By Sunday evening, most of the weekend boaters had packed up and gone home, and I went down to the dock to see how it and our boat had fared.
Not well.
Traffic had been heavy all weekend, with boats racing by at full speed just yards off our dock, and our pontoon boat had bucked and pitched like a horse saddled for the first time. I'd checked on the lines and the fenders several times during the weekend and shook my fist at a boat pulling a water skier past our dock, sending out a wake that rivaled waves at the beach. For all the good it did.
By the time I made my inspection Sunday evening, the accumulated idiocy had taken its toll. A stout, well secured dock cleat had been yanked so violently that it had come loose, but not before the dock board it was anchored to and the banding it was nailed to had pulled loose.
Here I am left to repair the damage caused by inconsiderate idiots.
It made me long for an earlier time when there were fewer boatmen and a certain pride in seamanship. That seamanship included adherence to a code of conduct that included fundamental courtesy toward other craft and to those ashore. We learned and relearned that as the operator of a vessel you are responsible for damage caused by your wake.
There were fewer boats then, and they were less powerful. In some ways, they required more skill to operate, and there was some sense of fraternity among boatmen. (There were exceptions, of course, just fewer of them.)
Now any idiot who can pass a fairly simple test can twist the key of a high powered boat and go roaring off unshackled by the bonds of common courtesy.
Under the law, boaters are still responsible. Alabama law's definition of reckless operation of a vessel includes "willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property... ."
Careless operation includes "endangerment of life, limb or property."
Those rules are included in the leaflet "Alabama Boating Laws and Regulations that you can find at most marinas and at many sporting goods dealers.
Enforcement of the law is spotty though. The Marine Police are stretched pretty thin, and Lake Martin is a big body of water.
Boorishness on the water is just a small part of the me first attitude that prevails in so much of our culture.
Meanwhile, I'm considering investing in a small canon and perhaps a few mines.
Contact the writer at billatthelake@gmail.com
