Pacific Harbour Canal - 6 knots no wash!

[ubdkdd]

I was amazed at how many boaties completely ignored the speed limits in the Bribie canal over the easter break. While most do the right thing, a growing number don't seem to understand how fast 6 knots is, or what 'no wash' actually means.

A few weeks back, one wank*r went screaming past way too fast, losing his dog overboard in the process. As he was too fast to realise it, I had to fish the dog out, and go track down the boat and owner and ask "did you lose your dog overboard today?". :o

In an act of mammoth stupidity, he was out driving around the streets looking for the dog, obviously not realising that unless fished out asap, dogs in the canal drown (no where for them to get out or stop swimming) or get eaten.

Another tosser coming home Sunday afternoon went from the passage, up the main canal, under the banksia beach bridge, and off into the back canals and didnt even come down off the plane. >:(

To those that use the canal, the signs are all pretty obvious, and are there for a reason. So if we could remember to obey those limits, it would be much appreciated.

[PADDLES]

mate, plenty of boaties completely ignored the rules, etiquette and common sense over easter. it was really the first good weekend of boating weather in a long time and so they all came out of the woodwork.

we're just over at beachmere and took the tinny down to the river on friday, needless to say we didn't bother again for the rest of the weekend, it was a frikkin circus.

i suppose it's ok though, we can at least wait for everyone to go home and then venture back out when things calm down again.

[TheRealAndy]

I like the riv's down the gold coast best. You will be anchored up fishing and they pass right by you with there 3m bow wave with no regard at all. A few of us were heading to tipplers one day when a riv went passed. Mate was yelling at him. Later on the moron turned up at tipplers almost got his head caved in.

[finding_time]

Andy

Mate if it's not a 6 knot area what are they supposed to do?? Drop off the plane near every boat they pass??? Big boats like that can only use the channel if your anchored in or near the channel they are going to go by reasonable close to you, it cant be helped.

Now if there doing this in a 6 knot area well the deserve a gob full but if there obeying the rules it's a bit tough to get them to drop of the plane every time they pass a boat.


Ian

[PADDLES]

yeah andy it's another world down there that we thankfully don't get exposed to in the northern bay.

we bought our whittley cruiser out of a rack at gold coast city, the day we picked it up with the new trailer, a mate and myself took it for a quick??? run up past tipplers and back, some of the big (50 plus foot) boats we saw on the plane down there scared the krap out of us, we would just go right to the edge of the channel, turn our bow into the surf that comes off the front of those big hooers and just idle over it. we were that freaked out, we just don't get to see that krap up our way.

you're right though ian, there's not much they can do. i mean we have to show no mercy sometimes coming into our little river with the whittley, at low water i won't risk coming off the plane at the front entrance because the channel is shallow and narrow and there's no margin for error. if someone's anchored in the channel i've just gotta steam on past unfortunately, i still won't do anything unsafe though so if it's looking too dicey i'll come off the plane and idle through the shallow water with the leg trimmed right up, but it's too shallow for me to come back onto the plane again.

[TheRealAndy]

Andy

Mate if it's not a 6 knot area what are they supposed to do?? Drop off the plane near every boat they pass??? Big boats like that can only use the channel if your anchored in or near the channel they are going to go by reasonable close to you, it cant be helped.

Now if there doing this in a 6 knot area well the deserve a gob full but if there obeying the rules it's a bit tough to get them to drop of the plane every time they pass a boat.


Ian

Rules is rules.

Maximum six knots, and no wash within 30m of:

boats anchored or moored to the shore or aground
jetty, wharf, pontoon or boat ramp
people in the water, surfboard riders, etc

[PinHead]

I like the riv's down the gold coast best. You will be anchored up fishing and they pass right by you with there 3m bow wave a tad overstated don't ya thinkwith no regard at all. A few of us were heading to tipplers one day when a riv went passed. Mate was yelling at him. Later on the moron turned up at tipplers almost got his head caved in. why should he slow down if you were heading there?

any of you guys ever driven a larger boat in that area and come across some drop kicks in tinnies..like the ones that anchor smack bang in the middle of the channel where 2 boats have trouble passing to start with.

the size of the boat has nothing whatsoever to do with the intelligence level of the operator,.

[The-easyrider]

We were over at Tangers on the easter break, it would seem that there a hell of a lot of boat and jet ski owners that are unaware that there is a go slow area there now. Then there was allways the tools that need to drive quickly through the anchored boats to show all how cool they are.

[oldboot]

AND

Cant quote chapter and verse BUT, regardless of actuall speed or being on the plane or not or speed zones, you are responsible for the effects of your wash.


The bottom line is that there are heaps of idiots who simply do not give a $H!T, and their knoweledge of the rules is worse than their attitude.

And this issue has nothing to do with a time or date, it happnes every hour of every day.... just on big holidays there are more of them on the water.

The only thing that will fix it is more coppers on the water especially on week ends and public holidays.

It is better arround some of the small canal estates, ya see the fancy boats come roaring up the channel and back off hard before they come into the 6 knot zone.

cheers

[johncar]

One of the many reasons I wouldn't live on any canal. Although most do the right thing, there are too many thoughtless morons with big boats and small.

I can only suggest that you keep your camera handy and photograph/video them doing their crap and make sure that you get the rego number in the shot. Log the time and date on the pic if possible.
Lodge a complaint at your local police station.
I would have been taking the dog to the local police station as well explained how it ended up in the water and let them return it to the owner with warnings.

[fat-buoy]

Seen it many times before and no doubt will many more times to come.. the most stupid and dangerous thing I think I have ever seen is when I was at anchor at the curtain artificial reef at Moreton island along with about 6 or so other boats when a boat of about 6m came screaming through at full throttle (or at least it seemed like full throttle but probably more like 25 knots) right in between all the boats.. I guess he thought that the scuba dive flags are there for show as within a couple of seconds of him ripping through a hand appeared directly in his wake.. whoever that diver was just had his lucky day as if he was a meter higher in the water column he would have been a dead man.. it really was that close that I am surprised the prop did not clean his hand up as the boat went over.

Needless to say the knobend in the boat kept on powering away into the distance and probably still does the same stupid things today oblivious to the fact that he near on killed someone that day!!

[TheRealAndy]

any of you guys ever driven a larger boat in that area and come across some drop kicks in tinnies..like the ones that anchor smack bang in the middle of the channel where 2 boats have trouble passing to start with.

the size of the boat has nothing whatsoever to do with the intelligence level of the operator,.

Not all big boat owners are idiots. When I was in the surf to city recently one big boat owner was very courteous and slowed up for us, and my boat is 26 foot long and he did not need to.

However, the guy in the 3m tinnie has just as much right to be there as the guy in the 10m riv. If the guy in the riv flogs past and as a result the tinnie ends up in the water and the operator drowns, the riv owner is liable. Some common sense does not go astray.

[TheRealAndy]

We were over at Tangers on the easter break, it would seem that there a hell of a lot of boat and jet ski owners that are unaware that there is a go slow area there now. Then there was allways the tools that need to drive quickly through the anchored boats to show all how cool they are.

I have seen the cops at the wrecks there with the radar a few times now. Shame they cant do it more often.

[antg2378]

Came across a heap of boats not long ago throwing cast nets in the middle of the main channel on the way down the pin, I did slow down but couldn't believe the lengths people would go to to get some prawns. Then yesterday anchored up fishing had a clown in a bowrider dragging his kids on a couple of tubes continually passing swerving whipping his kids around. Don't know whether it was coincidence or not but they seemed to get out of the water once we pulled a shark into the boat.

[Lancair]

Good Friday the cops were on the Noosa River, random checking lifejackets as well as doing RBT. Saw people fly past the cops, in a 6kt zone and then saw the cops give chase. Good to see at least 4 idgits getting tickets for speeding or in the case of the 3 guys drinking beer in the 4m tinny corssing the Noosa Bar with no lifejackets on, I think and hope they got a lot more.

Lancair