[Evenstar]

Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Guy

Evenstar. This is not a slam and is a sincere question.

Ok, but if you are truely sincere, you won't try to twist my responses and use them against me (and I would appreciate it if others didn't either). As far as the 150 foot rule goes, it has been my experience that:

1. the rule is broken a LOT.
2. it is broken by boats traveling less than 45 mph and by boats traveling over 45 mph.
3. The danger increases with the speed of the boat. The ones that don't seem to see me are usually the faster boats.

[quote]You are the only person I know who has traveled 800 miles in a kayak./quote]
The 800 miles that I've logged is over 3 seasons. In at least one of those seasons I was on the water from April 16th until mid Nov, which is 7 months, but if I just use 5 months as an average season, that's 15 months total, which is ~53 miles a month average. I have paddled over 50 miles in 3 days. (Note: my logged time over the past 3 seasons is not even close to the total amount of miles that I have paddled - as it's only from those 3 seasons, and it does not include my paddling time here at my university, on the bay.)

I would like to understand if you tend to kayak close to shore or across the broads or what percentage of miles would you attribute to each?

First of all I've made it clear that most of my paddling time has been on other large NH lakes, so there's no way that a percentage would have any real meaning. In general, I do most of my paddling 1/4 mile or more from shore. I stay closer to shore whenever I take a beginner with me, or when the water is very cold (although I now have a drysuit, so cold water is no longer as much of an issue.)

The second question is, do you perceive that boats violate the 150 foot rule with you because they don't see you or don't care?

As far as high-speed boats, both. Some obviously didn't see me/us, based on their reactions and expressions (yes, they were that close!). Other boaters and especially guys on PWC, have come directly at us at high speeds, getting way closeer than 150 feet, thinking that it was funny (they were laughing). Others just didn't seem to have a clue that they were doing anything wrong. I would extimate that I have experienced roughly the same number of violations from each group.

Do you have a feeling for how often boats violate your 150 foot circle at a speed above 6mph.

I have seldom been out on a large NH lake, without having my 150 foot space violated at least once. I have never paddled on Winni without it happening several times (and I'm talking about boats well in excess of 6mph).

Thank you in advance for helping my understanding.

You're welcome.