wantingmore-I know! A friend of mine recently got stopped there and asked the Officer (a bit sarcastic I might add) "how do you know this is where those things are crossing the river?" I guess, in the end, he agreed and just got away with a warning...

It's soooo stupid...like the 25 MPH speed limit...my Formula was hardly on plane at 25 MPH! It drew alot less water at 70MPH!:evilb:

It's all a bunch of really bad science.

Yep, sorry Terry, I had been corrected on this before, but just can't seem to equate being able to be on plane in the narrows to dead slow at shell point, for me that is the misrable portion of the trip, specially if you have a full running current in the opposite direction and the water patrol is pointing at your red boat and indicating slow down, 900 rpm with both, they will pointing and gesturing to slow down while I am being passed by a shorter runabout almost on plane less than 50 feet away, or crusiers easily going double my speed.

I kinda like
"This just plain sucks mile"?
What bothers me is the cops don't know the diff between a "Slow Speed" Zone and a "No Wake" Zone.
They sometimes treat it as No Wake. And they typically jump up on plane to chase you down to remind you.

88 are you the red 10M with the Bimini top?

Happens to me too! I think of Shell Point as the "Miserable Mile" also, but technically speaking it is the stretch where Picnic Island is...

I actually hear that more often than not.

Yes and No,

Yes, that is me with red hull and big Yellow Bimini (wife has sun issues and needs to stay out of the direct sun as much as possible, so the top covers the sun pad.

and No.
I wish it were a 10m but it is only an 8.8m
but it is not 28.87 feet long but 30 feet 6" beak to transom. Back in the day perhaps Mr. Fountain related hull length to equal hulls without beaks? I added the 2.5 foot long swim platform and now it measures a full 33 feet hence the screen name. (really just wishful thinking)

Sounds like 10M to me.
I see you all the time.
Next time I'll make sure to wave and say hi.

Salesmanship..........Hi Terry..thats correct,the miserable mile
is from Little Shell Island to Pine Island, near St. James City.

88Fount.......Where are you ? My house is on Lake Finnisterre
and I go out at Tarpon Point. I'm about 15-18 mins to river.

If you look in S.W. area...don't go behind the lock......can be a
major PIA.

As for the area just north of the Yacht Club that is a slow zone: There is a deep ridge there where the river bends, right along the marked channel. The rest of the river is so shallow it forces all the manatees to congregate right there along and in the channel. 'They' decided there was enough risk to the manatees that it was necessary to make it a slow zone. A FWC officer explained it to me a while ago, makes sense. NOT that I agree with all of the manatee speed laws.

I can remember the 'good old days' when we could run the outside of the Shell Islands to avoid the idle zone..... was always interesting at the south/west end since the bottom always shifts.