the dunes..

when you drive a boat you must operate in a predictable manner.

if you want to turn left you must look BACK first, make sure its ok to turn. then do so.

not turn left, then look to see what you almost hit, or almost hit you...

so as she keeps driving, she says " I haven't seen a face yet on any of the drivers..

I said "yep, thats why I like lake mead...

it's like driving a lunar buggy on the moon"

Just a little "fix' for you.......Ray

GAZOO

· #3 · Jul 20, 2009

its MY river and if I wanna change direction you better not be in my way:|err:|err.

2FORCEFULL

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jul 20, 2009

Moneypit said:
Just a little "fix' for you.......Ray

thanks

poncho

· #5 · Jul 20, 2009 (Edited)

Shut down twice yesterday when being approached head on by boats towing kids on toys and i couldnt figure their course,better to take a second than deal with an accident.

Old Texan

· #6 · Jul 20, 2009

poncho said:
Shut down twice yesterday when being approached head on by boats towing kids on toys and i couldnt figure their course,better to take a second then deal with an accident.

Same deal here in TX on the river we frequent. River is about 250 yds wide. I have a ski boat coming head on around a mild bend to my left heading south. He just keeps coming wider and wider into my side until I just pull near the bank an shutdown. Outside skier passes less than 20 feet from me. Driver of boat looking back the whole time. 2 skiers out and about 4-5 people in the boat.....At least 1 of them waved at me.:|err

Speed Freak

· #7 · Jul 20, 2009

poncho said:
Shut down twice yesterday when being approached head on by boats towing kids on toys and i couldnt figure their course,better to take a second than deal with an accident.

Those of us that come into a situation like this need to do what you did... Thank you, it could have been a horrible situation if you didn't take that extra second.

poncho

· #8 · Jul 20, 2009

Speed Freak said:
Those of us that come into a situation like this need to do what you did... Thank you, it could have been a horrible situation if you didn't take that extra second.

I live on the lake and these people are likely a neighbor which to me would make it double bad, i didnt recognize either boat so i figured maybe they are new based on both waving and smiling as they passed and dont know the rules of the road yet.

poncho

· #9 · Jul 20, 2009

Old Texan said:
Same deal here in TX on the river we frequent. River is about 250 yds wide. I have a ski boat coming head on around a mild bend to my left heading south. He just keeps coming wider and wider into my side until I just pull near the bank an shutdown. Outside skier passes less than 20 feet from me. Driver of boat looking back the whole time. 2 skiers out and about 4-5 people in the boat.....At least 1 of them waved at me.:|err

Exact same situation.

hkunz

· #10 · Jul 20, 2009

Couldn't we just make this a DCB bashing thread by taking the easy way out, saying "DCB"?

Seriously, it is often hard to tell who's going to do something stupid, including me. Each of us have our own personal POV, and you don't know what's on the other driver's mind. I have a wife and daughter that will "caution" me about a boat half a mile away dead ahead, but are clueless about the immovability of the shoreline 50 feet away. So, not only do I have to watch out for tubes, skiers, land, rocks, and other boats, I also have the distraction of random unneeded comments from inside the boat. I think the "head on a swivel" comment from 2forcefull is a good indicator....

poncho

· #11 · Jul 20, 2009

hkunz said:
Couldn't we just make this a DCB bashing thread by taking the easy way out, saying "DCB"?

Seriously, it is often hard to tell who's going to do something stupid, including me. Each of us have our own personal POV, and you don't know what's on the other driver's mind. I have a wife and daughter that will "caution" me about a boat half a mile away dead ahead, but are clueless about the immovability of the shoreline 50 feet away. So, not only do I have to watch out for tubes, skiers, land, rocks, and other boats, I also have the distraction of random unneeded comments from inside the boat. I think the "head on a swivel" comment from 2forcefull is a good indicator....

My girl will do the same thing and i instantly think i need to respond when in fact it was a unnecessary freak out, ten times worse in the truck i am trying to figure a fast response to something that isn't there, god that pisses me off.

500BBC

· #12 · Jul 20, 2009

I was trying to teach a friend of mine to drive a boat and one of the first things I told him was to NEVER follow another boat in their wake. They can't see you and if they shut down you don't have have brakes to stop.

We take a test cruise and the first thing he does is get behind another boat for the smooth water in their wake and before I can open my mouth we pass a stopped boat with a chick wearing a thong on the hatch cover on her knees.
Boat in front of us lifts and where do you think the dumbass has his eyes glued.:|err:|err

st

throttle

· #13 · Jul 20, 2009

you should also tell Sue that drivers with numerous boats sometimes forget which boat they are driving and they may react differently in conditions and surroundings...

throttle

· #14 · Jul 20, 2009

I am suprised,

kilr has not made mention of green shockwave deck... yet

PaPaG

· #15 · Jul 20, 2009

2FORCEFULL said:
So, my wifes drive'n the boat and I say "Watch out for the bad drivers"
she says, "how can you tell who they are??"

I say " they're the ones that you are following and you never see their face!"

she says, " How does that make them bad?"

I say cause those are the one that think that they are driving lunar buggy on the moon
same as at the dunes..

when you drive a boat you must operate in a predictable manner.

if you want to turn left you must look to the left first, make sure its ok to turn. then do so.

not turn left, then look to see what you almost hit, or almost hit you...

so as she keeps driving, she says " I haven't seen a face yet on any of the drivers..

I said "yep, thats why I like lake mead...

it's like driving a lunar buggy on the moon"

Yep we had that problem yesterday.....had to keep my head on a swivel cuz I could not believe there were no other boats around us all day...

ChiliPepperGarage

· #16 · Jul 20, 2009

Steve needs to change his name to The Guru!

One of my first trips on Mead was in October and to be honest, I was a little bored. After coming from the coast and doing a lot of ocean boating, it felt like I was driving across a parking lot! Flat and no one on the water. Now I find it very peaceful.

See less See more

3

shueman

· #17 · Jul 20, 2009

500BBC said:
...Boat in front of us lifts...

I've always "raised my hand" whenever I am going to slow down...not sure where it came from...

bulb Better than getting run up on from behind...

LHC Kirby

· #18 · Jul 20, 2009

Old Texan said:
Driver of boat looking back the whole time. :|err

That is why they have mirrors....to avoid that...

poncho said:
Shut down twice yesterday when being approached head on by boats towing kids on toys and i couldnt figure their course,better to take a second than deal with an accident.

Instead of just shutting down - in case it is the same driver as the top quote (looking back) ... I go out of the way (on the lake there is room) to make a major change of direction (after looking back, left, right and forward) and I get the heck out of the way!

PolarBear

· #19 · Jul 20, 2009

shueman said:
I've always "raised my hand" whenever I am going to slow down...not sure where it came from...bulb Better than getting run up on from behind...

X2

I'll actually raise my hand to aknowledge other boat operators that I see them for many different situations, such as, if they have a skier down or are passing me.

poncho

· #20 · Jul 20, 2009

In both cases the driver saw me and i took the high road and showed my off plane and hold position intentions, allowing them to pass where they wanted. Both boats passed on the wrong side of a narrow channel should i have kept going and hoped we both made the right last minute decision, i don't feel so.

1 - 20 of 32 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.