Quote:
Originally Posted by jrc
My observations this year seem to indicate no middle ground. Either the weather is crappy and the lake is deserted or the weather is nice and it's a mob seen. It seems like every nice day, everyone is making up for lost time.
To comment on Martha's comments, it does seem that any voluntary traffic alignment to improve flow has ceased. In the old days, when I was taught to drive a boat, we tried to follow general road rules.
Stay to the right side of the bay, channel or any narrow spot. If the marker was on your starboard then stay close to the marker, if the marker is on your port then stay away so oncoming boats can have room.
If a boat is coming head on, then bear right, this one is actually a rule. If you want to go fast, then go keep away from shore. If you want to go slow then go near shore.
I also like to "round" a corner rather than "cut" it. This is hard to describe, but imagine that boats coming out of the corner in the opposite direction also need room. So when you enter, make sure you enter away from where you expect then to exit.
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My observations agree with yours. It's either empty due to weather or full of people with the usual mix of Capt B. I'd rate the prior weekend more chock full 'o' nuts than last weekend but I don't doubt that varies from location to location. Just a for instance ... I had 2 kids on the SeaDoo and was hugging the east shore heading up Alton Bay. I was confronted by a number of boats all coming done the bay, all wanting to be on the east side as if the west side was full of hungry mosquistos carrying the West Nile virus. Included was one bonehead towing a skier coming directly at me. So I turned to starboard, edged the shoreline even closer and let him pass port to port. As I was about to come back on plane, having let another boat (a bass boat IIRC) go by, I found the ski boat passing between me and shore going the opposite direction, about 25' away (from me, maybe 75' from shore). Apparently I was the turn buoy. This is how he won his Capt B designation. Given the reputation PWCs have for unpredictable behavior I thought his trust that I wouldn't jump up in front of him most {Spock_voice} intriguing {/Spock_voice}.
Then there was the tuber who decided that all the traffic was producing a good chop and the best chop to dislodge his rider was right by FL28 off Sandy point. That this is where all the traffic goes and that his dislodged rider just might be in danger didn't seem to jog either of his 2 working neurons.
Now is this any different then it has been for the last decade ... probably not. There's just been less sunny days this summer (and last) for Capt B to make his presence known. The contrast between "off" days and "on" days is more marked as a result.