Trawling the ICW, day 4
If you listen to the vhf radio on the ICW, a good deal of what you hearwill be "wake related"; a big boat goes by and makes waves that rock the smaller boat. I learned there is a protocol for a power boat overtaking another vessel. Sometimes this protocol is followed, and other times it is completely ignored. Here is the way it works in the "best case" senerio. The fast boat calls the slower boat on the vhf radio, and asks permission to pass on the slower boat's port side. The slower boat slows down even more. This makes it possible for the faster boat to pass by at a slower speed, thus generating less wake. Often, the "best case" senerio does not happen. In an automobile, you might use your horn to voice your displeasure. On the ICW, the vhf radio is sometimes used in place of the horn. I heard one entertaining radio conversation that went something like this:SAILBOAT: "Hey, thanks for the wake!"
POWERBOAT: "For your information, you were right in the middle of the channel. I had to go around you in VERY shallow water!"
SAILBOAT: "Looked like you had plenty room to me!"
POWERBOAT: "I've never met a sailboater yet who wasn't ALWAYS right!"
Usually, though, you just bounce around in the wake and mumble colorful explitives in the privacy of your boat. Typically there is no harm done, though we rolled enough in one boat's wake to throw a dish off the galley counter top, smashing it on the floor. In general, sailboat weenies are much more paranoid about putting away stuff inside the boat before leaving the dock or anchorage. After all, sailboats are supposed to lean over (assuming you opt to "go traditional" and put the sails up). On a power boat, you tend to much more casual about whether or not to stow something that may fall down during the day's trip. The power boat weenies view angle of heel as the "exception", where as sailors view it more as the natural order of things. Just a little different mentality.
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