Do you guys wave at boats?

[-]

Spirited-Way2406@reddit

I live next to a harbor, so pilots are concentrating on getting in and out safely and don't notice when you wave.

However, if you make a fist, crook your arm, then jerk your elbow down sharply a couple of times as if pulling down on a chain, many 18-wheeler container trucks will honk their horns. Kids love this.

[-]

Human_Management8541@reddit

Yes. I sail, and people always wave to me. And I wave back. It's Weird. We laugh about it all the time.

[-]

For a second, I thought this was in r/motorcycles & my instant reaction was why tf would I wave at boats - these guys are getting ridiculous with this stuff. Now that I am oriented to place, no...unless I am also on a boat (it still gets old quickly, but I try)

[-]

DeathofRats42@reddit

Yes. I think this is just boater culture, though, and I wouldn't expect everyone to do it.

[-]

mmmhotcoffee@reddit

Note: sailors in uniform rarely wave for fear of "getting chewed out"

[-]

RotationSurgeon@reddit

Yes — that’s the accepted etiquette in my region.

[-]

SKULLDIVERGURL@reddit

Yep.

[-]

spicyredacted@reddit

Yeah, I work along a waterway and I love waving to the kayak/canoe/flood control boats. They always wave back.

[-]

scipio0421@reddit

I used to when my family would go out on the lake. Now I'm stuck in the city all the time and we just have a river that's not navigable.

[-]

PuzzleheadedLemon353@reddit

Yes..it's how you can tell the locals around my parts. My southern born boat riders always wave! We are glad to be out on the water that day and have hearts of glee...I notice the northern newcomers act like they don't notice you...straightforward and staring at the bow only. If you wave, and they see you...they stare at you blindly.

[-]

Donald_J_Duck65@reddit

If you're in a boat, you wave. It's like being on a motorcycle, and you give a low-key wave to others on a motorcycle. In the US, people in Jeeps have to wave at each other.

[-]

LandofRy@reddit

I live near the ocean and there are a bunch of ferrys and smaller boats out on the water at any given time and people definitely wave (on both the boat and land) 🤗

[-]

pkondas@reddit

There are some things that one must always do such as holding a door or announcing to everyone in the car “there are cows over there”. Waving at boats falls in this category.

[-]

shelwood46@reddit

Sometimes we just moo at cows.

[-]

pkondas@reddit

😊

[-]

RubGlum4395@reddit

In my neighborhood everyone waves at cars passing by. Those can be two drivers or a car and a pedestrian.

[-]

2pnt0@reddit

The only waving that's expected and rude if you don't reciprocate is motorcycle-to-motorcycle.

Anything else is optional.

[-]

Beneficial_Layer2583@reddit

I grew up on the lake. If you’re in a boat and you pass another boat, you ALWAYS wave.

[-]

Kaurifish@reddit

True on the river among whitewater enthusiasts. That someone might save your butt in that rapid.

[-]

lisasimpsonfan@reddit

Same here. It is just hard to be unhappy on a boat.

[-]

bigbonton@reddit

Well, it’s better than having a boat? Having a friend that has a boat. — old joke

[-]

Bear_Salary6976@reddit

The two greatest days in boat owner's life is the day he bought his boat and the day he finally sold his boat.

[-]

lefactorybebe@reddit

And cause you never know who you'll need to rescue you when you're in trouble lol.

[-]

bigbonton@reddit

Same reason I always greet the lifeguards before and after I swim laps, and thank them before I leave the building.

[-]

Thhe_Shakes@reddit

We do it in planes too. And if its a seaplane you can wave at both!

[-]

bdanred@reddit

Lol where im from everyone is nice and waves to eachother because everyone is packing.

[-]

molten_dragon@reddit

That must be how all those guns get lost in boating accidents.

[-]

BusinessWarthog6@reddit

If i’m in a boat, yes. If i’m not then usually not

[-]

sparkly_star15@reddit (OP)

Aah that’s interesting! In the uk we do it from the pavements as well

[-]

JosephBlowsephThe3rd@reddit

In my area, there aren't many spots where someone in a car & someone in a boat would even have the time or ability to see & acknowledge one another, nor are there many sidewalks around the lakes/rivers/creeks for pedestrians to be near enough to bother.

[-]

Prestigious-Comb4280@reddit

Motorists wave at each other driving? You must be in a really small town and be going very slowly. Is your town really small?

[-]

CupBeEmpty@reddit

Fairly common all over New England and the Midwest.

In New England waving pedestrians on across the crosswalk is common too

[-]

Prestigious-Comb4280@reddit

I wave pedestrians and also making turns but not just to wave. Perhaps at people driving when I’m walking my dogs too. I live in Florida but I’m from a big city in the Midwest. I also let people in my lane or to thank people for letting me in their lane.

[-]

3catlove@reddit

I wave at people’s dogs in cars sometimes. People must think I’m nuts. 😂

[-]

Prestigious-Comb4280@reddit

My neighborhood gets that a lot. Sometimes people stop to talk to the dogs too.

[-]

CupBeEmpty@reddit

Sounds pretty midwestern to me (grew up in a fairly large Midwest city)

[-]

Prestigious-Comb4280@reddit

I got the impression that cars just wave at each other going by

[-]

JosephBlowsephThe3rd@reddit

Yeah. I'll give a small wave in gratitude for letting me merge or something, or the opposite: waving to allow someone to merge/cross. But my initial comment was specifically waving to random drivers as we pass. It's usually on rural roads (often narrow where both vehicles are hugging the outer edge to provide room), and always after having locked eyes. The driving equivalent of two pedestrians saying "good morning" in passing.

[-]

Prestigious-Comb4280@reddit

Interesting

[-]

ScipioAfricanisDirus@reddit

Where I grew up if you're on a gravel road and you pass another car headed in the opposite direction you always give a little wave regardless of if you recognize them. Usually not even a full wave, just kinda lifting your index and middle fingers off the steering wheel is enough.

[-]

JosephBlowsephThe3rd@reddit

Depends which town/city I'm in. Tends to happen more often on back roads, in rural areas, or in areas with minimal traffic and low speed limits.

[-]

Prestigious-Comb4280@reddit

I've never seen two motorists waving at each other unless they know each other and even then watch the road...

[-]

jek39@reddit

Or if they are both on motorcycles

[-]

kmoonster@reddit

It's unusual unless you are both driving the same vehicle type, like to motorcycles or two jeeps.

Or if you know the person (or confuse them for someone you know!

[-]

GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit

They mean pavement as in the sidewalk.

[-]

JosephBlowsephThe3rd@reddit

Yeah, which i mentioned aren't common around the bodies of water in my area.

[-]

LiqdPT@reddit

You also tend to be a lot closer to a canal boat...

[-]

frisky_husky@reddit

I think one difference is that we don't really have a culture of canal boating the way the UK does, and there is almost always an old tow path alongside a British canal that people walk/bike/jog along. In that setting, where there might be only 10 feet between you and the boat, it would definitely feel inappropriate to me NOT to great the people on it. We are just rarely in settings like that. I've gone for runs along canals while visiting the UK, and they're such treasures for someone like me who is really into industrial history.

That said, if I'm on a lake, or a boat passes close by, I often wave. I grew up going to my uncle's house on Lake George in New York State (look up a picture if you've never heard of it--it's very beautiful) and there are a lot of tourist boats that take people out for day cruises. If you pass one of those out on your little boat, you ABSOLUTELY wave, and everybody will wave back. Sometimes they will even toot the horn at you.

[-]

Appropriate-Food1757@reddit

I will wave from the shore if waved at. Not gonna initiate a shore to boat wave maneuver though.

[-]

emmasdad01@reddit

There is a whimsy to that. Love it.

[-]

sparkly_star15@reddit (OP)

Yeah it’s pretty fun :)

[-]

No_Importance_750@reddit

Absolutely

[-]

bananajr6000@reddit

If they’re close enough to see, ab-so-lute-ly!

This has been your crappy poem of the day

[-]

3catlove@reddit

Midwest here and we boat on the Mississippi River quite a bit, and we always wave at other boats. It’s some sort of unwritten rule.

[-]

Champsterdam@reddit

It wouldn’t be strange but it wouldn’t be unexpected. I was walking to work once across a bridge in Chicago and a massive tour boat with 100 school kids was going under the boat and for no reason I just took my hands and started waving very dramatically at them. All 100 kids screamed at the exact same time and waved back as hard as they could. It was hilarious. And loud.

[-]

OrangeToTheFourth@reddit

I was on a tour boat in Chicago and it was absolutely delightful waving to all the people on the bridges waving at us.

I just like that people are so happy to see us on the boat and we're all happy to be on the boat.

[-]

quickthrowawaye@reddit

That’s exactly it. I remember being a tourist in Chicago once on that architecture tour boat, getting waves from bridges and shorelines. It was such a positive experience and a wonderful day in my life that I hope others get to have that, too. So, I actively enjoy being a small part of somebody else’s moment now that I live here.

[-]

OrangeToTheFourth@reddit

It was the architecture tour! My boyfriend and I regularly talk about how we could spend the whole day just doing that tour on repeat. It's an absolutely treasured memory for me.

If I had to pick any city to relocate to it would be Chicago.

[-]

3catlove@reddit

My husband, son and I just did the architecture tour in October. It was our favorite part of the trip! I waved to anyone waving to me!

[-]

CupBeEmpty@reddit

I lived there for a few years and moving away made me sad.

Silver lining is my sister and her family live there now which is awesome.

[-]

CupBeEmpty@reddit

100%. I grew up going to a really rural lake. Not waving at a boater meant you were a communist that hated your fellow Americans.

The architecture tours on the river sound kind of lame and touristy but absolutely every Chicagoan should go at least once. They are awesome.

[-]

Informal_Durian_5017@reddit

Chicagoan here: The architecture boat tour is really the only touristy thing that all Chicagoans agree that we like. I've been about four times, and will always adjust my schedule so I can go with out-of-towners. The view from the river is different every single day because this city is always changing.

[-]

CupBeEmpty@reddit

Yup, you’d think Chicagoans would balk at such a touristy thing but essentially every one of them I know has gone at least once.

[-]

renegadecoaster@reddit

I just waved to a tour boat in Chicago from a bridge the other day. Nobody waved back. I was devastated

[-]

grrgrrtigergrr@reddit

I’ll wave to anyone in the boats that wave first, while at the same time giving angry looks at people stopping in the sidewalk to take a selfie.

[-]

Onyx_Lat@reddit

As someone who lives in a landlocked region, this is something I've never experienced. We have a river going through town but it's not navigable.

If we had boats, I would totally wave at random boat people though.

[-]

Rough-Trainer-8833@reddit

We in the USA are in general boat wavers, cheers!

[-]

fuzzyizmit@reddit

Grew up in the midwest... we wave at everyone for any reason.

[-]

shelwood46@reddit

When we lived briefly in a small town in SW WI when I was a kid, my mom sprained her ring finger playing softball and had it in a splint and everyone though she was giving them the finger when she was driving. Until she then tried awkwardly slam the car door with the same hand her splinted finger was on and smashed her thumb and also had to keep that taped up, and suddenly everyone thought she was waving and were much nicer to her.

[-]

DontRunReds@reddit

Well no, but that's because boats are out in the ocean. No navigable freshwater close to me.

[-]

Just_curious4567@reddit

Yep this is true here also

[-]

FlippingPossum@reddit

Absolutely. Waving at trains and planes is also on the table.

[-]

Southern-Usual4211@reddit

Desert dweller here haven't seen a boat in years but if i did i would wave

[-]

CupBeEmpty@reddit

I’m actually having trouble thinking of a body of water big enough or deep enough for boating in NM

[-]

Southern-Usual4211@reddit

Elephant butte Navajo and Cochiti come to mind. IIRC Fenton is possible for little boats

[-]

CupBeEmpty@reddit

Yeah true. I’m just far more used to places where too much water is the problem not too little

[-]

Southern-Usual4211@reddit

Yeah im the opposite

[-]

donuttrackme@reddit

Yes, but not all the time.

[-]

patawpha@reddit

Boats, trains, velocipedes, any sort of whimsical transportation you are on I'm going wave at you. That's the price you pay for being whimsical in my vicinity.

[-]

bigbonton@reddit

Yes. Wave to connect over the distance. Wave and clasp your hands overhead to declare everything‘s all right. Wave both arms up and down together if there is distress. Use big waves, large gestures, to carry visually over a distance. SOURCE: US Coast Guard Vet. who waves.

[-]

ucbiker@reddit

Yes, if I am on a boat too.

[-]

altarwisebyowllight@reddit

Yes, sometimes! It's kind of funny, but trains and sometimes planes can also get waves. Just not usually cars.

[-]

ExcellentMaize4141@reddit

Occasionally semi-trucks get waves though

[-]

CupBeEmpty@reddit

Or the arm up pumping the arm up and down like pulling on the horn rope. When a kid gets a think from a truck they get so excited.

[-]

lazy_jackalope@reddit

This is super random and niche, but one of my favorite things about going rafting on the Deschutes River in OR is that there are train tracks that run next to the river for a good chunk of it. We always try to get the trains to blow their horns when they go by, and they usually do! Don't have to be a kid to love stuff like that :)

[-]

CupBeEmpty@reddit

Solid.

[-]

ExcellentMaize4141@reddit

My friends and I occasionally do this as college students. Still fun

[-]

CupBeEmpty@reddit

There was a gap between around college and when I had my first kid where I was “too adult” for such nonsense. But now I have two kids and “they” really love doing it. Of course I had to be a good father and teach them how to do it properly.

Checkmate social conventions.

[-]

handcraftedcandy@reddit

I live along the Erie Canal and yeah, we always wave at passing boats.

[-]

Cinisajoy2@reddit

Well if I see a boat here, there won't be anyone in or on it.

Yes, where people are commonly on boats I do wave.

[-]

unreliable-jamoke@reddit

Is this a Wrangler forum?

[-]

TheyMakeMeWearPants@reddit

Sometimes. I remember doing the boat tours at Niagara Falls and waving to people doing them from the other side.

[-]

New-Process-52@reddit

Yes

[-]

la-anah@reddit

We don't really have canals. Generally speaking, if the water is deep enough for a boat, it is too far from shore to make casual hand waving noticeable. And if someone is in a boat small enough for shadow water, like a kayak, their hands are busy with oars and cannot wave back, so it would be weird to wave to them.

[-]

quitealargeorangecat@reddit

Rivers exist.

[-]

macoafi@reddit

As someone who spent a lot of time on boats growing up, yes.

[-]

Ghoulish_kitten@reddit

I learned about this in Lake Tahoe and yes it’s a thing.

[-]

qu33nof5pad35@reddit

No

[-]

Prize_Consequence568@reddit

No.

We shoot torpedos at them. LAND HO!

[-]

shammy_dammy@reddit

No. I do not. I have no reason to.

[-]

MrLongWalk@reddit

If you can see eachother? Yeah

I'm not waving to boats a mile out onto the lake or in the harbor.

[-]

CupBeEmpty@reddit

That the stodgy unfriendliness of new Englanders right there

[-]

Vulpix_lover@reddit

At least in my area, most people wave at Cost Guard vessels and Military warships when they pass through

[-]

anneofgraygardens@reddit

Yeah, everyone waves at boats. In 2018 I went to Panama and spent a very happy afternoon at the obervation deck at the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal. There were tourists speaking many languages there with me. Everyone waved at the ship people going by, and the ship people waved back at us. Sometimes they'd blow their horns at us. It was delightful. I took like fifteen videos that I should probably delete because my Google storage is at 95% but what if I need to watch my Panama Canal videos??????

[-]

yyythoo@reddit

Yes, you wave to boats. Especially if you are also on a boat.

[-]

onesaltybeachh@reddit

My family were boaters when I was growing up, you ~always~ wave!

[-]

ButterscotchOdd8257@reddit

Yes.

[-]

bonzai113@reddit

if someone waves at me, I'm waving back. It's simple courtesy to do so.

[-]

Friendly_Side3258@reddit

Always

[-]

MilaVaneela@reddit

We used to go on nature walks at the Cross Florida Barge Canal and we’d always wave at the boaters going up and down the canal. Just about all the time, they’d wave back.

[-]

CupBeEmpty@reddit

100%. I grew up going to a really rural lake. Not waving at a boater meant you were a communist that hated your fellow Americans.

[-]

Pitiful_Lion7082@reddit

If I'm also on a boat, yes. If I'm not on a boat, I do not initiate a wave, but I'd return one.

[-]

thomasjmarlowe@reddit

If it’s being towed on the back of a trailer? Generally not

If it’s in the water and I’m within a reasonable distance? Generally yes

[-]

jessek@reddit

There aren’t many boats where I live

[-]

YourGuyK@reddit

My parents live on a lake, and yes we wave at passing boats, and also at other boats while out on the lake.

[-]

kmoonster@reddit

We don't have many of the small canals like you have which are also able to move boats. Small canals tend to be strictly irrigation. Canals that can move boats tend to be quite large, enough that the boat may not notice you waving (unless they're standing still in a lock).

Trains, however? You can definitely wave at trains if you're close enough to be "in view" ahead of the train as it approaches and it's going slow enough to shout a word or two.

[-]

tacobellbandit@reddit

Shit if I’m drift boating I throw em a beer

[-]

MajesticBread9147@reddit

I'd feel pretty goofy.

Boats in rivers are generally just rich people/party boats.

Boats in ports are container ships.

I don't really see the point in paying special attention to either.

[-]

sparkly_star15@reddit (OP)

Yeah that makes sense - in England we have loads of canals so pedestrians are literally within like 3-4 metres of the boat, and theres quite a lot of them in some canals! A few people live in canal boats so it’s usually not party boats or anything like that

[-]

Spirited_Ingenuity89@reddit

I’ve never lived somewhere where I would regularly walk by a body of water with small boats in it.

I grew up near a major river, and the only way to walk along the water was to drive down to the marina. Also, most of the boats on it were like industrial coal barges. I crossed the river often in a car, but the bridges were high, so you couldn’t really interact with the boats.

Then I lived near one of the largest maritime hubs in the US, but again, I rarely walked along a waterway. Going on/through one of the bridge-tunnels (and bridge that turns into a tunnel then back into a bridge), it was always cool when you saw an aircraft carrier or huge container ship on one side of the tunnel before you went in and then saw it on the other side when you came out. I loved that I went under that huge ship!

I’m sure that if I lived somewhere with a riverwalk/boardwalk/lakefront, I would regularly wave at the boats. The few times I’ve had this experience, I’ve definitely waved!

[-]

CraftFamiliar5243@reddit

I've only been to homes on really busy lakes or rivers and we did not wave because it was so busy, you'd be waving non-stop

[-]

JadedDreams23@reddit

You have to. It’s a rule.

[-]

Crazycatlover@reddit

Americans usually wave at anyone we encounter, whether or not they are on a boat.

[-]

MountainTomato9292@reddit

Yep! And when I got married on the beach, a boat cruised by in the background, saw what we were doing, blew their horn and everyone on the boat waved and cheered. It was so fun!

[-]

jakerooni@reddit

When I've gone with friends out on lakes and whatnot, this is quite common. Hell, I was on a giant cruise ship in January and there were 8 other ones docked at Cozumel, and even then everyone was waving boat-to-boat as we all disembarked lol. A couple guys even did the whole, "What's your name?!" "Tony!" "FU Tony!" thing back and forth and it was hilarious

[-]

ms_panelopi@reddit

Yes wave! Unless they have big MAGA TRUMP flags.

[-]

rawbface@reddit

I don't own a boat, but everyone in my wife's family does. Down at the marina, if there is a boat coming or going, everyone helps. You'll probably have 3 or 4 people helping you tie back into the slip, no matter who is around or whose boat it is.

But if I just, like, see a boat? No, I don't feel compelled to wave at it. This does sound a lot like what little kids do to tractor-trailers though.

[-]

CtForrestEye@reddit

If they're leasurly going by, yes. If they're zooming by at 100 kph, no.

[-]

BUBBAH-BAYUTH@reddit

Yep. It’s an instinct at this point

[-]

deathshr0ud@reddit

Always, yes

[-]

concernedfern@reddit

We always wave at boats on lakes! If the others done wave back, I get sad 😂

[-]

TokyoDrifblim@reddit

If you are in a boat yes 100% of the time you wave at other boats. I think if you're on land and some sort of tour boat or something is passing by, usually the people on the boat initiate waving and saying hello and then you respond

[-]

Bluemonogi@reddit

I never have but I don’t live near places where people are boating.

[-]

Im_Not_Nick_Fisher@reddit

I’m in an area with lots of canals, so I frequently see boats going by when I’m on my bike. I’ll always wave at them.

[-]

Fae-SailorStupider@reddit

I grew up in the land of 10,000 lakes where everyone and their brother had a boat. And yes, waving was customary. Whether you're waving at a fellow boater, or youre waving at a boat from your dock/porch.

[-]

JimBones31@reddit

Working on a tugboat in NYC, we get waved at quite a bit by people on the sidewalk.

[-]

RDCAIA@reddit

Do you wave back?

[-]

that-Sarah-girl@reddit

I'm almost never close enough to the river for a boat to see me.

If I saw a human on the boat and they looked at me I'd probably wave at the human.

[-]

urquhartloch@reddit

Im from rural western us. We do that with every vehicle.

[-]

Psyko_sissy23@reddit

I live in the mountains of Arizona. If there is a boat going by, there's bigger problems.

[-]

Aggressive-Emu5358@reddit

No because I live in the high desert but I do wave at trains and fire trucks

[-]

Sco_Queen@reddit

No

[-]

Comfortable-Bike9080@reddit

everytime hehe

[-]

bgdv378@reddit

We very much do!

[-]

Adjective-Noun123456@reddit

Yep. Boats and golf carts are the 2 vehicles that always get a wave. Got that drilled into me growing up.

[-]

GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit

You always wave.

As a boater, it is one of my more favorite things.

[-]

mickeltee@reddit

I spend a lot of time on a boat in the summer. Short answer is that some people do and some people don’t. When we are pulling back into the boat club some people on the beach wave and ask how it was out there and others don’t bother.

[-]

Mist2393@reddit

We have a long pier at the mouth of a river that sailboats and personal boats pass through all the time, and kids will stand on the pier and wave at the boats as they go in and out, but most adults won’t. If people are boating on the canal, they might get a glance, but also usually not a wave.

[-]