Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

If boating in a severe thunderstorm with lightening you are NOT required to obey No Wake Zones. It's considered a life threatening emergency and therefore the regulation is waived.

Do you know your states regulation in this situation?


I did some research after trying to dock in this two days ago...

Looks like it was pretty nasty

It was very intense. This storm hit us while docking. We also got ran over while out fishing. Gusts inland were 53mph and I think a little more when we got hit. Damn that rain was cold. Went from sweating to shivering in only moments.

Glad you made it back in... damn, that looks scary!!

NH has the same law and I have taken advantage of it a few times lol.

ROLAND wrote:Glad you made it back in... damn, that looks scary!!

Thanks, it was pretty scary for a minute. It was mostly the lightning that I was worried about. It was all around. The truth is we should have never been caught in these storms. It was completely avoidable by just moving a couple miles and waiting for them to move on. Unfortunately, it wasn't my boat and my recommendations weren't taken.

Here is a shot of the storm that eventually hit us out fishing.

Do I know my state regulations regarding nasty storms & No Wake restrictions? NO. I live in a No Wake cove and we would never pitch a fit if someone was trying to get off the lake in nasty weather and ignored the buoys.

Ron Burgundy wrote:It was very intense. This storm hit us while docking. We also got ran over while out fishing. Gusts inland were 53mph and I think a little more when we got hit. Damn that rain was cold. Went from sweating to shivering in only moments.

And in a situation that you describe, if someone were standing there monitoring your wake, I would tell them to blow it out their #$%.

You don't need a law. . . . if you can articulate that your actions (in the unlikely event you were even challenged) were necessary due to an extreme circumstance or emergency, you needn't worry. That would be ANY emergency situation with ANY "laws" - like going through red lights - using a transmitter without the proper license - disregarding an air traffic control instruction, on and on ad-nauseam. In fact it you DIDN'T take obvious, appropriate action in an emergency you'd probably end up in MORE trouble, if you lived. I'm talking real emergencies here, not semantic crap.

When lives are at stake, none of that nonsense matters. If nobody was hurt, and they easily could have been, you did the right thing, period.

Yep I completely agree. I was just pleasantly surprised that the regs also recognized the need to speed away from a lightning storm.

Ron,
You need a bigger motor to outrun those thunderstorms.

margaritaman wrote:Ron,
You need a bigger motor to outrun those thunderstorms.

I agree but we weren't on my boat. Had plenty of power, 250hp, but nobody listened to me. I would have avoided both storms easily. I love my FIL but he's stubborn and not that experienced on a boat.