Getting passed by a Ranger
Getting passed by a Ranger
How fast it goes.
Many years ago my Johnson fast strike 115 started on fire due to a failed voltage regulator. That was pretty scary and I was thankful for a fully charged fire extinguisher! Other than the PTSD from that I don’t worry too much.
2007 Ranger188vs, Mercury optimax 150
Blowing it up.
Jet skiers scare me, I don't like to be by any Jet ski. They tool often turn without looking.
UWO's is my main concern, hitting something while running. Hit a log last week thankfully it was small diameter floater and just broke when i hit it.
Metal fence posts is my other major concern, but that is usually when i'm fishing shallow, also found one of those last week.
Bryan McDonough
2023 Nitro Z21 XL
Nitro Team
I'm in the same boat. I'm pretty careful while boating, but at the end of the day you can't stress yourself about stuff that you can't control. If you are out there enough, stuff will break and you will damage your lower unit eventually (luckily for me just been minor skeg stuff so far).
2020 Nitro Z20 Pro Package
Dropping my phone while texting fish pics
Hang on. I'll help you in 77 minutes.
Other drivers
1. Other people in and on the water.
2. Stumps/ solid objects.
3. Blowing a motor or damage to my boat.
2008 BULLET 21XD 2007 Merc 300xs
2018 Phoenix 920 Pro XP
Floating/submerged debris and other boaters are my concern.
What scares me is the same thing that happened in the Toyota tournament...running over someone. We have a couple reservoirs with a no wake bridge within about a 1/2 mile from the ramp. Even when numbers are called slowly at blast-off, there is inevitably a small traffic jam near those bridges. Twice I have had someone come from the side, pull in front of me, and come off plane just as I am coming off plane. Both times, it was good friends who did this. Neither looked back before sharply turning into the flow of traffic. In one case, this happened at our Thursday night tournament as we approached an old railroad bridge. When my friend darted in front of me and came off plane way short of the no wake area, I had no choice but to hit the throttle hard and go past him to avoid hitting him. In the process, I shot into the no wake area on plane. The tournament director was a stickler about violating the no wake areas and I was pretty sure that he saw what happened. He did see it and realized it wasn't my fault, but we were DQ'ed anyway and had to dump our fish that night. That DQ cost us the AOY for that trail. Yes, the guy who shot in front of me is still a good friend.
Other than that, hitting submerged objects is a concern...especially in those years where the water drops significantly on our inlet on Georgian Bay. When running along, you think..."Didn't there used to be a shoal somewhere around here?" When it's sunning, the rock shoals can be easily seen. But, when it's overcast, you've got to be careful and idle when you're not sure where the rocks are.
"The man of system is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamored with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it…He seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chessboard.” Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Hi Mike.
All of the Above.
Not much since these days I spend most of my time running about 40 MPH or less in my ole Ranger.
Hitting ANYTHING including a little plastic jug causing the prop to lose bite and the resulting bow hook was something ALWAYS on my mind when I had a boat that ran really good.
I don't worry about anything. I stay observant, control what I can control and use common sense.
Hitting one of the many floating trees, posts, tires, etc. that somehow find their way into Smith Mountain Lake.
Other boaters in fog and being run up on from behind in said situation. I dont understand why people go WOT thru dense fog. I have pics where i couldnt see to my bow, and can still hear people whizzing by. Stupid.
Hi Mike.