Craziness at Hampton harbor!
 

I put my jet ski in the water at Hampton harbor today. Went up the coast a bit, then double back and went into Newburyport harbor. Talk about insane! We complain here about the Captain Boneheads on our big lake. But man they absolutely pale in comparison to the chaos going in and out of that harbor. Parts of the inlet to the harbor are no wake zones, but going that speed means risking your life, especially on a jet ski. In the non-no wake zones, watch out! There are some decent sized pleasure craft and fishing boats that put down impressive wakes. Of course these guys go maximum plowing speeds, practically swamping everything in there path. And if you see a whale watch boat coming...get ready...or get far away!!
Oh ya, the 150 foot rule does not exist there. At one point I was trying to go no wake speed, and on my left about 30 feet away there was a 25-ish ft boat, and on the other side of me was a 30+ foot boat. Both plowing massive wakes, which were converging pretty much right underneath me. I couldn't go anywhere because there was 2 more boats right in front of me! :eek: I couldn't believe how high the wakes were!
We got out of there, and I just looked at my buddy like holy crap, I feel fortunate to have made it out of there alive! Rules? We don't need no stinkin' rules!
Overall, we had a great day. Even that experience was fun in a way. So when you have a rough day on Winni, and see some 150 foot violations, go ahead and curse, cause it does suck. But just know that it is worse somewhere else!

Edited to clarify...Hampton harbor was relatively sane. It was Newburyport harbor that wasn't sane.

Welcome to the rest of the world of boating. We have it really nice in Winnipesaukee. Our ideas of a bonehead move here is a normal everyday occurance that would not earn a second glance by Marine Patrol practically everywhere else.

I grew up around and have spent a lot of time at Hampton Harbor, the party boats basically aim for PWC. Newburyport is as bad if not worse. Remember, you are also dealing with two of the worst currents in the world in this area depending on the tides. Quite often you have to really throttle up just to keep forward momentum.

We went out of newburyport on the 4th of july on our PWCs. It is a complete free for all there.(not that I would change a thing there) I kept laughing thinking what a NH marine patrol guy would do. He would probably get run over by the captain red!!!
Even the CG and harbor patrol go whizzing by 20ft away from you. If you try to follow the NH lake rules there you WILL get run over.
Winnipesaukee is SO much calmer, slower, more coutious than almost any ocean harbor.

There really is a huge difference negotiating that tidal flow out/in Hampton Harbor. I have done it on my PWC also.The main difference between nwz there and on the lake is you can practically stop on the lake and maintain control.That is not possible in a fast tidal current,especially in a larger craft.If you screw up on a pwc you can pretty much turn on a dime and resume your course.It's a whole other story with a big craft if your get it sideways.Don't forget that NWZ's are supposed to be no more than 6 mph or a speed to maintain control.Skip could point out the exact wording I'm sure.

Current!
 

You are correct, the current was screaming out of N'Port. Going in we had to throttle quite a bit to keep going forward. Going out, we had to throttle even more to keep from getting run over! It was definately an experience that I will not soon forget. In fact, we may even be going back next week! It was fun in a crazy sort of way. Having only boated on the lakes, it was an eye-opening experience.
Nothing like flying over the waves in the open ocean though! :D

The mouth of the Merrimack River at Newburyport is the second most dangerous outlet in the country. The Coast Guard trains it's rollover boat crews at the most dangerous (Cape Disappointment).

In order to maintain control of a boat heading with the tidal current, you have to be traveling faster than the tidal current otherwise you do not have steerage. I've seen the tidal current at the mouth running so fast that (no exageration) you could put a wake board next to a dock and get up on it!

The other thing to consider about Newburyport, is that although it looks wide and even harbor-like at the mouth it is not, the navigable channel is fairly narrow and that's where everyone is headed, in or out.

Newburyport is very picturesque, but it can be deadly for those not prepared.

There are days when the Coast Guard stations a boat near the mouth to warn boaters not to try to cross the bar. They can't stop anyone from trying, but if someone insists they ask for the name, address and contact info of next of kin. They aren't kidding with that line and it usually has the effect of turning "Captain Couragous" around.

Watched a marine patrol officer on the ICW in NJ for an hour or so last Summer. Poor guy had to pretty much ignore 3 out of 4 obvious infractions because he could not issue tickets fast enough. This is an area without a 150 foot rule, so you can imagine just how bad the infractions were. I saw PWCs and small boats on-plane between waders and the shore at a very busy island beach/sandbar. Aslo saw people just drive right over other people's anchor rodes and yank the other boats sideways.

Thats good to know Airwaves, thanks for the info. I knew it was challenging, didn't know it was known to be that dangerous.

Wow...quite a story Chip. I can't come close to that but I did have to turn tail once on the ICW at the Caloosahatchee River in Mt Meyers.Came upon a 100' er with a displacement hull, plowing along about 15 knots.The channel narrowed at the point we would have met and she was throwing up a freakin' tsunami.My 26 is pretty stable but turned back a half mile or so where there was a no wake zone.Don't like it when i can't see over a wave.:eek:

Awesome description, that made me laugh out loud! I don't think the whale watch boat that passed us was putting up that big of a wake, but it was still impressive.