Trawling the ICW, day 4
"NO WAKE!"You see these signs all over the place on the ICW. When a boater sees one of these signs, he is supposed to slow down so the waves from his boat do not damage docks or other boats. At least, that is the theory. What actually happens is that some times you slow down, and some times you don't. Sailboats don't generally generate much wake, so it is not usually an issue. Power boats, however, do generate wake; some more than others. In general, the faster and bigger your boat is, the more wake you are capable of generating, and the more damage you are capable of causing.
Some of the NO WAKE signs look more official than others. When you see a large NO WAKE sign hammered into the side of the channel as you approach a town, then you usually pay attention. Similarly, if you see a NO WAKE sign in front of a bridge or on-the-water construction area, you usually slow down. If you generate wake in a NO WAKE zone adjacent to a marina, you will often get a nasty call on the vhf from someone in the marina. But what about the case of a NO WAKE sign hammered into the side of someone's private dock? Consider an extreme example. Let's say there is some ship channel, and someone buys a waterfront lot and posts a nice big NO WAKE sign. Do the ships have to slow down?
This topic came up in a bar/restaurant where Frank and I were having dinner. One gentleman was of the opinion that a NO WAKE sign was only backed up by the law if the name of the governing body was printed on the sign, such as "Corps Of Engineers", or "City Of NoWakeville". Everyone was of the opinion that, sign or no sign, if your wake causes damage, you can be sued in court for damages. Of course, that gets messy, since you must have documented proof of not only the damage, but also the boat that caused the damage. The boat owner can simply say "Prove the damage was not caused by someone else".
A trawler like Frank's boat does not generate a lot of wake on a scale of 1 to 10. Still, I have seen home owners come running down their docks and yelling at us to slow down and obey their NO WAKE sign, which probably cost them $2.59 at the local West Marine store, plus the price of a couple nails. What would be really interesting is if someone put a sign on the dock on the other side of the waterway that said MAKE WAKE. No matter what you did, you would be in violation of someone's local law. I just hope no one puts up a NO BREATHING sign on their dock
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