What would you do...

C

chandalen

New Member
Aug 7, 2011
367
Alexandra Bay,NY
Boat Info
'83 Sundancer 270, Humminbird 593c
Engines
Twin merc 305, with new SEI 106 drives
Went to Picton Island and anchored.. its a fairly popular swimming / family / party area.

Mid afternoon the college kids roll in with their 'my xxx is small so I'm compensating (loudly) boat' as well as the required 4 jet ski's. The JetSki's of course HAVE to show EVERYONE that they can't stay still for more than 2 min, and yes, they can hot dog in a crowded cove with kids in the water.

After about 5 min of doing 360's and spraying everyone with the wakes, it happens... one of the JetSki's does a 360 into the side of someones boat at anchor (not in their group of friends). The boater and jetski'er have a conversation.. which results in all the college kids leaving... (bye bye eye candy and dirty looks from the admiral)

SO... what is proper protocall for such a situation? I would be inclined to take the hull numbers and call the coast gaurd or po-po. The only damage that I could see was a nice set of scratches and scuffs on the anchored boats side. Would I be taking it a bit far?
 
Look at it this way:

What would you do if it was your car?

Personally, I would also involve the authorities. Based on your description, their actions sound as if they were endangering others, plus they caused some amount of property damage.
 
I'd report it. What if next time its someone's child they run into.
 
All boaters (jet skiers included) are responsible for the wake they leave and the damage (or nuisance) it causes. They also need to be at least 100' away (granted, this isn't very far on the water) from another boat while on plane. So, let alone actually running into a boat, they were already in violation for their wakes.

I think a warning is appropriate - but after that, if they continue to act like jack... call it in or take a video. Make it VERY obvious that you will be taking a video - that'll probably scare them off.
 
I would have taken their registration numbers and called the Coast Guard.

A lot of jet skiers have no respect for others on the water.
 
Out are in cow country the lake fleas have to stay 1000ft from shore when riding them. :smt038

Going from shore/dock out onto the lake is idle speed only.

I would of reported it. :thumbsup:
 
I would say report it. That's what I would want if someone whacked my boat being stupid, and someone saw it happen. Boating is expensive and I take care/pride in mine. Just because you (generic you... not YOU) feel like show boating and acting like an idiot, doesnt mean you get to damage my property or possibly injuring someone on board.
 
And what would have happened if you would have hit his jet ski and scratched it up ? Its an insurance claim and you need a police report. nothing you can do about the eye candy .
 
^^^ checking the latest posts, and saw potato gun...... Had to say "fantastic idea"! lol
 
I'd report it....their bad. Let the Police deal with them. Would a shout out on the VHF be warranted to CG?..., Mike.
 
Policing jet skiis isn't the job of the USCG. If you want to involve the authorities, then it needs to be either the state or local police with enforcement powers on the water. The problem is, they have to see the negligent operation in order to cite someone. Otherwise, all they can do is warn. The real problem you have is how close to your location is the nearest on duty water cop? He probably won't come for a wake call, but if you were reporting the accident, then he would.

All this boils down to protecting yourself as best you can. I keep 2 1/4" 100ft polyethelene lines on my boat and when we anchor out and are besieged by PWC's, I let them out and secure them from the bow and stern. The PWC is done for the afternoon if he runs over the floating line and sucks it up in the pump. Forget the spud gun.......they can be dangerous and you could have some serious liability if you nail someone with one. I bought a pain ball gun and nailed a Pirate excursion boat when he insisted on firing a 10ga cannon at me while we were anchored. ........he had a time getting all the yellow paint blobs off his red hull and called the Marine patrol. They thanked me for getting the cannon shooter to back off (he doesn't come within paint ball range of anyone now), but they also took my paint ball gun away.



Here is a side story......I saw my first spud gun about 20 years ago. It was so cool, made out of PVC sewer pipe, fired with AquaNet hair spray, but was kind of crude. Well, not to be out done, I hunted up some 8" aluminum tubing and machined/welded up a spud gun with air tight fittings and put a butane port in the firing chamber. I loaded her up with butane and a potato and opened my shop door and let one go over the parking lot. A city police car was making a pass up the street and just pulled in, got out, and took my great new invention. He complimented me on the ingenuity of the butane port and the trigger, said "I've got to show this to my sergeant and the chief", and got back in his car. I stopped him and asked when can I get my potato gun back to which he replied "Never" and drove off. Today, my beautiful creation is at the police station hanging on a board along with several zip guns, other spud guns, bottle rocket launchers, etc. at the local police station under a sign that says "Seized Illegal Weapons".
 
just me said:
And what would have happened if you would have hit his jet ski and scratched it up ? Its an insurance claim and you need a police report. nothing you can do about the eye candy .
Click to expand...

Except, of course, to offer them the opportunity to graduate from handing around "dudes with jet skis" to sipping cocktails with the Captain on the back of a fine Sea Ray.
 
ya sadly not much you can do except protect yourself. I have a buddy who actually keeps a fishing pole in his gunnel with nothing but a weight on it. soon as the jet ski's start their nonsense he'll start casting towards them....we turn in it into a game to see how far we can cast, funny how they keep away when the threat of catching a hook is involved.

another fun game is use those silly tube squirt guns...spray them a few times with that....then when they think it's just a game suck up some ice cold cooler water....they'll think you hit them with boiling hot water!:lol:
 
Like Frank, I saw my first spud gun about 20 years ago and since then I've made a couple dozen of them. They're pretty simple to put together and I also use AquaNet for the propellant.

Here's what they look like before assembly.....
P3190709.JPG


and the business end after assembly....
P3190711.JPG


and the finished product with its plunger....
P3190716.JPG


Here's the ignitor. It's just a gas grill ignitor inserted through a 5/8" hole in the end of a PVC cap....
P3190708.JPG


I fill the inside of the square part of the cap (around the ignitor base) with silicone bath caulk so there's no "blow by" of the flame around the base of the ignitor. Don't ask me how I learned to do that.


With the right shot of AquaNet they will launch a spud over a hundred yards.
 
The jet ski guys love to buzz around crowded coves and upset everybody. I have had my share of negative jet ski encounters. My favorite was when I was fishing on my little boat on the upper potomac and a pair of jet ski's started circling around my general area. I warned them to back off and there were rocks just below the surface. The one responded f u took off wide open and as he was looking back flipping me off he hit a rock and was ejected off his ride. He seemed ok but he messed up his jetski pretty good.

Your behaviour will catch up with you eventually when you act like a jackass.
 
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