Why do people who own yachts feel that they can flout the rules?

Question

They do stupid things, departing from any known navigational rules, putting the livelyhood, and liberty of licensed mariners at risk. Thing like anchoring in a busy channel, being a sailboat and always assuming that they have rights. Any answers Yachties? I pray for these people to be sucked to the crushing black depths for their stupidity.

Answer 1

Because they have the money to buy a yacht.

You see, people are naive. Ever seen a kid who thinks he's a mechanic because he bought a tool set from Sears? Kinda the same thing with boats. A guy buys a yacht and figures if he can drive it he can sail it. No traffic lights and no speed limit.

But I would wish the Coast Guard on them and not Davey Jones's locker... because inevitably they'd haul you or I into the depths with them.

Answer 2

One thing I've learned on the waterfront is that just because someone has a yacht, or is a licensed captain, does not mean that they are smart or competent.

There are some absolutely clueless people out there on the water.

A day or two after 9/11 a guy I knew decided to teach himself how to sail.

He almost ran into one of our subs. Sailors were piling out of the sub with weapons ready to blow him out of the water.

He didn't know how to sail, the motor didn't work and the anchor was not attached to the chain.

He was pleading for his life as he neared the sub screaming that he was an idiot and to please not shoot.

Another military boat blocked, and pushed him away from the sub.

Answer 3

Perhaps because they belong to the class of people who make the rules and have learned that laws apply only to people who can't buy their way around them.  Of course even those folks occasionally run up against laws of physics which don't bend to accomodate stupidity.  Crushing black depths sounds appropriate.

Answer 4

C'mon guys... You are giving me no respect.

Think about it...

"Stupidity" has no boundaries...

It is certainly not limited to the size on one's vessel any more then it is to the color of their skin, or their age or s*x.

Nor does it have anything to do with the "type" of vessel - be it sail or power, drift or paddle...

You find it in all walks of life...

at all "education" levels... and even in education itself.

Every Company, every career... is infected with it.

We all have our "stupid boater" stories... and I don't think by any means you can compare "yachts" (whatever your definition is of it) or "yacht" Captains to "Aggie or Blonde jokes".

Thank goodness... most people are responsible... and personally, I find most of them on the water.

Happy & Safe Boating!

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