Scum.

DirtyWetDog,

Jet-ski driving scum in particular.

I very rarely do angry posts on my blog, in fact this one might be the only one i have ever done but today me and my DSLR got a total drenching from a group of morons driving jet-ski’s in the Tamar river.

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=TvDMk1L9mmQ

Right now i should be writing a reflective piece, to be called ‘reflections’ about my 2 years as owner of a Hunter Liberty.  This morning looked like being the nicest day of the year so far so i put some food together, grabbed a sleeping bag and my camera and decided to head down the river doing some photography and filming for the last time with WABI”’ .   The title of today’s planned post came straight to mind as it was the sort of morning when the river was almost mirror-still so i was getting strong reflections of everything i pointed the camera at.  It was also one of those quiet mornings when the only people on the river were rowing boats, canoe’s, kayaks and me ghosting along under sail.

003

What happened next was the first of my 2 encounters with the group of about 5 jet-ski’s.

For those that know the river, the Tamar is a very ‘natural’ river that high up with a few farms, lots of reed beds and salt-marsh.  Most of the ambient sound was just the gentle lap of miniscule waves against the bank and quite a bit of birdsong.  The peace was abrubtly shattered by the whining snarl of 5 jet-ski’s coming round the next corner at speed.  Most of the group initially slowed right down and then 2 did a swerving ‘hoon’ past me almost deliberately to create a wash and spray.  The bloke at the back had the good grace to be embarrassed and actually apologised for the bad behaviour….so then they disappear upstream and the last i saw of them was a welter of spray and noise as they hooned around in circles making lots of waves, spray and wash.

I just thought ‘morons’ and settled back down to sailing and filming the bank sliding slowly past for about half a mile…..when, once again i heard the same ugly whine from astern.   At this point i was well over on river left, ghosting along and filming so i turned the camera astern.  Instead of passing to my right where there was lots of space they all passed at speed and close aboard down my left side.  The last one passed so close that he threw a large wave over my cockpit that doused me and my DSLR totally.  I was soaked to the skin.    There is no way that the action of the last one was anything but aggressive and deliberate.   I tried to give chase just in case i could get downriver fast enough to find there put-in point and get pictures of car registration numbers but i was still some 5 miles or more upstream of their likely launch spot.  Completely soaked and steaming mad i headed back to the yard to pick up dry clothes from the car…..having taken all my spare kit off the boat last week.

At the yard Chris the boss told me that i should have reported the incident to the QHM and that had they had a police launch in the water that they would intercept the jet-ski’s.  Unfortunately i hadn’t thought of that and was probably out of line of radio contact anyway but i did report the incident by phone when i got in tonight.  The bloke on the QHM desk asked me to do an incident form which i have done and next i thought to process the video and post that online.  Unfortunately i must not have been on video mode at that moment as all i recorded was one stills photo astern and not a video clip.

There are a couple of ways of looking at this, one is that their actions were merely ignorant of how to behave in the river, second is that the soaking i got was a deliberate and aggressive response to my filming them.  I happen to think it was the latter.  Now….the thing is that these lads can’t be ‘bones of arse’ because the jet-ski’s all looked modern and expensive so they will be worth a bit plus they had all the gear (but no idea) and probably running flash cars to boot.  You could say that it was a classic confrontation between 2 sides that utterly despise each other….them despising what they might describe as sailing ‘tampons’ and me hating everything about the loutish, chavvy and moronic jet-ski behaviour which is sadly common.

Jet-ski’s = Vermin….wish we could just shoot them.

With this post i thought i would go back to adding readers comments so :

Alan : That’s not a good day I hope the camera has survived OK, I think it should be like clay shooting line them up call “pull” and the biggest difference would be not a 12 gauge but mmm 20 mm Gatling at about 50 yards no make that a 100 don’t want to get splashed.

Ederren :

Have had a lot of ‘similar’ experiences on the road with motorcycles. Of course the vast majority are good, hold their place and all the rest, but there are some who assume that because they fit, they can do what they want when they want.
These are the sort that won’t just go between cars in stand still traffic, but will do so at 60km/h. And if they crash, they and their friends will be the first to blame everyone else.
Perhaps on the road as in the water, it should be possible and/or standard equipment to record, report and see fined/otherwise punished, those who act in such absurd, stupid or outright dangerous ways.
My two cents at least.
+Talking about bikers and jet-ski’s as a comparison.
It’s legal to do here so I don’t have an issue. But if they get hurt, you may also be held responsible, depending on situation.
Have also seen a surprising amount of road rage from motorcyclists which always struck me as strange being so vulnerable.
But then again, there are also motorcyclists who upload go pro video of themselves in the wrong or outright breaking the law and then complaining about others.
Would probably find the same sort of thing with jetskiers too if I looked, just as cars etc. Just very strange.
The biblicalway sent :
Hi, I can understand your frustration with the jet-ski pack. I’ve experienced similar incidents, and I was reminded of the time when I was anchored off Cawsand. (See the last paragraph of the Monday log entry for ‘Bumper’, my junk rig Newbridge Virgo Voyager:
Although there are reserved jet-ski areas on the river Crouch and the river Blackwater, my home sailing waters, jet-skiers sometimes cause havoc in places where they should not. They travel fast and far, and inevitably they destroy the tranquility which other water users value. Sailing, rowing, fishing, diving, swimming, bird-watching – all are affected, not just by the noise, but by the wash from jet-skies. Even those who walk the river banks have to suffer, and they cannot fail to observe the erosive action of their wakes. The evidence is clearly visible at low water, when one can see freshly-made lumps of clay at the base of the banks from which they have been torn.
Bill.
Me : while comments on this post are still coming in and i will continue to post them i also wanted to mention that a boating mate of mine posted on his facebook page a similar problem with a fast moving MOBO in a no-wake area near his mooring…..the same boater had charged through Calstock earlier in the day throwing up a big wake and almost throwing my coffee mug out of the galley…..action will be taken.

Published by DirtyWetDog

One of the boat obsessed.

16 Comments

  1. Have had a lot of ‘similar’ experiences on the road with motorcycles. Of course the vast majority are good, hold their place and all the rest, but there are some who assume that because they fit, they can do what they want when they want.
    These are the sort that won’t just go between cars in stand still traffic, but will do so at 60km/h. And if they crash, they and their friends will be the first to blame everyone else.

    Perhaps on the road as in the water, it should be possible and/or standard equipment to record, report and see fined/otherwise punished, those who act in such absurd, stupid or outright dangerous ways.
    My two cents at least.

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    1. I’m an ex biker myself and somewhat guilty as lane splitting (filtering) was a common practice to get through traffic although not at 60. I don’t mind so much with bikers because its them that are going to get hurt. You might be aware of a newer and much nastier problem with ‘bikes’ in city scooter gangs that are the absolute lowest of the low ‘chav-gangs on wheels’. Couple of my friends on here are bikers and detest them as much as anyone. We do have river police here under the MOD and they will intercept idiots but i don’t think there is any other action except giving them a talking-to.

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      1. It’s legal to do here so I don’t have an issue. But if they get hurt, you may also be held responsible, depending on situation.
        Have also seen a surprising amount of road rage from motorcyclists which always struck me as strange being so vulnerable.
        But then again, there are also motorcyclists who upload go pro video of themselves in the wrong or outright breaking the law and then complaining about others.
        Would probably find the same sort of thing with jetskiers too if I looked, just as cars etc. Just very strange.

        Like

      3. Just to let you know that i am pasting the comments on this one into the end of the post because its getting some interesting comments and they do seem to reallly annoy lots of boaters.

        Liked by 1 person

  2. That’s not a good day I hope the camera has survived OK, I think it should be like clay shooting line them up call “pull” and the biggest difference would be not a 12 gauge but mmm 20 mm Gatling at about 50 yards no make that a 100 don’t want to get splashed.

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  3. Hi, I can understand your frustration with the jet-ski pack. I’ve experienced similar incidents, and I was reminded of the time when I was anchored off Cawsand. (See the last paragraph of the Monday log entry for ‘Bumper’, my junk rig Newbridge Virgo Voyager:

    http://bills-log.blogspot.co.uk/2005/06/sunday-19th-and-monday-20th-june.html )

    Although there are reserved jet-ski areas on the river Crouch and the river Blackwater, my home sailing waters, jet-skiers sometimes cause havoc in places where they should not. They travel fast and far, and inevitably they destroy the tranquility which other water users value. Sailing, rowing, fishing, diving, swimming, bird-watching – all are affected, not just by the noise, but by the wash from jet-skies. Even those who walk the river banks have to suffer, and they cannot fail to observe the erosive action of their wakes. The evidence is clearly visible at low water, when one can see freshly-made lumps of clay at the base of the banks from which they have been torn.

    Bill.

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  4. On a more serious note jet Ski’s have to be registered here in NZ and display a number so that tends to slow them down .

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  5. Sorry to see such thoughtlessness ruin your day Steve. A search for “jet ski anti-social behaviour” shows it’s a big problem in estuaries and rivers from Wales to New South Wales. There are even proposals for drone patrols in Australia! In my view, hoons are gonna hoon no matter the rules and punishments put in place. Other than a complete ban, its always going to happen somewhere, most likely as a result of the personality types attracted to jet skis. All you can do, as you have done, is report them and include a thorough description of rider and machine. Hopefully the authorities keep an eye out and pull them to one side for a little chat should they see them in the future. Or you could mount a rocket harpoon gun on the bow and blow them out of the water.

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