Unexpected waves

I went bank fishing in the deep water channel in Sac Monday with my son. Total skunk, not even a nibble. It is a location I wanted to try in my kayak, but I am glad I fished from shore 1st.
There were a few aluminum boats trolling the area. No wind, no current, flat water.
Then we heard a noise. Loud rumble. Looked down the channel and saw a tugboat coming. The wake this guy was putting out was enormous. As he approached one of the aluminum's, he gave a tug on his horn but didn't slow down at all. They were off to the side so there was no chance of a collision, but when the wake hit I thought for sure they were going to go over. I have NEVER seen a bow of a boat come that high out of the water. I could only imagine being in a kayak and having to deal with that wake.
A friend of mine was in an aluminum boat in Washington, fishing near some bridge pilings. One other anchored boat in the area. No other traffic at all. Suddenly a huge 4 foot wake ( so he thought ) comes bearing down on him and slams his boat into the pilings. The anchored boat came to see if he was OK. He was fine and asked what boat caused THAT wake, he saw nothing.
Wasn't a boat at all. Turned out to be caused by a small earthquake, a mini-tsunami if you will.
Both of these are good examples to have your PFD on or at least at hand even when the conditions seem ideal. Sure makes me think twice about stowing the PFD in the hatch.

I agree with wearing your PFD. Just the same I find my kayak usually handles waves better than the small boats. I also, bet you could sue that tugboat for damages. Your are responsible for the damage your wake causes. If there is a dispute, I bet you can prove that he was operating that tugboat in a negligent manner.

Tug boats are only capable of going 'hull speed' which is the speed a boat can do before you have to start increasing the power exponentionally to get another mile or two an hour. At hull speed his wake should be much cleaner. That means he was goosing the throttle to go a mile or two faster, which makes his hull inefficient going through the water and throws a bigger wake. Basically the guy is a jerk!

I have been out in the river before in my little klamath and had the snot beat out of my by waves. One time I took a wave head on at idle spped and the bow plunged in the wave and took a few hundred gallons of water on board, the series of waves got worse as by boat keep getting lower in the water and heavier with each hit.

My grandfather and his buddy flipped their boat trout fishing one time. They forgot to put the plug in and took on water. Well they figured they would just plain the boat out to drain the water, well the boat flipped! Both survived the incident. =)   

Kayaks are far safer and more seaworthy than small boats imho.

-Brian G