Your wash keeps travelling long after you've gone.
It rocks moored boats, erodes riverbanks, sloshes into open transoms and startles swimmers. Speed limits mostly exist to control the wash — not the boat.
You are legally responsible for the damage your wash causes, whether you saw it happen or not.
Reading the Zones
Six knots near moorings, jetties and swimmers is the most common Australian standard, but it varies. Look for signs, chart symbols and yellow special-mark buoys. Rivers, marinas and estuaries almost always have posted zones.
Wash Is Not About Speed Alone
A displacement boat at 8 knots can throw a bigger wake than a planing boat at 20. The dangerous zone for most powerboats is the transition — coming off the plane, or trying to hold just above hull speed. Get on, or get off.
No-Go and Exclusion Zones
Ports, naval areas, marine parks, aquaculture leases, ship anchorages, cable and pipeline zones — all have their own restrictions. If a buoy or chart marks it, respect it. Assume there's a good reason you can't see.
- Look behind you after every acceleration — that's your wash.
- Slow down early, not at the sign.
- Never plough through a mooring field at hull speed.
- When did you last check the chart for a special zone before entering?
- Do you know what your wash looks like at cruise speed?
- Would people on the shore describe your boat as considerate?
- Speed limits mostly control wash, not travel time.
- You own the damage your wash causes.
- Get on the plane or off it — the middle is the worst.