Mobile phones are just as dangerous on the water

[Dignity]

Yesterday about 1pm I was motoring at the regulation 6 knots from the Power Boat Club pontoon towards Bribie when I was approaching the beacon where I could pick up planing speed when coming towards me was a Marine Parks vessel well and truly on the plane, I waved at them with 6 fingers, meaning he was in the 6 knot zone and should slow down and the driver waived back thinking I was a friendly type.

Did he slow down, no. I watched him go past and was amazed to see that he had a mobile phone atted to his ear and he kept blazing away at full speed through the 6 knot zone. Any boaties at the ramp would have been very unhappy with the wash he generated. I have noticed that many boaties have a tendency to ignore the limits these days, sad reflection on the rest of us that try to do the right thing.

[gruntahunta]

Dignity...I was up at Caloundra today and watched 3 boats come in over the bar....all slowed to a crawl right at the mouth at Bullcocks Beach (against a really hard outflowing tide...I thought to myself, it must be a regulation but could not see any 6 Knot signs....I drove to golden Beach Ramp and sure enough 6 Knots from there to the mouth (witin 100 m of foreshore).

Do you have to do 6 knots all that way ( a long way) or can you go out wide towards The tip of Bribie, is there a channel there?

[Dignity]

gruntahunta, it is 6 knots within 100 metres of the mainland all the way to military jetty, there are spots on the way thay are 40 knots but as mentioned 100 metres out.

I was going to ring the Marine Parks but last time I contacted them they said they didn't have any boats in the area at the time so not sure if I should try again.

[MudRiverDan]

Yesterday about 1pm I was motoring at the regulation 6 knots from the Power Boat Club pontoon towards Bribie when I was approaching the beacon where I could pick up planing speed when coming towards me was a Marine Parks vessel well and truly on the plane, I waved at them with 6 fingers, meaning he was in the 6 knot zone and should slow down and the driver waived back thinking I was a friendly type.

Did he slow down, no. I watched him go past and was amazed to see that he had a mobile phone atted to his ear and he kept blazing away at full speed through the 6 knot zone. Any boaties at the ramp would have been very unhappy with the wash he generated. I have noticed that many boaties have a tendency to ignore the limits these days, sad reflection on the rest of us that try to do the right thing.

you should try the QLD roads, they are even better.

[Dignity]

I try to stay off them but lately the waterways are getting as bad.

[Raesen]

I don't know that it is just the mobile phone, for most (unfortunately) it is the fact they have a hand on the throttle (front steer or tiller) and just simply do not consider other people at anchor or travel.

Hard enough to get most oncoming boaties to pass on the correct side let alone what you have raised.

Cheers
Pete

[tae4551]

There is a massive 6 knot sign right at the mouth. You can't miss it. Don't think applies to jet skis though ....

[Dignity]

tae4551, I had a picture somewhere of a big Cat, I think it was located on the Gold Coast somewhere and on the gunwhales between the two hulls there was a sign - "Jet Ski Intake". I have no real issue with the PWC's as the ones that do the wrong thing are probably a minority (as large as it seems there are quite some considerate ones around), the problem seems to be that people in boats doing the wrong thing is increasing at an alarmng rate. Where I live at Caloundra I see the people going through their routine with the boating licence people on a daily basis. In a lot of cases these people have had very little time on the water and can gain their licence with a couple of days theoretical and a couple of hours on a craft that is not even closely related to what they will be driving on the water (my neighbour got his exactly this way last year). What is more appalling is the situation I described where Qld Govt vessel ignored the signage completely. Maybe this signage needs to be overhauled as a lot of vessels create less wake on the plane than at 6 knots. This is another conundrum, the signage says 6 knots but it really means "6 knots, less if you create any wash". And of course the number of people who still want pass you starboard to starboard instead of port to port amazes me. Am I getting off topic, maybe I should just have another wine and settle down to watch some TV.

[gpz1991]

We have regulations for our "P" plate drivers that limit the HP of the cars they can drive but pass you boat licence and you can drive anything you like no matter how little experience you have on the water.