Tug Boats and Those Bright Lights

So – who knows why the heck the tug boats shine the crap out of boats at night? I understand that they are identifying potential obstacles, but why do they have keep shining that bright light in my face for over a minute sometimes. Generally, I am not in the main channel and am fishing the shore line or a wingdam. This puts me out of their navigational path. I just don’t get it. The other night, I was motoring up stream and was at least 500 yards in front of a tug coming down. That a**hole shined the light in my face and I could not see anything. I had to completely throttle down and move out of the main channel. Even then, he followed me. The guy was flat out made it dangerous for me. Is this a little game that they like to play, or what?

-Drew

Do you have a marine radio?

What time and where were you?

I do a lot of boating at night. Once I had a tow that kept his light on me. I radio to him (nicely) explaining that he was blinding me.

He came back with “I need to see too”…then shifted the spotlight just a tad and out of my eyes.

I wasn’t there, but my guess would be that he wanted to keep an eye on you in the case you were one of “those” fishing boats that decided to take off in front of him as he approached.

You/we are a safety concern to them in the night.

I hear you though!

Along the lines of what BK stated. They identify that your there…and they need to identify if you are moving

Ya, identifying I’m there and if I’m moving shouldn’t take 5 minutes. I have running lights on too. On occasion I’ve used a well understood hand gesture and then they move the light.

Sometimes you are just in their light path. They were probably lighting up a daymarker way down or up from you.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

I wasn’t there, but my guess would be that he wanted to keep an eye on you in the case you were one of “those” fishing boats that decided to take off in front of him as he approached.

You/we are a safety concern to them in the night.

Randy Wieland wrote:

Along the lines of what BK stated. They identify that your there…and they need to identify if you are moving

I completely understand that they want to know that I’m there, and they want to let me know that they are there. Like Steve said though, it should not take that long. I was a ways down river; 500 yards is not right in front of him. Not only that, but when I am off the main channel on a wing dam where there are boats parked just about every night of the week, they know full well that the boats are holding position.

dtro wrote:

Sometimes you are just in their light path. They were probably lighting up a daymarker way down or up from you.

Maybe every once in a while, but I am not buying it. It doesn’t matter where I am, if a barge is coming I know that I am going to get lit up. And for longer than I should…

I do have a radio on board. I actually tried to pick up there radio traffic, but couldn’t get it. Do you know what channel they usually operate on? Next time, I will ‘politely’ ask him to leave me alone.

-Drew

What time and where abouts in what pool were you fishing?

They run on either 13 or 14.

If you really feel they were harassing you, I’ll find the name of the tow and you can call their company.

They will tell you the same thing, it was for safety, but at least they will inform the skipper to be more sensitive to the direction of this light.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

What time and where abouts in what pool were you fishing?

With regards to the specific incident where I was traveling up stream, it was around 9:30 Tuesday night, just South of the 494 bridge on Pool 2.

With regards to all the other times that it has occurred, it was anytime after dark and between sunrise on any stretch of P2 or P3.

-Drew

MISSISSIPPI RIVER 02 ID 0661437 VIRGINIA INGRAM 10/14/14

I’ve never had the Becky Sue or the Itasca light me up. The Ingram boats on the other hand….maybe it’s because they aren’t local for the most part and not as sure of their surroundings. The Becky Sue and Itasca are local, you see them all the time. And they see us too, they always wave.

Just bring some sun glasses with.

Maybe they were wondering if the fish were biting…

Because they want to see if you’re catching anything, of course.

C’mon. You know if you worked on a tugboat, you’d want to know too. Plus that must be incredibly boring out there in the middle of the night putting together barges, so a little vicarious fishing goes a long way.

But as BK says, hail them on the VHF and ask what the problem is. They’ll probably just ask that if you’re going to move you radio again with your intentions.

Given the amount of stupid s#1t I’ve see people do around barges, I can’t really blame them for being as nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

Grouse

At the Everts corner there was a up bound tow that took to the WI wall waiting for a down bound. I was up bound and knew were both tows were.

I planed to skitter across the channel and take refuge from the down bound behind the up bound.

So as I streaked across the channel…the down bound sounded the danger/doubt warning.

Five BLASTs of his horn.

Now those horns are loud enough, but at 1 in the morning they sure seem louder and I KNOW that everyone sleeping at Everts was awaken!!

when i was younger i work on the river as deck hand and help run boat at night. I will tell you one thing there are to many idiots out there. these boats/barge/tows do not stop on a dime. when the water is up it is even worse.

Here are some thing i would recommend

1. Make sure you can always see the pilot house. if you can’t see them they can not see you! (for those of you that don’t know where the pilot house basically the top part of the boat with all the windows)

2. Never cross in front of a tow (which is the boat with all it barges) this is a death wish. if for some reason you motor quit or some other problem that tow will not be able to stop in time.

Marine radio
Chanel 16 emergency call channel
Chanel 13 call channel
Chanel 14 locks
Chanel 22 US coast guard
Most Boats/tows monitor Channel 16 and 13

I have not doubt that some people do some crazy things around the tugs. But honestly, some of the things that they do are downright dangerous. Just this last weekend Kendall (KWP) and I were out. The tug boat was passing by us, and lit us up hard core. I was motoring down stream (at idle speed) waiting for the barge to pass so that I could get up on plane. He lit me up, and I literally could not see anything. He did this while I was parallel to him! Stupidly unsafe!!! We were literally blinded.

After he passed, I rolled in behind him and got the name off of the tug. It was tough to read, but I think that it was “White Rock”. I am going to contact the coast guard, and see what they have to say about it.

-Drew

Tug, smaller boat without barges that works in the fleet, or a larger tow (pushing multiple barges) up/down the river?

I, too used to work out there. The idiot thing is an understatement. Just like a semi rolling down the road, people cut in front and dart around them and think nothing of it. Difference being it takes at least a mile coming downstream to stop a full tow of 15 barges. They have to plan their turns way out in front as there is no steering on the front of the barges. I’m sure you have seen a big power slide happen on a wide turn as they come downstream. If you are anchored, they might be politely asking you to move if near a corner, or planning ahead to adjust their normal path to avoid you, if possible.

If you are close, it may just be for amusement. They, too can be A-holes. If they are working, nobody should be having fun either, right? Most are not, but some are. There is the possibility that sex could be occurring in an anchored boat as well, so for a crew of all guys that is on the water for 45 days per trip, free porn is worth an extra look.

Usually a wave from a “fisherman” is enough for them to look elsewhere, but if their concern for your safety is an issue, be prepared.

Imagine if the mayflies are hatching….had that happen many nights when the pilot got bored. We on deck were lit up and then swallowed by a swarm of mayflies. Gotta laugh at work, and it could be at your expense, unfortunately…