Thread: Headway Speed
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Old 08-24-2008, 06:58 PM   #22
jrc
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Airwaves View Post
...
The law was written to make sure that boats are operated at the slowest possible speed when required to go headway speed in order to leave the least possible wake.

Quote:
The original question by jrc was:
If my boat can maintain steerage way at 3 MPH can I legally do 6 MPH in a No Wake Zone?

If my boat must do 9 MPH to maintain steerage way, can I legally do 9 MPH in a NWZ?

The short answer is No and Yes.

What is so hard about this?
While I think the second part is clear, you can exceed 6 MPH if the vessel and conditions require it to maintain steerage way. I never needed this exception.

I'm still not convinced on the 6 mph. I think it is a hard limit. Headway speed is any speed 6 mph or less.

So let's take an example. A canoe can maintain steerage at less than 1 mph, so by Airwaves interpretation, they could not exceed 1 mph in a No Wake Zone.
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