Lo All, Comments from an ex-ragboater: << I sailed for 30 years before transitioning to power. I must admit that you are correct about "some" sailors. On the other hand, a lot can be said about power boats that make it difficult for sailors; particularly those with large wakes that insist upon crossing a sailboats bow at close range. >> My sailboat was 46', so probably could handle larger waves and wakes than the majority of boats. If a boat just had to "wake" me, I preferred the wake to be on the bow, as my boat could cut through it and be done with it with just a little porpoising, but no major problems. The worst scenario was to be waked by a big power boat overtaking me while putting out a 3-5' (yes, five foot!) wake close aboard, such as in narrow parts of the ICW. Those wakes caused the boat to wallow severely and become almost uncontrollable, even with a full keel and huge rudder. Whenever a boat was obviously going to pass me, I would try to move over if there was room in the channel and slow down to idle or, when sailing, loosen the sheets, and hope the approaching vessel would slow down, too. About half the boats did. I really appreciated the courtesy! If they did not slow down, at least my boat was moving slowly and did not react to the waves the same as a car on a road hitting a deep rut and going out of control. The next worse scenario is a boat crossing close astern and creating a big "following sea", which is of course, miserable for most slow moving boats. That was particularly troublesome when running downwind under sail and the stern was thrown such that the main boom gybed across the boat. Unexpected and uncontrolled gybes can be lethal. As is typical in sailboats, my VHF was down below, because the helm was a pedestal type with no room for a radio or other nav aids as they would be too close to the compass. I did use a hand held VHF when necessary. (In the FWIW category, my VHF antenna was on top of a 55' well-grounded mast. I could receive transmissions from boats for up to 75 nm fairly regularly and high-powered USCG transmissions for 3-400 NM on occasion. [Key West, Tampa, Mobile and New Orleans USCG stations, not remoted, from Panama City, FL] Maybe that is why some sail boats and large ships don't respond to radio calls, the calls are lost in the garbage.) If captains want to ingratiate themselves to other boaters, they will slow down when meeting, crossing or overtaking other vessels close aboard to preclude waking them. Ya, it takes a few seconds to get back up to speed, but heck, few of our boats are capable of great speeds anyway. What's a few seconds when you are enjoying the scenery of a great waterway? I always enjoy a friendly wave from other captains (ya, ragbaggers and row-boaters really do give stinkpotters friendly waves at times) as they acknowledge a courtesy I have extended to them. Adds to the fun of boating! Wayne M/V Celestial Albin 43 Sundeck

>>>The next worse scenario is a boat crossing close astern and creating a big "following sea", which is of course, miserable for most slow moving boats. That was particularly troublesome when running downwind under sail and the stern was thrown such that the main boom gybed across the boat. Unexpected and uncontrolled gybes can be lethal.<<< Uncontrolled gybes can indeed be dangerous. If not engaging in round-the-buoys racing, I believe one should always rig a preventer to hold the boom forward. Not only does it prevent gybes, but also stabilises the boom against the motion of the boat, especially in light winds. Regards, Robert Bryett Sydney, Australia mailto:rbryett@ibm.net