Why did 150 ft rule come into being?

[Skip]

Originally Posted by Jonas Pilot

Hey Skip, Could you explain that a little more?

Sure....

On the Piscataqua River from an area near the General Sullivan Bridges out to the mouth of the river at Portsmouth Harbor there is no 150' rule between vessels as long as you are in the deepwater channel.

[jrc]

I did 5 minutes of Bing searching and found that LP is right, a few states have "distance from shore" speed limts, I could not find a "distance from other boats" rule.

That said, I think the rule is much more good than bad. The good is obvious, the bad is only in a few spots. Places like the six pack that would probably be just as safe if two boats could pass on plane.

One thing that is kind of funny is leaving the Weirs channel. If you're leaving the channel moving at headway speed and another boat is 100 feet behind you moving at the same speed, you can never speed up. The MP could write tickets all day following people out of the channel

[Onshore]

I can't necessarily answer why but perhaps this will help someone else track the answer down. Chapter 171 (HB 716) of NH laws of the 1990 session took many of the standards then established as Dept of Safety rules and codified them into new sections RSA 270-D:1 - 270-D:9. Among them was the 150 ft rule. New question is why did the Dept of Safety make the rule that would later become law.

[VtSteve]

I think the vast majority of boaters couldn't closely approximate 150' if there was a reward for doing so. but 50 yards isn't really that far, and I still think many that get worried, are actually further away than they think they are.

Our rule is 200', and not really that hard to do in open waters. The trickier times are when several boats leave a bay headed for an outlet. Generally speaking, the CG and police boats will stay in the lane along with the other boats, typically 50' to 100' or so. Speed is generally dictated by keeping up with the overall flow. Problems usually begin when boats returning don't adhere to the normal flow of boat traffic.

I think the intent of the 150' rule is a good one, and enforcement is usually based on common sense. The boats that roar off from a channel with other boats close are the ones that typically will draw the ire of law enforcement. Last year, a CG boat was to my port, an a 50' Carver between us leaving and inlet. We both took off quickly, and we were boat about 30' when we did so. Our wakes were not going to budge the Carver, but we'd not have much fun doing so with his wake. I waved, the CG dude waved back.

[lawn psycho]

Originally Posted by shore things

I can't necessarily answer why but perhaps this will help someone else track the answer down. Chapter 171 (HB 716) of NH laws of the 1990 session took many of the standards then established as Dept of Safety rules and codified them into new sections RSA 270-D:1 - 270-D:9. Among them was the 150 ft rule. New question is why did the Dept of Safety make the rule that would later become law.

I noticed that and I wondered if the true intent of the law was to have two moving vessels be required to slow to 6 MPH. If you above the section as provided by Skip you will see mention of ensuring safe distance to pass, etc, etc.

When the 150ft paragraph is reached, it appears to reference stationary objects. Having read that section many times I have wondered if it was truly intended for two moving boats who can alter course to be required to slow to 6 MPH. Usually a law is written more clearly but it requires interpretation to reach the 150 ft "safe passage" conclusion.

The fact that you have to concatenate sentences is what's the most troubling to me.

[Jonas Pilot]

Wow, that's the third time I heard that today.

[jrc]

Two moving boats can usually alter their courses slightly so they pass more than 150' apart. Unless of course you are in a narrow spot.

In theory this should work great. If your the only boat around you can stay on plane through the Graveyard, etc. But if there enough boats around that you cannot maintain a safe distance, then everyone needs to slow down. Nothing is perfect but this tries to addresses the problem.

The big problem is people don't know the rule, or pretend they don't.

[lawn psycho]

Originally Posted by jrc

Two moving boats can usually alter their courses slightly so they pass more than 150' apart. Unless of course you are in a narrow spot.

In theory this should work great. If your the only boat around you can stay on plane through the Graveyard, etc. But if there enough boats around that you cannot maintain a safe distance, then everyone needs to slow down. Nothing is perfect but this tries to addresses the problem.

The big problem is people don't know the rule, or pretend they don't.

The only problem I have had with boat wakes is in the Wiers area. It had nothing to do with speed but I had a wave almost swamp me from two cruisers in plow mode. Headway speed may have been the culprit.

I've just learned to steer wide of the fracas if I want to go over to that area.

What some captains need to learn is you don't HAVE to always drive in a straight line and a slight deviation to either port or starboard can give both boats a wide clearance. Some captains just seem unwilling to alter their course even slightly to thin the herd.

I have no problem with the 150 ft rule but I still would like to know how it got on the books. Did it pass with some adminstrative rule or did it get debated in Concord? From what I am reading it seems as if it got on the books with no fan-fare.

[SIKSUKR]

That's the third time I heard that today also.