TWRA finally comes through for the young wakeboarders.

[Commodore]

Yesterday I was out on the boat with my normal crew. We were at a place called "two-foot", so named because it's 2ft deep. You come in, drop anchor and wade around to all the boats. All in all there were about 60 boats out there. Now this spot is just off the main channel on the river. So river traffic goes by all day.

Well I look to my left and see it coming a mile away. A 42 foot Sea-Ray Cabin cruiser, not those sport cruisers, this was a big boy. He is at max speed throwing a wake big enough to see from that distance. So I instinctively watch as it gets closer and closer. And never slows down.

I call out to everyone in shouting distance to look out. And pointed at the vessel flying by at only 50yds away. I tell everyone to get clear of the boats and DON'T TRY AND STOP THEM FROM HITTING! (little tip, if that happens to you, they ARE going to hit, just let the boats hit, better than your arm, or head).

The waves come through there and boats go everywhere, you could see people had no clue what to do. I saw lines snapping right behind me. Happily I come major prepared. The fenders I use are from my cruiser so they are thick. My boat and my friends boat were completely safe. But everyone else around us was shaken up pretty bad. After we all say our discrepencies at the idiot, we resume partying.

Well not more than 45 minutes later, here comes the same jackass doing the exact same thing, AGAIN!!! This time I've had it. I untie my lines in less than 10 seconds, tell my crew to sit down and hang on. I clear the other boats and make a 0-45 mph sprint towards this guy. I try and flag him down to slow down, and trust me the looks on my face, he knew I was pissed. He ignored me completely and told me to shove off. He plowed right by the area again at full speed!!

This time I am not letting him get away, I'm instantly on my cell phone to Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA, our water cops). I tell them in a calm manner, "I am a small vessell following a 42-ft Sea-ray that just passed an anchorage of about 50 boats at max speed only 50yds off. He has refused hailing, and will not stop. There are no registration numbers and no name on this boat, I need immediate assistance."

Well she said she would contact a patrol boat and call me back. I continued to follow the guy. I told him to stop one last time, and looks at me and makes a "drinking gesture", and then points to me. Implying I had been drinking. (While I am known to partake of beverages when out in the boat. I had not had a sip. I didn't drink at all yesterday. I had other things to do later. ) He then just laughs and smiles in a smirk.

He continues to go on about his business, like I am not even there. At one point he tried pushing me over by coming towards me with his boat. I casually pulled behind him and just followed him.

I then get a call back from TWRA, they tell me there is no boat in range, it's 15 miles away. Which I find hard to believe in this heavily patrolled area, on Labor day. Well we have been following him for 20 minutes now, and I am not about to give up. In my mind I knew the harbor he was going to, and would follow him in. I was prepared to get the dockmaster and anyone else involved. Trust me this guy was an idiot and needed to be informed that what he did was not only stupid and disrespectful, it was very dangerous.

Right as I am finishing up talking to the TWRA on the phone as they tell me they have no boats in the area, BOOM. I spot one about a mile away. I tell the one on the phone I have spotted one and to hold. I make the supra dance like the fires of hell were chasing her. I caught up to the patrol boat. It's him, and a civilian. I tell the one on the phone the boats number and flag him down.

I inform the cop of the problem and he starts to run the Sea-ray down. We follow to make sure our side is told.

(Side note, the irony here is the cop was not supposed to be out with a civilian, a woman for that fact, so by stopping him and calling in his number, he knew he would have to see this through.)

So the TWRA stops the sea-ray, and we are smiling for justice! I pull up and inform the officer this is the boat, and this is the situation. I even let him pull up to me close so he could smell my breath, and see my eyes. He knew by the way I was talking, calm, non-emotional, just facts, that I was not just being stupid.

The response of the boater, "Well I was just following another boat".....umm admission of guilt, good one pal.
And then his next intelligent remark, "Well they have been drinking".

The cop tells me he'll follow the boat in, and then go assess the damage, I tell him, "I will be there as well, and my name and info are at dispatch if he needs me". This makes him aware I will be watching for him, so he again must follow through.

He finally shows back up at 2ft, and tells me since there was no damage reported he couldn't ticket him. But he explained how he IS responsible for his wake, and to never catch him doing anything like that again. And if another boater hails you down, you at least need to stop and listen, don't ever just keep going. He could be telling you you're on fire and you wouldn't know it.








Then he wrote him a big $$$ ticket for no registration.

[brew]

Someone told me over the weekend that a law had been passed in TN setting up a large portion of the main rivers as no wake areas because of all the shore erosion. Have you head anything about it? We got slammed Saturday by a big cruiser at Paris Landing. We just new we had busted the hull, but luckily my old Ebbtide is solidly built. I came out of a cove running about 45 when we hit swells straight out of the Gulf of Mexico, people and gear went flying.

On a side note, what did you think of the crappy weather all weekend. Luckily the $2.40 a gallon I paid for gas this weekend made it a little more bearable.

[Commodore]

brew, yeah in some places they are doing No Wake zones for soil erosion. But since this was on the Mississippi river, there aren't many, too much traffic.

Yeah the weather sucked, I got out Friday afternoon and Monday that was it. I didn't even have to tank up.

[Justin 25]

Haha, nice job man.

[wakedjs679]

wow that sea ray guy is a jackass

[LoudonTN]

brew, i was taking some people out on our team boat on Friday and was stopped and told that all the river in front of downtown (Knoxville) is a No-Wake Zone. This may have been because the Vol-Navy was rolling in for Saturday, however.

[J_DOGG]

haugy, don't you know, the bigger the boat the more important you are and rules do not apply to important people....LOL....

I love it!

Sure it took some work but you hopefully have prevented this moron from doing the same thing in the future.

Glad no one got hurt but in a weird way it would have been better if someone did, then the guy would be really taking it up the a$$. LOL

[wakeNskate]

thanks for that invite haugy...I know all those TWRA cops out there real well

[jjaszkow]

Damn ...
Maybe the Sea Ray will hit a stump the next time they are out.... instant karma.