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Name:	Nutin Bitein -	Reply
Subject:	Boating Safety
Date:	5/14/2007 5:04:20 PM

What is the distance a boat should be from a dock while tubing, wake boarding or skiing? The Alabama test book says “must be a safe distance”. But what is safe? I live in a slough about 150 to 200 ft wide and had people wake boarding in and out with my kids swimming off the dock. One guy went within 30 ft of the dock towing someone on a wakeboard. I do not what to stop someone from having fun. But, safety of the kids comes first. Is it possible to request a no wake buoy be put in at the mouth of the slough by the marine police? Would everyone have to agree to it?

Name:	Henry -	Reply
Subject:	Boating Safety
Date:	5/14/2007 5:06:12 PM

Coast Guard says 100 feet

Name:	waterbug -	Reply
Subject:	Boating Safety
Date:	5/14/2007 5:11:49 PM

You can try with the no wake buoy, we have 3 coming into our area well spaced out which should indicate there is no wake all the way through and folks come flying through there anyway not paying any attention. I am all about folks having fun as well, but I have as many as 5 or 6 kids at a time swimming off our pier and it does worry me about boat operators paying attention.

Good luck!

Name:	Maverick -	Reply
Subject:	Boating Safety
Date:	5/14/2007 6:29:14 PM

With regards to No Wake buoys if not approved by Marine Patrol they will be removed.

Know this first hand as we have the same issue with PWCs in our slough sitting there doing 360's all day long. Marine Patrol stated the above last year. They did state they would come observe the issue if I were to give them the location and consider letting me place such a buoy at the mouth of our slough. Our slough is about 100 yds wide and about 100 yards deep.

With regards to how close, there is no hard and fast rule. Wish there was as I think 100 feet is a minimum at best.

Name:	PC Al -	Reply
Subject:	Video evidence
Date:	5/14/2007 7:44:02 PM

I would try standing on my pier with a camera, preferably video camera, videoing the boater as he/she goes by. Chances are this action would result in a change by the boater without your having to do anything else. And if it doesn’t, you can always use it to show to the marine police.

Name:	AnchorbayDon -	Reply
Subject:	My Solution
Date:	5/14/2007 10:10:40 PM

Whenever a boater or PWC operator chose to come too close in my slough, I would choose that time to practice my golf swing. First, lay out a dozen or so balls on the bank in clear view and then take lots of practice swings as though you were hitting a ball in their direction.

Now, I would never actually hit a ball at anybody - but they don't know that when they see me swinging.

I never seem to have much of a problem with rude people in my slough after my golf practice! I don't know why?

After all, we each have the right to enjoy the lake anyway we want, don't we?

Name:	lakemartintime -	Reply
Subject:	Boating Safety
Date:	5/14/2007 10:16:14 PM

We spent several years trying to get the Marine Police's approval to install a no wake buoy in our slough. Not only were we unable to get an approval we never received the application we were promised several times. The Marine Police basically told us that no residential sub division would be approved for a no wake buoy. Our slough is fairly wide as it opens into main channel but narrows rapidly into two small sloughs of 300' to a 150'. At any given time we may have 25 kids and adults swimming in these sloughs. Irresponsible boaters consistently speed through the slough at full wake or are pulling a wake board or a tub. This is a safety issue, someone is going to get hurt (not even considering the severe dock damage some of our home owners suffered).

Last year after seeing at least 50 illegal buoys (no wake and mooring) on our part of the lake we felt at least we had precedent approval to install a no wake buoy. We installed this buoy ($275 I think) with good visibility on the side of the main slough close to where the channel begins. Bingo...99% of these speeders stopped we thought we had found the answer....BUT....about two months after we installed the buoy one of our home owners witnessed the Marine Police use a bolt cutter to cut the cable and load the buoy into the police boat. We called the Marine Police and they admitted they took the buoy because it was not approved. They also refused to return our property.

There are still 50 plus illegal buoys in our area of the lake but the Marine Police seem to enforce the laws selectively, but we will never report these other illegal buoys and compromise the safety of anyone!

I believe this may be a severe safety issue and hope the Marine Police would reconsider

Name:	Smitty -	Reply
Subject:	Boating Safety
Date:	5/15/2007 8:26:44 AM

I put two buoys out there to protect my four small kids. Didn't know what else to do. Seems to me the police would be encouraging this as long as the buoys are placed at a reasonable distance. If the police want the buoys, I guess I have no choice.

After a while of watching skiiers etc coming slow close to the dock, I start to resent it and want to do it to other people which I know is wrong. I have no solution.

Name:	4Golf -	Reply
Subject:	Boating Safety
Date:	5/15/2007 9:59:10 AM

We put "markers" (those white ball buoys) near our dock as a visual reminder to boaters to stay "a safe distance" from the dock. This seems to work for most folks, although I saw someone in a boat go BETWEEN the buoy and the dock. I just think there are inconsiderate folks everywhere. Also, there's some folks who don't know enough about boating to actually look behind their boat when they are at bogging speed to see the size of the wake they are creating and they wonder where all those waves came from. And wonder why everyone is running down to their dock to hold the boat off.

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