[Ryan]

Originally Posted by Evenstar

And I need to repeat my question, because my last reply on this never made it past the moderator: “Why are you using 50 mph, when boats on winni travel much faster than that?” Even the MP speed study recorded boats traveling faster than 50 mph.

I used 50 as a speed that is above the 2009 speed limit. I used 40 as a speed that is below the 2009 speed limit.
To utilize real life examples, I'll use 62MPH which was the maximum speed recorded on (only) 3 separate boats in the speed survey.

At 62 MPH the powered vessel collides w your kayak in 1.64 seconds.
At 40 MPH the powered vessel collides w your kayak in 2.55 seconds.

Originally Posted by Evenstar

And, even the difference between 40 mph and 50 mph is nearly a second –

Actually, it's nearly 1/2 second.
The difference between 62mph and 40mph is nearly 1 second.
IMHO I'm not sure 1/2 second or even 1 second is enough time to perform an evasive maneuver to avoid a 16 foot kayak while travelling faster than one's 'ability to see'.
You have no idea what that operator's intentions were when you were swamped on Squam. Please stop trying to convince me otherwise.

Originally Posted by Evenstar

And I have been out in my kayak the past two weekends (not on winni) and didn’t have any close calls with a single powerboats. But that doesn't prove anything and it doesn’t mean that I won’t have any close calls this summer, nor does your observation prove that there won’t be close calls on winni between kayakers and high-speed powerboats.

My observations had more to do with the fact that I could spot small vessels nearly 1 mile away. So even at 'unlimited speeds' it is not one's ability to spot smaller vessels, it's not speed, it's either ignorance of the rules or alcohol, which make up 'nearly' 100% of the causes of accidents on lakes in NH.