Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Craft
Evenstar: The reason that you feel safer in the ocean then you do in Lake Winni. is because there are less boats per sq acre in the ocean then there are in the lake. Same with Squam.
I also race blow boats at a very high level, my brother was #3 in the nation for a while. We have spent more time on boats then most. I could toss my boat in the water on the Maine coast and of course feel safer then I do if I put it in the water in MA behind say "coctail cove" in Essex. In Maine I may not see a single boat all day, in MA I will see and be surrounded by hundreds. In MA there is a speed limit, in Maine there is not. I feel safer in Maine.....
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A couple of different issues here.
In my bay, there is so much sailboat activity, both small and large, It could take me 45 minutes or more just to clear the bay on a busy Saturday. Like others, including Police and CG, I slow down accordingly, but not headway speed. I spoke with a CG officer about this one day. He had watched me go out, accelerate to plane speed, then just below plane as I weaved in between 3 35' plus blowboats. I was perhaps 75' from the port of one, less than that from the starboard of another which was parallel, but ahead a hundred yards or so. I had nowhere else to go but to parallel them until clearing. Some of these boats go at a pretty good clip in decent winds. I could see a larger contingent ahead, so I backed off and let them go by.
I pulled around to the CG boat and started a conversation, asking him if I was OK with the way I was handling the congestion. He said he was fine with it, even suggesting I might go a little faster to clear them sooner, tacking problems and all. He said he's had to stop some people for just bombing by at full throttle, or even people tubing between boats.
One thing I never see happen, is GFBL boats navigating recklessly around like the average Bonehead out there. Not to say they're perfect, but as a group, generally very good skippers and safe. I believe after midnight is where the real bozos show their stuff.