Raise your hand if you’ve spent more than an hour watching boaters make fools out of themselves on social media channels like Wavy Boats or Boats vs Haulover. Multiple hours, even? Stuffed bows, young children with their feet dangling over bows while blasting through confused waves, idiots tossing their trash into the sea, falls, slips and crashes that give scrollers concussion-like symptoms just from watching them, these channels offer rubberneckers a near-constant dopamine drip with every swipe on the phone.
Like many of you, I’ve been guilty of spending and wasting more time mindlessly scrolling through these videos than I want my boss to know about. It’s easy to see why these videos have such virality. Between the bikini-clad women, 40-plus-knot center consoles and of course the near-disaster highlight reels, they can be addicting. Just ask Aaron Stasiak, aka The Qualified Captain, whom we’ve featured in these pages and on our podcast, and who has captured the attention of boaters from around the world with a growing audience of 1.5 million on Instagram.
But talking about the channels that specifically feature Haulover, America’s now most infamous inlet, begs the question: Are these channels bad for boating? Is the idea of social media stardom pushing inexperienced boaters to venture into dangerous waters for a chance at five seconds of fame? Or are these videos simply shining a light on what’s happening in the real world?
On a recent trip to Florida, I swapped my khakis and dress shoes for shorts and flip flops and hopped in an Uber to The Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club. A far cry from my ramshackle Airbnb, I dragged my rolling luggage and made my way around the side of the hotel and out onto the jetty beside the infamous inlet. It was a hot, bright and benign day with only a short, stacked chop where an outgoing tide kisses the Atlantic.
I stood there for a while, somewhat undercover, taking in the sights and sounds. It seemed like almost every inlet I’ve seen from Florida up through Maine apart from the two men spread about 50 yards apart clad in black moisture wicking pants and shirts. Sitting in collapsible chairs with small shades, the men stoically scrolled on their phones. One was representing the social media page Boat Zone and the other Wavy Boats; wildly popular accounts that regularly run content featuring boating accidents.
The gentleman from Boat Zone didn’t speak English and it was clear, even if he did, he wasn’t interested in chatting with me. I spoke briefly with the videographer from Wavy Boats; I told him about my interest in interviewing him for a story in the magazine. He said he had to check with his boss/partner before talking to me. That request for an interview never was returned.
I would glean, however, that both channels make their money by filming the passing boats and then selling those videos and photos to the owners online; their burgeoning social media channels are but the side hustle and a marketing arm to their main business. It was a weekday when I visited and business was slow; the men would scramble to their feet when a boat or yacht was coming through to capture footage but alas, on this day, at least while I was there, there were no viral moments.
There was a hint, though, at how popular these pages had become. One man—a non-boater—standing with me on the jetty came from Texas with his family to visit Haulover specifically hoping to bear witness to some viral moments (or perhaps the aforementioned bikini-clad ladies) from beyond the screen.
I’m left wondering: Are these accounts encouraging bad behavior? It’s hard to tell. Nicholas Strasburg from the Coast Guard’s 7th District Public Affairs Team says that emergency calls to Haulover are actually down this year overall but then again, they’re not called out for near misses or poor boat handling.
I recently had the chance to discuss the bad boating the world is seeing on these social media channels with Scott Szepaniak, a Recreational Boating Safety Specialist with the U.S. Coast Guard, who was able to breakdown some of the bad behavior and offer a plea to mariners to do better. You can find his words of wisdom on page 72.
As my fellow northern boating brethren and I look to return to the water up here soon, I wish everyone a fun and safe boating season with one plea: Let’s enjoy more time on the water and less time scrolling.
Read Dan’s feature article “Hell at Haulover” here ▶
