Making wakes: Large tour boats on Powell are putting other lake-goers at risk

[Goblin]

I've never heard of the Maytag straits but Powell is full of nicknames for particular runs. I would guess that the Maytag straits is the stretch between the dam and Antelope Marina.

You are correct. It mainly applies to the stretch from Antelope Point Marina -to- the Narrows. I first heard the name in 2003 when the Castle Rock Cut was closed due to low water. 100% of traffic going uplake even just to Warm Creek had to go around Antelope Island through Antelope Point Marina. Combine that with 100% of AP traffic and you had what felt like a washing machine. Hence the name. Some have expanded the term to include all the way from Anchovy Point to exiting the Narrows into Padre Bay.

 

[Dale]

Maytag Straits is the main river channel from the mouth of Wahweap Creek to the main channel at Warm Creek. At low water when the cut was closed, it was the only way uplake, and it was like boating in a huge washing machine, with 3 foot waves coming from every angle during high traffic times.

Back to the subject of tour boats:
Our first introduction to tour boats was our first houseboat trip, and our first experience at Lake Powell nearly 30 years ago. The rental people did not tell us about tour boat wakes, and how to deal with them. We had all boated on Lake Pend' Oreille in northern Idaho since we were kids, and knew how to deal with wind, but had no clue about tour boats. To keep it short, we had the front door open, and the back door open,(the old green boats with the bunk beds on the sides, and an open channel down the middle) and we had to stop and send out a boat to pick up everything still floating after a 2 foot wave swept through the boat! Needless to say, that never happened again! When we had the cruiser, we would get as far away as possible, slow down and float over the rollers with a little power as needed.

 

[Dale]

Maytag Straits is the main river channel from the mouth of Wahweap Creek to the main channel at Warm Creek. At low water when the cut was closed, it was the only way uplake, and it was like boating in a huge washing machine, with 3 foot waves coming from every angle during high traffic times.

Back to the subject of tour boats:
Our first introduction to tour boats was our first houseboat trip, and our first experience at Lake Powell nearly 30 years ago. The rental people did not tell us about tour boat wakes, and how to deal with them. We had all boated on Lake Pend' Oreille in northern Idaho since we were kids, and knew how to deal with wind, but had no clue about tour boats. To keep it short, we had the front door open, and the back door open,(the old green boats with the bunk beds on the sides, and an open channel down the middle) and we had to stop and send out a boat to pick up everything still floating after a 2 foot wave swept through the boat! Needless to say, that never happened again! When we had the cruiser, we would get as far away as possible, slow down and float over the rollers with a little power as needed.

 

[Dale]

In case anyone is interested, we were coming into Wahweap, years ago. It was raining, very windy, and visibility was poor, A tour boat, that none of us saw, crossed in front of us, My brother, ahead of me, in an old Fiberform hardtop cuddy cruiser flew over the first wake and dove under the second, only to come up without a drop of water in the cockpit. I am not sure what my brother found in his shorts, but my 3 year old nephew wanted to do it again!

 

[Chet Garling]

I do not think there are many long time boaters on Powell that have not had or at least heard a story of the tour boat wakes, mine was 25+ years ago, happened once and never again, thought I was going to deep six the houseboat, something about standing in 6" of water when you are at the helm scares you, it also made me clean up all the things we had on the floor because most of it was headed out the front gate with the water.

 

[birdsnest]

Anyone remember how many water skiers were towed behind the tour boat to break the record for most skiers towed. I've seen the picture but don't remember how many skiers.

 

[potter water]

I would be interested to see your data point for this "fact".

At some point, personal responsibility does have to come into play. One needs to know the abilities and limitations of their watercraft, and act accordingly.

We are in agreement in your point that the single concessionaire at Powell is a significant problem. I don't have an answer to that one. But I don't think anyone does.

"Facts" are numerous posts on this forum and having been on the lake myself for decades, I've witnessed wake swampings many times. I've pulled people from the water and put them back on their kayak or canoe or other small craft. I've hauled a few folks out of canyons when their boat got washed away from heavy wakes. I've towed boats that have stalled because of heavy wake going on-board and killing their electrical systems leaving them dead in the water. I've rounded up jet skis that have been torn from the back of houseboats after the tour boat went by. The HB driver wasn't bothered by the wake but failed to see the jet skis broken away from their tow harnesses. All of those instances caused no physical harm, but while the tour boat folks were waving and taking pictures, the folks in the smaller craft were in harms way, wet, and not remembering they day they swamped as a great day on Powell. Several posts on this thread have spoken of damage and bad times during expensive trips on the lake due to heavy on-plan boat wakes. Those are enough "facts" for me.

 

[Brent]

I'm a bit perplexed by this story. Does the tour boat put out huge waves? It sure does!! But shouldn't the captain of the boat this gentleman was on also take some responsibility? After all it is the captain of the vessel who is in charge of all of his crews safety.

When I see the tour boat I have my own routine on how I handle it's wake depending on what type of vessel I'm on at the time.

My Ski Boat - I either try to outrun it, stay clear of it or power down to a very slow wakeless speed, point my bow just off the wake and simply ride right over the 3 to 4 foot waves. By the way. The 2nd and 3rd waves are usually the worst.

My House Boat - I keep an eye out for the tour boat when I am driving between Warm Creek and Padre Bay. When I see the tour boat I have learned to inform the captain of the tour boat on channel 16 to slow to wakeless speed and follow coast guard rules. He has slowed to wakeless speed every time.

My Jet Ski - No comment on what I do with the tour boat wake.

A few years ago a friend of mine was driving my house boat while I was looking for a beach and he didn't see the tour boat coming up behind him just before Gunsight. I had just entered the narrows driving my ski boat and saw my houseboat being overtaken by the tour boat. The tour boat wake rocked my houseboat so bad I was waiting to see my jet skis go flying out off my top deck. I now remind my other captains to always watch for the tour boat.

We are usually no where near the narrows when the tour boat comes. That one year we got a late start.

On another note. One year a friend of mine and I were sitting on a rock in the middle of the lake near the entrance of Wetherhill Canyon. We were just relaxing drinking a nice cold beverage with our jet skis parked a few feet away. He was facing the channel and I was facing Wetherhill. I soon noticed this huge grin come on his face. I knew in an instant that it must be the tour boat was coming up the channel. Without a word he ran over to his jet ski and was off. Again no comment on the tour boat wake with a jet ski.

 

[birdsnest]

I'm sure you were not a naughty boy

 

[Edward Gerdemann]

The tour boats are a hazard to navigation, but there are a lot of hazards to navigation on Lake Powell. There are lots of big cruisers that throw our four and five-foot wakes as well as the tour boats. During the summer months the main channel between Warm Creek and Gunsight can be outright dangerous for small boats. It would be a bit better of boaters observed the rules particularly staying on the right side of the lake. It's tough enough to manage the wakes in those narrow channels without having to dodge boats coming at you from all angles. The other issue is the failure of boaters to comply with the no-wake rule through the Castle Rock Cut. Last year I saw a park service boat rip through there on plane nearly knocking me into the shore. I see jet skiers running full throttle through there consistently. In fact, there are trips when the only boat I see in compliance going through the cut is mine. The Park Service could have a big ticket writing party out there every day until the word got out that the no-wake rule is being enforced. In fact, there needs to be enforcement out there every day until people comply.

A few years ago a tour boat coming up the left side of the lake where it didn't belong nearly swamped me. I reported it to both the NPS and the Kane County Sheriff's Department but got no response. I complained to Aramark and got no response there, either. Right now no one in authority seems to care. Perhaps if one of these lawsuits results in a big judgment and Aramark's insurance carrier decides to no longer cover that risk things will change.

Something probably needs to be done about the tour boats, but that won't solve every problem. There are a lot of boats throwing big wakes going through a lot of narrow passages on this lake. You can't impose no-wake restrictions everywhere. Until someone can come up with some solutions my best advice is to be observant and be careful. Practice good boatmanship skills and obey all the rules.

Ed Gerdemann

 

[Ringer]

I was coming into Antelope between the narrow part and the tour boat just about killed us. My 20' bass boat was tossed around like a cork. I would say they were 5' from trough to peak. The second round bouncing off the walls was just as bad. No danger of sinking but I have been on Mead in a storm so I know how to run the boat in big waves. Someone with little experience could get hurt bad. The tour boat was bow up and plowing at speed a lot worse than the photo here. I just flipped them the bird. If nothing else it is rude and inconsiderate of the "captain".

 

[eddy.price]

Big wakes from the tour boats - my young kids always get excited and want our boat to blast through them. Though we have overtaken the tour boat and rode through the big wave it creates I definitely give them space and am careful with my distance and approach angle to the wave!

On a trip last month we passed a tour boat heading north as we went through Warm Creek Bay on our way to the cut. As we slowed and got off plane for the cut I momentarily wondered if it would catch up to us and create havoc in the cut. Fortunately just entering the cut it reduced speed and I could then relax. While in the cut a rental boat traveling the same direction as we were passed us on plane! I motioned to slow down and they just waved! Potential hazards to everyone!

 

[JAKEdotBIKE]

I know some people dislike the tour boat waves and can be dangerous; however, every time I see one coming I like it! There is something about going up and down over the waves that make it exciting. My kids love it! But, I am also smart enough not to take the waves head on in my boat or go 30 MPH over the waves!

Do you have an Axis (I'm guessing so based on your name)? If so, the nose of my A22 seems to love ducking under waves and taking on water. I may put some ballast in back as we travel through the channel and dump it when we're clear. If you don't have an Axis, then never mind!

 

[Pegasus]

On June 18 last month, on a Sunday afternoon I was alone and dead in the water in front of Gunsight Canyon right in the middle of the channel. I had turned both engines off while our scout boat searched for a beach. When I tried to start them, they were both vapor locked and would not start for over 2 hours. Luckily there was minimal wind (but it was 108 degrees!) but still enough to push me out directly into the straightline path of all passing boats going up or down lake. I'm sure I was being sworn at as passers by probably thought I'd chosen to stop there on purpose. Many boats passed by me at cruising speed well within 150' - houseboats and cruisers, most of them waving as they passed. Several houseboats were also stopped in the area with their scout boats out looking for beaches causing further congestion. Then I saw the Desert Shadow (ARA's biggest tour boat) approaching and thought "oh crap (or insert similar word)". As Desert Shadow approached, I ran down from the bridge and secured everything in the salon/kitchen/head and on deck that was not already secured. As the boat approached about 200 yards away, it slowed down and motored by me with less of a wake than other boats. I thanked the captain on the radio.

Not 10 minutes later, another ARA tour boat came into view - the smaller one but in my opinion the one with the more dangerous wake as it is steep and deep (where Desert Shadow's are more like large rollers). There was now a houseboat sitting about 300' from me. This tour boat didn't miss an RPM cruising right in between the sitting houseboat and me at full cruising speed. Being dead in the water I could not rotate the boat and took the full wake broadside. Pegasus is large enough to not be concerned with being swamped by such a wake, but it threw deck chairs, sunscreen, water bottles, etc. around like they were feathers in the wind. Luckily I'd secured the major interior boat contents 12 minutes prior.

If I were not aware of that tour boat approaching, myself or any guest on board could have been in serious danger of being tossed into a wall or overboard. It was about 15 seconds of hell as the 4 or 5 wake waves passed by.

Kudos to the Desert Shadow captain, I won't say what I called the other captain, but it ends with 'hole'.

 

[Waterbaby]

I've never heard of the Maytag straits but Powell is full of nicknames for particular runs. I would guess that the Maytag straits is the stretch between the dam and Antelope Marina. Whatever that stretch is now called, I have purposely screwed with a couple buddies that were playing xbox on the houseboat. I hit every wave I could. Symptoms started with sweating, next was nausea. I laughed my butt off. Please realize these same guys found pleasure in messing with me at every opportunity. I love Powell!!!!

Been called the Maytag Straits as long as I can remember - back to the 70's. Maytag for the washing-machine-like waves. As for those who pooh pooh it and the tour boat wake - tell that to the houseboats that have actually come apart and sunk in the "narrows" over the years and the people who died a few years back in September when it was windy and a almost new very large power boat hit the tour boat wake in the narrows, came apart and sunk killing people in the process. We usually tried to make the run through the narrows early in the morning before the tour boats were out on the lake, but usually on our last day heading back in we normally knew we would pass the tour boat in the narrows - you can see it coming from quite a distance and when we saw it we would just dive into one of the little coves before you get to the steeper walls of the narrows and wait for it to pass and then wake settle a bit and then we'd continue - and this was in a boat that would take the wake if needed, but we had an experience one year where one of our dogs was actually thrown off a seat in the boat and hit very hard on the deck when we had no way to avoid the wake. We also had a friend in his pontoon-hulled boat think it would be fun to take on the wake one year - almost flipped his boat - and he is a very experienced boater. Rule of thumb - look out for the tour boat and then head away from it if at all possible and know you will feel the wake even if you are on the opposite side of places like Padre Bay.

Oh, and one day coming out of Dangling Rope - obeying the wakeless speed - the tour boat was leaving DR and darned near ran right over us. They must have been behind schedule because he was NOT at wakeless speed, was in a huge hurry and people just had to scatter and get out of the way. It was dangerous and rude.

I am no fan of these tour boats and IMHO NPS should have long ago mandated they go to a Catamaran hull like the boat here on Havasu that takes tourists across the lake. At one time there was a hull like these boats on the boat the Indians used for the Havasu boat and their wake became a large enough problem that they changed to a new boat that barely puts out a wake and carries plenty of people.

Turn off the sound - but this is a short youtube of the boat and what it looks like... Notice at speed there is nothing but a flat wake. Given the canyons of Lake Powell are much more fragile than our sandy beaches here on Havasu this lack of a wake would be much safer for the canyon walls of Lake Powell... not to mention the houseboaters and others on the lake.

 

[Waterbaby]

I do not think there are many long time boaters on Powell that have not had or at least heard a story of the tour boat wakes, mine was 25+ years ago, happened once and never again, thought I was going to deep six the houseboat, something about standing in 6" of water when you are at the helm scares you, it also made me clean up all the things we had on the floor because most of it was headed out the front gate with the water.

Been there--- people forget to lock the front gate, tour boat wake hits front of houseboat, gate flies open and waves flow through the boat and unless the glass door is closed inside the houseboat, all the while dumping everything on the front deck into the lake and everything flying out of the cabinets..

 

[PowellBride]

As a Northerner we don't often have to worry about tour boats, but the last few years have been an exception. This year bringing our houseboat north from service work in Page a tour boat overtook us. My dad, an experienced boater, wasn't really prepared for the wake. Having experienced them two years ago when I was floating in the main channel near the speedboat I knew it was going to be ugly. I parked my butt, but my husband who was down in the kitchen didn't get the warning.

He said as soon as the first wave hit, he hit the deck on all fours and still got slammed around. Of course it also emptied most of our kitchen cabinets. What a mess

My dad was in shock at how bad those waves were when they hit

 

[Waterbaby]

As a Northerner we don't often have to worry about tour boats, but the last few years have been an exception. This year bringing our houseboat north from service work in Page a tour boat overtook us. My dad, an experienced boater, wasn't really prepared for the wake. Having experienced them two years ago when I was floating in the main channel near the speedboat I knew it was going to be ugly. I parked my butt, but my husband who was down in the kitchen didn't get the warning.

He said as soon as the first wave hit, he hit the deck on all fours and still got slammed around. Of course it also emptied most of our kitchen cabinets. What a mess

My dad was in shock at how bad those waves were when they hit

Yep. Once we were just coming out of Iceberg and had the bad luck of the tour boat heading to Bullfrog passing at the same time we came out the entrance.. we were totally unprepared, the front gate flew open, wake came in and it took everything - coolers and all - off the deck into the lake. Almost took my dog, I was plastered in the chair under the drivers window and barely able to grab his collar before he washed into the lake with the coolers. Over the years I became paranoid about making certain the front gate was well-latched - just in case.

 

[Bailer]

I dont houseboat, so take this as the perspective of a guy who's always had 18' fishing boats or fish and skis. (Biggest I can get in my garage)

Tour boat wakes have always sucked, but at least there were only a few of them. What's changed the boating experience over the years for me is the size and driving habits of everyone else. 30 years ago a mastercraft ski boat or runabout was similar in size and wake to a bass boat. Ski boats running 30mph making the smallest wake possible evolved into wake boats running 18mph making a much bigger wake. I've done some wake boarding, it's fun. The wakes are annoying, but I rarely take one over the bow when up on my troll motor fishing. Wake boarding well is difficult, and the crashes hurt, so that has evolved into even bigger wake makers, driving even slower and more bow high, to wake "surf". I can't take the wakes of the biggest ones while fishing without taking water over the bow. On Powell, if one of these move into an area I'm trying to fish I relocate. On smaller local lakes I've given up trying to fish non-wakeless areas in the daytime. They even ballast up and go 9mph when they're towing tubes. I can't even remember the last time I've been able to trim up and run my boat on the pad, might have been my May Powell trip.

Back to the tour boats. (Safety nazis be assured that I'm unlikely to ever try the following...)

As an ex motocrosser, every time I have to slow down and plow through the tour boat wakes, I look longingly at what I see as a sweet spot a few boat lengths behind their transom. Anybody who's ever hit a nicely transitioned double jump will know what I'm thinking...

 

[Joy]

It's terrible that anyone should need to schedule when they go certain places on the lake due to the tour boats.
Back when we got our 1st pontoon boat (24') my daughter, grandson (about 4 at the time), little dog and I found ourselves navigating Maytag...hubby was with my son in his boat ahead of us, they were the 'experienced' drivers. I had had a few beers so my daughter was the captain, grandson was napping. I thought we were going to die. Daughter panicked, then I did...I was trying to tell her to keep it at a 45 degree angle, which she did, but, when the big rollers started coming at us, then the waves off the cliffs, she got a little 'backwards' on her throttle, with and without power, dang newbies, heck of way to learn, lol. Hubby and son had missed most of it, but, had pulled over as they "hadn't ever seen anything like that before...". They laughed and laughed. Grandson slept through the whole thing, even my cussing. I held onto him and the dog while my grown daughter yelled, "Mommmmmmy!"
I guess we weren't in any real danger as she DID keep it angled into the wakes as good as she could, but, they were coming from every direction...no escape.
I have a very healthy respect for wakes and always get a bit nervous when I see the tour boats...
One a better day years later I was on a jet ski and wow! I rode a roller that felt like an ocean wave...just awesome! The MOST fun even though I didn't quite expect it to build that big before I got into it. Exhilarating.
I've been beat up pretty good on a jet ski through the Narrows, too...4 big speed boats coming at you abreast...racing, while still navigating all the other 'action'. Ugh. I much prefer the north end!