Boating Etiquette on Smith Lake

The dawn of a new lake season arrives with an official kick-off each spring!  The fact that many schools start spring breaks at the end of March each year, means the lake is be getting busy well before summer.  Those of us who live on Smith Lake full time have the good fortune to be able to enjoy a very calm and serene lake constantly during the off-season, but the inevitable nice long on-season period often lasts well into October, sometimes November or later.  Early spring is a good time for all of us to reflect on how we’ll react to the rush of more people, boats and activity overall.  
 
The words we love most are TOLERANCE and RESPECT.  Every single one of us has a different way that we experience lake life.  But that is not to say that we cannot appreciate the ways that others enjoy their lake experience.  Everyone is doing their thing, in their way, and it’s all good.  Let’s make a pact as a community to stay drama free and tolerant of one another.  Having respect for others is the key to making sure we can keep that pact intact.
 
It’s simple, and here are just a few ways to exhibit respect with basic good boating etiquette, and earn tolerance from others around us as we enjoy our lake days our individual ways.

​Don’t be “that guy” - get your good boating etiquette ON well ahead of season!

• Obey boating laws at all times always. Look them up online before the season starts, and check out our Boat Safety Tips.  Most importantly, check out the boating rules & regulations at this link for Alabama Law Enforcement Agency:  alea.gov
• Practice ramp readiness and respect. Launching or retrieving your boat at a ramp? Do it fast and efficiently. Always load your boat in the parking lot in a “make ready” spot.  Please do not load and prepare your boat at the ramp delaying others. When launched, pull your boat to a designated dock area to pick up passengers and gear. After pulling your boat out, don’t drain it, clean it, or otherwise waste time on the ramp.  To do those things, get away to a spot away from others who are in a hurry to get on their way. Everyone wants to be either on the water or off the water fast, just like you. Think in advance about how you can cut down your ramp time altogether. Delegate responsibilities and practice them before you get to the ramp.
• Do not be afraid to ask another boater for help on the ramp for any reason, especially if you need help backing in your boat or loading one on, better to ask than to have everyone in line waiting anxiously not knowing what your problem is.  You’ll find other boaters to be very thoughtful and helpful when simply asked.  Don’t wait for them to ask you if you need help, you might already have waited too long at that point, and folks are just ready to have you out of the way.  Don’t get offended when a boater asks to assist.  They are just trying to help you learn, and help you in and out of the ramp area so that everything runs smoothly for all.
• Practice courtesy at the fuel pump. Get fueled, pay the bill and move out of the way. Leaving your boat at the fuel dock as a parking spot is a big no-no anywhere.  If you need to get snacks, a map, fishing tackle, or just shoot the breeze, please relocate your boat to a temporary dock and tie up. Again, fueling is a necessary part of your boating experience and everyone else’s as well, but be considerate of other boaters who would rather be out on the water than waiting on you. 
• Lend a hand. This is one of the unwritten laws that can say more about you as a boater than almost anything else. If you see someone in trouble on the water or on the shore, lend a helping hand immediately.  If you do not, you are creating what we boaters all know as “boating karma.” It will come back to haunt you.  

• Please be careful that you don't find yourself in legal trouble by posting a photo of someone or their property onto social media, without their permission, and creating a false narrative about the situation, the vessel or the people involved, especially if there are children involved.  How would you like that done to you or your children?  Those types of photos might consist of people having trouble on their boat, being towed, undergoing a marine officer stop, going about their day leisurely on their dock, boating or participating in routine lake activities like sunbathing, fishing or watersports.. 
• Keep your boat, the lake, and marina area tidy.  NO LITTERING in Lewis Smith Lake. Marinas have enough hazards without having to step over draining coolers, wet towels, shoes, watersports gear, sloppy dock lines, and random trash from your boat. At marina docks, leave the dock area in such a way that no one will ever know you were there, and your slot is ready for the next boater docking.  Furthermore, guests on your boat shouldn’t have to complete an obstacle course to get from one end to the other–bags, shoes, gear and other items need to be stowed properly.  This can also be very helpful for safety when an issue arises and you need to get to something or someone quickly.  Orderliness is your friend in boating. Keep a trash receptacle on your boat at all times, and deposit that trash in the proper receptacles around the lake at the marinas or other designated areas.
• Stay a reasonable distance from docks if your boat is creating a wake.  This applies to all boats, any boat going slow and not trimmed correctly will be pulling a wake, so be sure that you are not close to docks, shorelines and bouy marked areas when creating a wake.  This is important to keep you from being liable for damage to the property of others, and for the safety of all.  If wakesurfing, be extremely mindful of staying in the middle area of the large open channels whenever possible, and seek out less inhabited areas where there is less traffic and docks.

• ​Smith Lake is very narrow in most areas, even along the large channels of Ryan Creek, Rock Creek and Sipsey.  Treat it like a road when navigating and stay to the right side of center of the lake when passing oncoming traffic, it’s just the way we do things here on Smith.  The narrow lake can be traversed much in the way you would operate your vehicle on a highway.  Other boating laws are available at https://www.alea.gov/dps/marine-patrol/boating-rules-and-regulations
• PWCs – you guys are small, fast and maneuverable, much more than any boat.  Therefore, operate much as if you are on a motorcycle on a major highway, and yield to larger vessels at all times.  As tempting as it is to jump a boat’s wake, refrain from doing so too closely, and especially when a skier is in tow.  If that skier falls, you could risk running over the individual causing bodily harm to both the skier and yourself.  Again, read the boating laws in the link above.
• DO NOT EVER AT ANY TIME follow another boat closely in its wake.  There are lots of little wakesurfers, wakeboarders, and skiers in general out there these days, and due to a large wake blocking their height, you may not even realize there is a skier in tow until it is dangerously too late.  And, even mature experienced skiers can fall while in tow and risk having you run over them by not seeing them in the water in time.  There are stiff fines for disobedience.  If there is a person on board the boat in front of you that you can see waving arms and pointing for you to get out of the wake, you are already too close, DO NOT FOLLOW TOO CLOSELY, EVER.  Just make it a rule in your mind NOW.

• DO NOT pull a tuber in wild patterns in lake areas that are narrow and hard to negotiate under the best conditions.  You are stirring up the water, causing excessive wake and disrupting the regular driving pattern of boaters.  Like wakesurfing, please try to gravitate to larger open bodies of water, and stay to the middle of the channels.  PLEASE keep your eyes on your driving and don’t get distracted by the tubers behind you and not looking forward enough–you have a mirror, use it!  Leave that for the observer in your boat who will likely be videotaping the action for your later enjoyment anyway.  You need to focus on driving and keeping your passengers and those begin towed safe at all time.
• Remember, Smith Lake is not only a recreational reservoir, but also a highly popular fishery. Fishermen who visit here are die-hard lakers no matter the season or the weather.  Therefore, be kind to the fishermen as they are parked fishing, and try to veer away from them to alleviate a large wake unexpectedly throwing them onto the shoreline violently.  Smith Lake loves our fishermen, and we want to show them proper respect and give them a wide berth so they return.  Remember that most fishermen are not “racing” around the lake for no reason.  Often they are either practicing for a tournament or in a tournament where there are time restraints that they must operate under.  Many folks who just simply offer fishermen the right of way all the time as a kind gesture.  Fishermen bring a lot of tourism and commerce to our area.  Let’s let them know they are welcome here, and we want them to come back.
• DO raise up your hand and WAVE to fellow boaters.  It’s the southern way, and the way of life on Smith.  There is nothing more unpleasant in the south than an arrogant boater.  

Again, these are all just well community ideas about how to have a wonderful time on Smith Lake.  

Written by The Lakeside LIfe Team
Photography by Terry Turner