posted November 12, 2008
The danger and destruction wreaked by the Tennessee Aquarium "River Gorge Explorer" is being described in a local open forum (no membership required to enter and read): www.chattanoogafishingforum.com.
Read the following posts by members that describe the actual impact of the "River Gorge Explorer".
1. Sometime this year we have added a new tourist attraction. This a boat that is approximately 50 to 60 feet long. I usually don't mind other boaters even the riverboat, who always is a pleasant sight. I have never had a boat that seems to leave Tsuami like waves and the boat will be on the other side of the river. I was fishing with one of my buddies and waves came over my bow. I am not only concerned about my fellow fishermen, but this boat is totally trashing the shore line. My friend and I noticed when the waves hit the shore they were close to four feet high.Does the Tennessee aquarium really care about the Tennessee River? Please help me, fellow members.
2. Catch 1 and I were down there a few weeks ago and got tossed around like a rubber duckie in my 20-foot Triton. The boat produces swells, not really waves and I agree they trash the banks as much if not more that the 30 foot cruisers.
3. Not good. The boat makes 10-20? trips per day down the river and each trip generates two massive sets of swells that kills the banks,
4. The captains of the boat are on Talk Radio about once a month trying to drum up business. They say that the now that they have the 50 mph approval from the coast guard and there is no wake produced. It was only throwing a big wake when they were "testing" it at the 30 mph rating and below.
5. I work at Moccasin Bend and have seen waves reach 3/4 of the way to the top of the riprap. Slow or fast, it throws a wake. I have been downriver and encountered this boat myself. It is indeed 'killing' the banks with the swell it creates. Not to mention it almost ran over me, even when it had plenty of water to pass around me. I had to punch it to get out of his way. The guy never even slowed down. Just stayed on his course and almost swamping my boat. In answer to the question, no, I don't think they care a bunch about the river. It is more about tourist dollars than anything else. This is a great post about a very real issue.
6. I, too, have been swamped by the Aquarium boat down around Moccasin Bend. I remember when they first announced that the boat was coming...they said it would produce virtually no wake and there would not be any environmental impact on the river bank. Well, we all know that was a lie. But, like Terry said, they do not care about the river, its all about the almighty dollar.
7. I can testify from several visits on the river that that boat puts out a wake like the U.S.S Nimitz. The people who want to blame the bank erosion on bass boats need to open their eyes.
8. Amen, brother. We are all taking the blame for something that 'none' of our boats actually cause. My wake compared to the "destroyer" is night and day.
9. Amen to that. Bass boats put out very little wake at all, especially running at top speed. This thing makes a cruiser's wake look like someone has thrown a rock in the water. It will almost wash you onshore if you are close to the bank. In addition to the wake I can't believe how it is driven. I wonder if the guys driving it have to even take a class on how to operate on the water?
Steve Campbell
pstevecampbell@gmail.com
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I also have a horror story about the Tennessee River Destroyer. It reminds me of a battle cruiser patrolling the area.
My stepson and a friend made a run for the bank when they saw it coming. About 20 feet from shore, the waves overtook the 16-foot boat and swamped it. It had positive floatation so it did not go the bottom. They swam and dragged it to shore. A TWRA officer happened by and made a report.
The company that operates this menace I hope will face some lawsuits.
The website for the boat quotes the captain saying it handles like a jet fighter
Let's light them up.
Mitchell Thurmer
Signal Mountain
mthurmer4300@comcast.net
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It's good to see folks who play on the river take note of other boats besides their own regarding the "River Gorge Explorer". My experience locally is mostly from the stern of a canoe or the helm of a sailboat. Thus far, the only vessels I notice that regard "no wake zones" around boat ramps or downtown are tows coming through or commercial passenger carrying vessels. When I see recreational boaters slow in such areas, 99% of the time, it's because law enforcement is in sight. I've nearly been swamped every time I launch or take out my canoe and not one time has the perpetrator been the boat these writers describe.
The rule I see followed seems to be "there are no rules" and, when they do slow down, it makes them look idiotic, stern down, bow up, with a wake to get a good start on making an ocean wave. I do not recall ever seeing anyone at the ramps I launch from giving the courtesy of slowing down to make no wake as they approach when I'm leaving or arriving.
The lack of common courtesy or even the simplest of professionalism is severely lacking in Chattanooga's recreational fleet, with the "testing of fenders" or "forgetting the plug" just a couple of transgressions I regularly see or hear about. I do not see them slow for tugs working barges at fleeting areas around town.
What these complainers seem to not recognize is all boaters are legally responsible for their wakes, not just the ones with licensed, paid professional captains. The folks I know who work this river have more seatime in a bathtub than most of our recreational fishermen do on the river. And they would be good to emulate in the professionalism they demonstrate in how they operate boats out of Chattanooga.
My suggestion to those who make hay is ride the river like you wish others to treat you and do it with knowledge of "rules of the road" and the legal responsibility you have to operate your boat according to local rules of operation. There are safe boating courses offered. I am sorry, no alcohol is served.
I'd also like to see documentation of shoreline damage, I haven't noticed a cascade of trees falling into the river along the route this boat operates.
Prentice Hicks
4th issue 100 ton USCG Master License
1# issue 500 ton USCG Master License
Lookout Valley
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You guys sound like a bunch of 5th graders. You don't like the boat because it rocks your tiny little fishing boats. Like you are really concerned about a wake. Your wakes are much more harmful than property owners all over the water.
I have a slow pontoon boat that I fish out of every day and not one day goes by that you bassing boys don't come by me at about 70 mph and swamp me with a wake. I run for cover now when I hear you boys coming. Just get in front of tournament blastoff from the park one morning. About 50 boats coming up river one after the other for about an hour. You think that doesn't do damage? Just ask the home owners on the river.
My wife and I took the river boat tour and it was great. I think everyone on the boat enjoyed the trip and education about the area’s history.
You bassing guys try fishing above the dam for a while and dodge your buddies boat wakes at the park one day. You will be crying about your own kind then.
Give it a rest. You guys are no different from the bike riders, they own the roads and you own the river.
Eddie Keyser
Soddy Daisy
* * *
The RGE is a technologically advanced craft with a serious social and environmental message.
Wake minimalization technology, both inboard and outboard, is designed into the hull. Leaving the wake aerated to dissipate more quickly than a conventional craft. One claim on a previous post stated the waves came 3/4 of the way up the riprap, this would be around 15 feet? This is quite impossible. At speed, with the help of its hydrofoil assist, the RGE drafts around eight inches. To give the wake maximum room to dissipate, the RGE operates center channel except when avoiding other crafts in the river. It also employs reverse thrust when slowing to prevent wake from moving forward of the bow. The boat also operates, quietly, between 60 and 85 decibels, has a low emission, zero discharge, water jet engine system, and burns comparatively low amounts of diesel fuel.
A trip on the RGE is consistent with the vision and philosophy of the non-profit Tennessee Aquarium, to "inspire wonder and appreciation for the natural world," and to "fostering the appreciation, understanding and responsible stewardship of the earth's environment."
Currently the RGE is the only boat of its kind operating on the inland waterways of the United States. It is a unique vessel with a unique purpose. Specifically designed to explore the Nickajack Reservoir section of the Tennessee River as it flows by our city and through the Tennessee River Gorge, one of the more spectacular and special places left on planet earth.
John Dever
* * *
I went to my riverfront property at the end of Browns Ferry Road last week
and cried. I've lost over three feet of bank this summer to that aquarium
boat. My bank is so undercut by the wake of that boat that we can't walk to the edge of the bank for fear of collapse.
I realize that all boat wakes will cause some erosion but my family has
lived on this river for seven generations and there has never been this kind of damage until that boat came. In one summer that boat has caused more damage than years of normal boat traffic.
When that boat starts by, the
water pulls back from the bank and then the rollers start hitting the bank. It's scary to watch and very dangerous for those on the bank.
I've read several letters to the Opinion about this subject and would like for Mr. Prentice Hicks who can't see the damage and Mr. John Dever who works on the boat to go canoeing on the river with me any day they would like. I'll show them what their precious boat is really doing to the historic riverfront around the bend and what it's like to be on the river when it comes by.
Call me boys. I'll supply the boats.
Sherry Chesnutt
Chickamauga
utrc2@comcast.net
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