Letter | Sailboats are at the mercy of power boaters on the Waterway
Don’t be ‘Selfish’ on the water
We just came off the Intracoastal Waterway on our sailboat and are giving full notice to all power boaters.
Learn the rules of good sportsmanship. Learn how to operate your boat safely. Learn the rules of the road.
Sailboats, under sail, always - always - have the right of way. Always!
If you come too close to us, you create a wake, rocking our boat like a cork in the water. We have to turn into your wake, causing our sails to luff, puffing us in irons.
You cross our bow instead of our stern. Sometimes you head right for us and we don’t know whether you or sober or not.
We are subject to the elements. It takes a good bit of knowledge to sail a boat; it is a lot of work. We cannot turn on a dime.
We tack, either to our port side or our starboard side. Or, we do a 180.
We are at the mercy of power boaters. We are like a sitting duck out there.
We rely on your consideration to make our outing on the water a safe one and pleasant one.
Nearing home port, we had one more power boater show his gross ignorance and negligence by coming too close to our boat and too fast.
The name on the side of his boat was “Selfish.”
How appropriate.
Kathleen A. Parks, Pawleys Island
This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 7:06 AM with the headline "Letter | Sailboats are at the mercy of power boaters on the Waterway."