The 24-foot boat lay dangerously close to the sea wall, its captain trying his best to prevent his stern from bumping against nearby rocks that based the wall. Mild sea conditions were certainly in his favor but wakes from passing boats were not.

I switched on the blue law enforcement light aboard the Coast Guard 25-foot rescue boat and steamed over to assist. Even with the blue light flashing, boats continued to enter Muskegon Harbor throwing their wake towards the disabled vessel, which precariously tugged on its anchor line, its stern brushing the rocks.

What could we do to stop boats from kicking up a wake? Not much! The emergency forced us to focus on hooking up the boat and towing it into safe water, which we did in spite of wakes.

No sooner did we have the boat safely moored at a nearby marina than our Group Command Center directed us to assist another boat that reportedly was sinking alongside the Muskegon River Channel wall with seven people aboard.

When we arrived on scene a 21-foot pleasure boat lay alongside the seawall with its entire stern submerged in water. We moored the rescue boat alongside the seawall and transferred a pump up onto the seawall; from our 49-foot aids to navigation boat we snatched another pump; the NOAA research boat next door supplied their own. Within moments, the chatter from three pumps hummed across the channel. Aboard the sinking boat, seaman Horkey probed around the submerged engine space looking for the source of the leak. Pump discharge hoses shot their streams into the channel. The North Muskegon 22-foot fireboat joined the trio of pumps with their fire pump.

Meanwhile a Muskegon marine sheriff deputy controlled vessel traffic aboard his 24-foot boat. His blue law enforcement light, the Coast Guard’s blue law enforcement light, and the red flashing light from the Muskegon fireboat lit up the channel. Still some boats kicked up wakes as they steamed past the emergency. It took an aggressive sheriff with a loud hailer to finally impose order in the channel and even then a few sailors, including a large sloop under full sail churned up a huge wake, which crashed into the disabled boat slamming seaman Horkey against the sea wall.

As with the previous case of the boat floundering near the seawall, the emergency took precedence over the wake bandits, but had we a free unit that sailboat might well have been cited for negligent operation, which carries a $1,000 fine. Incidentally, just because the sailboat was under sail and not power did not exonerate it from the no-wake rules. But regardless of the rules you would think-especially with emergency lights flashing on three vessels, a gathering of people on the seawall above the disabled vessel, the chatter of pumps, and a Muskegon fire truck now on scene with its lights flashing - that the captain would use the most basic of rules- common sense. Hello there, don’t the flashing lights tell you something?

In spite of his and other wake throwers counter contributions to our rescue efforts, we were able to secure the leak, which stemmed from a broken seal around the boat’s out drive unit.

The sheriff’s boat towed the disabled boat while we steamed alongside it with a ready pump.

After it was safely moored, the captain told us that he had ventured out three miles into Lake Michigan, and that fortunately the leak did not spring until he entered Muskegon harbor. Lucky. No doubt. With seven people aboard, all the ingredients were there to make headline news. Wisely, the captain had enough life jackets aboard. Now, whether his crew could have donned them in time- well that’s another story.

As for this story boaters must realize that we are all connected out there by a common element- water. In close situations like channels and harbor mouths that connection can be closer than we might like, especially if we’re at the receiving end of an unwelcome wake. Understandably, boaters easily develop tunnel vision as they focus on the course ahead. I see it often with new coxswains under instruction as they focus on staying on course, often ignoring traffic around them.

On the other hand, I can quickly spot a veteran coxswain by bird-like head movements and rotating eyes that miss little around them. This is a prudent way to handle a boat and one that reveals the difference between a skilled boater and one who merely steers a boat. So which one are you? If you boat smart, you needn’t answer.

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Boat Smart is now on the Internet: www.boatsmart.net (includes Lake Michigan water temperatures and local weather).

Use channel 16 for emergencies, and channel 9 for calling fellow boaters.