Manistee breakwall decoration.

[sjk984]

I am glad that no one was seriously hurt When he hit the S wall in manistee Last night. We missed the actual accident but heard the boats hailing the CG about 10 min after we were in.

Please becarefull at night I had 2 boatsd pass me with in 30' on the way in sat night. Just because my rig does 40 doesen't mean I do it at night.

Steve

[c-cast]

I know what you mean,almost got hit buy a big boat 2 years ago. Still have nightmares about that. I thought at night it is suppose to be idle speed. Had a to shine the guy with million watt spot light.He missed us{ in a 15ft. boat} by 4ft. the wake gave both of us a ride. To this day I always have my Sterns vest on.Good point you make as we will be up there in a couple of weekends.

[sjk984]

It was crazy busy on the way in sat night. I saw a boat with no anchor light and the guy was flashing boats that were over taking him with a flash light.

I tried to get the pic off my phone but can't, the boat on the rocks came really close to making it over. On the way in this morning the owners were tring to pry it off the rocks with 2x4's and back power. The boat was totally out of the water and the bow was above the wall.

[1mainiac]

My first thought is what are all the small boats doing out at night with little or no lighting? I can't say how many times I have been running in only to come up on a boat I can barely see with no lights on it? Honestly first obey the rules of navigation at night. There is no rule for speed limit at night and some of us are running several miles to get back in so use some common sense and put lights on at dark. I know that lighting requirements vary from boat size and I am ok with that if I see a single white light I steer to avoid it till I know I am clear of it. But this is not a concert so flicking your Bic lighter is not good enough. I expect to hear of the Lake Express running over a small boat one of these days since many of the small are too small to show up on radar and having little or no lights does not help. Also blinding a guy with a huge spotlight does not help either as you dystroy his vision for several seconds he may need to avoid you. Often when I am running in at night I will sweep the water in front of me with my bow light but still in 2ft or bigger waves a small boat will completely dissappear so get some lights on. I would really like to see the Coast Guard or the sherrif patrol out at night around the harbor mouths they could cut down on a lot of the stupidity. Some things can't be avoided but being out at night in a dark boat can be.

[sjk984]

The boat on the wall was a n aluminum cabin crusier. Possibly an islader or sylvan.

[1mainiac]

Wow that has got to suck to remove supprised the law had not made them call a salvage boat. My response was to C-Cast about running in the dark. Guys pure and simple you need to know the rules out on the water and you need to know the water as well. There is no rule I know of that says you can't run fast in the dark. The Lake Express does not slow down. The rule does say you have to be properly lighted and you have to watch for other boats and things you could hit. However if you are in a small boat or a big boat at night with no lights and some one hits you it is your fault. I can't beleive how many people put their boats on the peirs and rocks every year because they don't know the rules or understand the lighting system. 2 things I never do daytime or night time is approach a harbor mouth from the side or run directly across one. I have however seen lots of boats do it but I always square up to the entrance and try and come straight in so I can see inside the breakwall before I run in.

[Just Hook'n]

I guess I thought it was common sense to square up to the channel and not run in from the side. Now that you mention it though, I did have one idiot in a ski boat come in on the edge one time really fast and tuck in the pier heads. It was crazy, but I have not thought about it in a while. like Jim said, I use common sense and square up about 1/4 mile out. Guess common sense ain't so common.

[1mainiac]

I keep seeing those ads for the manditory boater safety training in Canada I always thought it was kind of a joke. But lately I am starting to think it might save lives and weed some idiots off the water if they had to have a license. Then after we get that passed we work on a license to post on the internet and cut down on keyboard stupidity.

[jatc]

A lot of what I see is guys coming from the side is due to GPS. Many guys set a waypoint at he launch instead of 1/4 mile out side the pierheads. GPS will give them a straight line heading and if they aren't paying attention WHAM! right into the wall.

The other issue seems to be everyone has to be "first" at the dock or out into the lake. I get really sick of getting passed in the channel because my "no wake" isn't what others consider "no wake". Slow down for God's sake when near the piers and alot of this stuff won't happen.

[Just Hook'n]

Agreed David.

I LOVE having a dock. I do not miss those lines at the launch.

Good idea about setting a a GPS waypoint 1/4 mile in front.

I just typically follow my line (from the trip out) on the way back in.

[Priority1]

The South wall at Manistee seems to get hit quite regularly. I think what is happening the boaters are heading at the N. Light. I have a waypoint about 1/2 mile out from the S. Light. The South pier sticks out a quite a bit farther than the N. one. This is at least the 4th accident in recent history. TG no one was seriously hurt this time.

[DarkBlue]

We've had at least one of these a year in the 12 years I've been in Manistee. Sometimes mulitple. Luckily, no one was hurt this time, but we've had worse in the past. I've talked with many of the boaters who have hit the south pier and it seems that many have observed the stub pier light, which is visible over the south wall, and mistake it for the breakwall light. Other times it's been simple cases of too fast, alignment confusions, or too many spirits. Please be careful. I like to meet members of this forum, but not in those circumstances.

Chris

[pulpfishin]

weren't we talking about small boats here? Not every small boat has gps and chartplotters and it is definitely not required by the Coasties to own one. I am in complete agreement with the fact that people run way to fast at night. But as I recall smaller boats have the right of way unless you are in a shipping channel. At any rate when the fog hits it is always scary! Be careful out there!!!

[1mainiac]

Sail boats have the right of way there is a protocal for passing which very few even seem to know and even less use. However except for No Wake zones and swims zones and a few other protected areas for the most part the speed limit is up to you and your boat. Even under Fog conditions you are pretty much at your own pace. However with that comes the fact that if you screw up it is your fault. The only exception would be hitting a unmarked object which would include a small boat at night without lights. There is very little that is scarier than cruising along in the moon light and suddenly having a bic lighter light a couple hundred yds or closer away from your bow. SO I seldom exceed 3400 rpm at night the boat cruises very nicely there it is about 30 mph and trimmed correctly I produce very little wake. It is also the most fuel efficeint cruise at roughly 9 gph so a touch over 3 mpg however push it just a touch more and the 4bbl opens and before you know it you are up close to 21 gph at 38mph. below 2100 she drops off plane without a ton of tabs and I am burning 7 gph to run 15mph. So for most of us we have to run between 3000 and 3400 rpms to hit the sweet spot for fuel economy and nice ride. That said I would never out run my visability so make sure we can see you and learn how to enter the channel before you run into it.

[jatc]

I always yield to the smaller boats. That said I do have issues with some of the boats out there. It doesn't take that much to buy the superbright LED navigation lights and put them on a boat. There is NO WAY I would go out in a small boat in the dark with a dimly lit mast light alone. Just asking for trouble especially in the waves that makes it even harder to see small vessels. I do understand electrical failures on the water but carry a spotlight. There is a law about negligence as far as operating at safe speeds but there technically isn't a speed limit on the open lake at night. My boat runs nicely with the least amount of wake at about 18 MPH so as long as it is clear that is how fast I run at night as long as I have a spotter aboard. Solo I'll run slower just to be on the safe side. It seems some of the boaters feel that since everyone should yield to them that they don't have to follow the standards of the USCG. All that does is make it more dangerous for everybody out there. I've run up on unlit boats in the dark that were trolling knowing full well that there lights weren't working and the only way to spot them is by the headlamps they were using to rig lines. Not cool at all.

[Priority1]

Accident can and will happen. The biggest problem is lack of education. Anyone can buy a boat and hit the water. I have seen small unlit boats several times after dark. I had one instance off Manistee where a small boat had a clamp on light installed backwards. The starboard side had the red light towards it. Try and navigate around that in the dark. It should be mandatory for all boat owners to take a safety class, or at the very least pass some sort of competency test. These unknowing individuals don't have a clue. When addressing some of these issues with them, they have no idea what you are talking about. Buy a boat, hit the water, and heaven help all of us. Most of these uneducated boaters are the same goof balls at the launches. JMHO

[Twill23]

I was in manistee when this happened. I watched the second boat hit the wall. Unfortunately i think its a case of incompetency. For some reason people are sooooo geared up for spending several hundred dollars on downriggers, spoons, attractors, flies, etc, when really their first major purchase should be a decent chart plotter. In my opinion in this day and age with the mapping software and gps capabilities that are available there should never be a boat that hits a break wall. That is assuming there are no tests being dont on satellites when your coming in. If there are then slow down. This is coming from someone who was ON a boat that run aground. Rather than spend that 450 bucks on those lures and new rods a reels, pick up a chartplotter and learn how to use it. Just my 2 cents.

[Hotdog71]

I love the Grand Haven Pier setup. Red light, green light and Broadway. When the lighting was put up for all the tourists to walk on the south pier, it gave boaters a clear look at where the channel is located. This was a great relief when coming in from a foggy trip severals weeks ago. I could barely see a 100ft, but spotted Broadway before a saw the pierheads.

I agree that there are a bunch of boneheads out there and they come in all different sizes. From the guy in the 14ft rowboat with no lights to the 30 ft crusier that thinks he owns the lake, you have to watch out for everyone. When I come in at night I always have everyone looking forward for boats and other movment in the water. I usually come in on plane but rarely at full power.

Keep it safe boys and girls!

[c-cast]

Yep. Talked over with the other guys. Our boats were square with the peir head . The other boat came from the side. They all agree the spot light probably saved us. Both boat rigged with 5ft stern front port and staboard light.