Overnight Beaching

We do a lot of camping to prolong our boating experience each weekend. A lot of the 'premium' camp sites at the campground we use back right up to coves. A couple of them are protected by no wake zones, others not. But either way, the banks are all small chipped rocks. Not smooth sand or smooth rocks.

I could understand beaching a pontoon, and with enough lines, leaving it for a night. But a 'glass hulled boat? I don't think so. Sure, some people bring carpets that they put the bow on, but even then, in the areas not protected by no wake zones, the boat gets beat up pretty good against the shore.

Reason I bring it up, is behind our camp site this weekend three boats were tied up to the shore in a non protected wake zone. Two pontoons, with a small bowrider in the middle. Well, at dusk a few wakeboard boats decide that the area behind this cove would be a nice spot to 'board. Wake after wake crashed these boats into the shore enough to break lose the pontoon and made it drift side ways, and the bowrider broke loose just enough to sit right next to the front of the first 'toon on the pontoon. You can imagine what the side of the bowrider looked like after the wakeboarding session was done, the boat had slammed into this 'toon time and time again.

All of this damage could have been prevented with just a few extra minutes put towards pulling the boat out of the water and throwing it on your trailer, and parking it safely in your camp spot.

Do any of you leave your smaller boats beached overnight? I wouldn't be able to sleep well at just the thought of it.

Wake zone, no wake zone it doesn't matter, if your wake causes damage you are responsible.

Henry

I'm with you Geurk. I'd spend the little bit of extra time to pull it out, otherwise I wouldn't be sleeping anyway.

Wouldn't think of it with my current boat. But when I was a kid, the people we camped with that had boats would leave theirs in the water. The big difference is that they didn't beach them. They would drop the hook off the bow, and when it was set they tied the stern off to a land achor. Never had a boat get away or damaged.

I cannot imagine beaching a boat for any reason; even if you feel it is secure. Our previous Sea Ray was beached by the former owner and the bottom of boat was a sad example of what happens to the gelcoat.

Geurk,

Agreed. In general, you will not be able to count on others to moor their boats properly. So, I would either put the boat back on the trailer after hours or pick a campsite in the no wake zone. I would also moor the boat away from shore using bow and stern anchors if you can overnight in the no wake zone. If there are any pontoon boats in the neighborhood, I would put the boat on the trailer no questions asked.

I will beach mine on sand due to having a keel guard but in if its rocky I drop anchor and back down as close as I can and tie too two stakes out to a 45 degree from the stern. If there are allot of waves I drop my box anchor at a 45 from the bow for extra hold.:smt024

No one around here does that. Beach the boat and 6 hours later it's either high and dry or floating away. Funny thing, tides.

Best regards,
Frank

There is a bay on the northside of Kelley's Island in the western basin of Lake Erie that has a real nice state campground we stay at. We do not beach them there but during the day we will anchor off the bow into the wind and also off stern. We do not do it overnight because of the wind shifts from the north or north east, your boat is on the rocks. We have pushed many inexperienced boat owner's boats off during these wind switches. I put mine on the trailer each night. I feel safer with it sitting in my campsite.

Henry Boyd said:

Wake zone, no wake zone it doesn't matter, if your wake causes damage you are responsible.

Henry

Click to expand...

I posted the above and received 10 negative comments. I am curious to understand the thinking. (I'm guessing this post will blast me back to newbie status - so be it)

Lets review the original post:

a) Three boats anchored in a cove off a camping ground,
b) later wakeboard boats arrive and begin to 'board' - Let's all remember that wakeboard boats are designed to create to the maximum wake possible. Wakeboard boat owners know this and buy boats that provide maximum effect.

As I see it the wakeboard boats doing their thing in the vicinity of anchored boats is at best irresponsible, and quite possibly negligent. The whole intentional disregard for other people's property and safety thing comes to mind as a starting point.

The anchored boat owners have a reasonable expectation that somebody will not intentionally damage their boats. Sorry no matter how you cut it, making wakes for wakeboarding is not the same as wakes created by boats passing by making a passage and is indeed an intentional act

So I'd like to hear the point of view that thinks it is ok to wake board around anchored boats, as well as the point of view that seems to blame the victim for being so silly as to anchor their boat.

Henry Boyd

I didn't give you negative comments, not even sure what you're talking about, but its hard to judge the happenings without being there. First, the damaged boats were beached (tied up to shore), not anchored (tied up to not-the-shore). Then they were left unattended in an area where wakes are allowed. Is this scenario like somebody building a house near an airport then complaining about noise once they live there? If they beached and abandoned their boats in an area known for wake boarding and wakes then shouldn't the owners of the damaged boats be responsible? What if wind blown waves would have done the damage? I'm not saying who is right or who is wrong. I guess all I'm saying is if I am a complete moron and beach my boat in an area known for wakes, then leave the boat overnight I can only expect to find some damage to the boat in the morning. I would be blaming myself for leaving the boat that way and not the people enjoying the water in an area designated at such.

Altho I did not leave you any neg speks... I think the original intent of the post (as I understood it) was the idea of leaving your boat beached overnight, not 'waking' and who was responsible. But change of winds, storms coming in, etc are all troubles just waiting to happen. The wake boat was just what Guerk witnessed.

And to add I would never leave my boat anchored overnight and unattended. As to wake boarders in our area normally a simple discussion :smt021 with them or a quick call to the ranger will solve that problem, if it is abusive behavior. :thumbsup:

Jim,


First forget the brownie points, I'm already on record as stating it is a flawed metric.

The intelligence level of the people who left their boats is irrelavant, clearly not very high, but still irrelavent. As is leaving the boats in a known (how do we know they knew?) wakeboard haunt. Why? Because anyone with a brain slightly larger than a pea is going to know that wakeboarding around these boats will cause damage. Seeing the beached boats, a responsible wakeboarder should have moved on.

Somehow I would not typify boats tied up to the shore at a known campsite as abandoned.

This is not the same as wakes created by boats passing by. These were wakes created for the sake of making the biggest wake possible.

We forget that the fundemental rule of seamenship is the General Prudential Rule that throws the stupidty of the other guy out the window. It does say that if an accident happens and you could of prevented it, you are at fault. The wakeboarders stuck around and damaged the beached boats with their wakes. Apparantly quite spectacularly according to Mr. Guerk's post (why didn't they stop when they saw the damage they were causing?).

My curiosity was peaked when my statement that simply pointed out that damage caused by a wake was the responsibility of the wake creator was received negativly. I want to understand why is it the sentiment of 'they got what they deserved' is acceptable. As well as condoning unsafe behaviour being acceptable. Somebody enlighten me.

Jim you have made the statement that CSR is a family site. It strikes me that promoting boating safety should be at the top of the list for a family boating site.

Henry

You're assuming these wakeboarders all had tournament level boats with bladders and other wake making tricks. I know when we wakeboard its off the back of a regular boat. Might as well assume the wakeboarders were all hung over or still drinking from the night before. Assumptions could go on forever. My point is we have no idea what the "scene" actually looked like so don't be so quick to point the finger at the wake boarders. If the boats on the beach were not abandoned (again, you are assuming tents are right by the boats) then they would not have been damaged. Could there have been even bigger wind blown waves than what the wakeboards made, could larger wakes have been coming in from farther out in the lake? Should everybody on this lake just slow down all the time in case these people ever want to come back and tie up to the beach another time, even though it is not an area designated for such as no-wake zones are provided for this. Its pointless to even discuss this because we don't know what the scene looked like.

"Jim you have made the statement that CSR is a family site. It strikes me that promoting boating safety should be at the top of the list for a family boating site."

I wouldn't disagree with the general statement but put in context I think I would call this "dirty pool".

We used to camp and leave the boat in overnight. I had one of the "Anchor Buddy" lines that stretched and allowed you to drop your anchor out away from the shore. I had it rigged with a buoy and long line that I would go ahead and attached to the shore. When I would come in I would pull up and tie up the boat next the buoy and line and then pull myself toward the shore. That would stretch the Anchor Buddy and after we unloaded I would let the Anchor Buddy pull the boat out to the deeper water. When I wanted to use the boat I would grab the line and pull the boat back to shore. It worked great and even some of the worst storms I've seen did not give it a problem.

Henry,

I am not the source of your negative comments either.

As I stated before Geurk is on the right track as only the boat owner can take respsoniblity for mooring or trailering his boat in the correct fashion. Based on Geurk's description, I would agree that wakeboard boats caused the other three boats to break loose. However, these boats were not moored properly and apparently the owners were not overly concerned with their methods. Otherwise, they would have been anchored properly. This is precisely why I would not moor my boat overnight near others who casually beach their boats. I do, however, wish that wakeboarders would take a hard look at their surroundings and consider the potential damgage they can cause, but this would be the exception rather than the rule. The only way to point this out to them is to 1) call DNR or equivalent or 2) flag them down and ask them to go elsewhere. Both of these points were made by Loren.

The bottom line is that you have to be comfortable with your surroundings in order to leave your boat moored overnight.

Henry Boyd said:

Jim,


First forget the brownie points, I'm already on record as stating it is a flawed metric.

The intelligence level of the people who left their boats is irrelavant, clearly not very high, but still irrelavent. As is leaving the boats in a known (how do we know they knew?) wakeboard haunt. Why? Because anyone with a brain slightly larger than a pea is going to know that wakeboarding around these boats will cause damage. Seeing the beached boats, a responsible wakeboarder should have moved on.

Somehow I would not typify boats tied up to the shore at a known campsite as abandoned.

This is not the same as wakes created by boats passing by. These were wakes created for the sake of making the biggest wake possible.

We forget that the fundemental rule of seamenship is the General Prudential Rule that throws the stupidty of the other guy out the window. It does say that if an accident happens and you could of prevented it, you are at fault. The wakeboarders stuck around and damaged the beached boats with their wakes. Apparantly quite spectacularly according to Mr. Guerk's post (why didn't they stop when they saw the damage they were causing?).

My curiosity was peaked when my statement that simply pointed out that damage caused by a wake was the responsibility of the wake creator was received negativly. I want to understand why is it the sentiment of 'they got what they deserved' is acceptable. As well as condoning unsafe behaviour being acceptable. Somebody enlighten me.

Jim you have made the statement that CSR is a family site. It strikes me that promoting boating safety should be at the top of the list for a family boating site.

Henry

Click to expand...

Henry- Boaters may be responsible for damage caused by their wake, BUT other boaters must do all that is reasonably prudent to protect their boats. Else, why would we have fenders? Haphazardly leaving a boat on a beach, at a dock, or anywhere improperly moored does not mean that EVERYONE else in the area has to make adjustments to their boating in order to protect the moron. The only one "unsafe" in the above scenario is the guy who left his boat willy nilly on the beach and took off.

M

First, I apologize for the length on this one. I just kept going with it. So far, I agree with everyone on all of their posts. That was kind of where I was going at with the full description of the story. Every part of it lead me to the belief that I was doing the right thing and taking my boat out of the water each night. I know *I* can anchor my boat out in a cove and know it will be perfectly safe, *if* there is no one else thinking of doing the same thing.

* The wakeboarding boats, one being tournament mastercraft, the other a regular bowrider, should have gone elsewhere if they noticed boats beached and possibly doing damage to them. To me, as a bystander, it was obvious they were doing damage. They rocked against eachother violently, and the 'boarding boats were coming close enough to see this. Which to me was just inconsiderate. A point why I wouldn't beach or anchor my boat.

* Another point I made, was even in the no-wake coves, the shores are rock. No-wake zones are only as good as how well they are enforced. No matter what, you get morons not following the rules. Bottom line, stuff happens, and you will get your boat rocked around. Another point on why I wouldn't beach my boat. Anchor my boat, possibly, while I was awake. While sleeping, no. Too many variables.

* Bottom line, there are other people beaching and anchoring their boats. Your boat is only as safe as how capable all of the other captains are. Unfortunately, and I'm guessing here, almost all of us deal with a great diversity of people on the water. Only a handful of them am I trusting to moor next too.

Also, before I possibly lose points for just being a bystander and not doing anything about it, I did try. While I was not willing to get involved physically due to liability sake, I did go through two full loops in the campground asking campers if they owned any of the 3 boats. We didn't find them at first, but later while we were sitting next to our campfire some teens walked by our site and I asked them. The boats were theirs. They took a peak, found the damage, and went and got the adults with their party. They were appreciative that we tried to find them, and that we told the teens about the problem so they could fix it for the night. I walked down to the boats with them to help. They still left the boats in the water, but did a better job on securing their lines. We ended up talking to them for some time afterwards at our campsite.

Boating, an amazing way to get to know people.