Quote:
Originally Posted by hazelnut
el I couldn't disagree more with you. I live on the lake all summer long and I can only assume you are boating on weekdays between 5 and 8 pm. Other than that I have witnessed the absolute worst boating displays EVER this year. Please for you and your friends sake do not spread the word the the lake is somehow magically safer this year as you will be putting yourself and your friends lives at serious risk. As an islander I can tell you I boat way more than the average boater as it is my primary source of transportation. My 25 foot bowrider capable of a shade faster than 47MPH is my car. I am subjected to seeing the absolute worst of the worst and I can tell you that this lake is VERY dangerous right now. I was absolutely horrified on Saturday. Pulling out of my dock felt like getting on to I-95. Tubers in channels with kids in the water. Boats 25-35 feet away from each other. An idiot on a Jet Ski with two others on it cut across my bow less than 25 feet. First time I ever used my horn like a car horn. It worked and the kid waved.  He thought I was saying hello! This lake is absolutely NOT safer. I started boating on the lake in around 1981. I've driven everything from a tin boat to the Doris E. herself. I can tell you from experience that things have gone way downhill in the past few years and I am getting scared going out on a Saturday. Let me add that not ONE Performance boat has been involved in any of these situations, not ONE! So I am sick and tired of the allegations that pin it on those guys. I am not one of them I am merely a frustrated boater. Frustrated with legislation that DID NOT address the Real problems of the lake. I am actually beyond frustrated and more pissed off than anything. I drive around the lake wondering how all these people passed a boat test????? The bill that was passed has had absolutely no affect on the safety of the lake. I am appalled at how crazy the lake is. YUP I said it "Crazy" I used the term you used. I agree wholeheartedly that the lake is crazy right now. But it is the idiots in the family boat dragging their kids in a channel. It is the bass fisherman coming a few feet up my side waving as he passes me, it is the jetskier cutting across my bow, it is the guy who has NO CLUE that I have the right of way when he is cutting across my bow from the left and I have to stop to avoid killing my family, it is the idiot in the pontoon boat who tired to pass me in a no wake zone (he was on plane). FYI most of this occurred yesterday!!
So please do us all a favor and take off the rose colored glasses because I just can't believe we are boating on the same lake??? This law addresses NOTHING it has done NOTHING! Things are worse. |
Wow! No wonder things look so good to the rest of us, I guess all the dangerous behavior has moved to in front of your house this summer
. With all these boats buzzing past you 25 feet away, you surely got a few hull numbers and called them in to the MP. Are they investigating
? And the offenders were all small family boats driven by the notorious "Captain Bonehead"? Meanwhile all the performance boaters you've been seeing (even though you really have no horse in this race yourself) were prudently cruising along obeying all the existing laws, which agrees with what you have been saying, that this is all we ever really needed to make everyone feel safe on this lake, right
? What a coincidence. How nicely this all plays into your mission of painting the speed limit as a do-nothing law and painting all the dangerous boaters as the ones with their entire families aboard and all the Go Fast Be Louders as the quiet peaceful victims. Nice try.
Story in today's Citizen (
http://www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll...995/-1/CITIZEN) talks about how official highway counts actually have tourist traffic UP this year...which agrees with my observation that the numbers of boats on the lake is UP this year, even though the slower speeds make it SEEM that boating traffic is down. Meanwhile, the MP reports that boating violations are way down this year, which agrees with my observation that boaters are behaving better this year. Seems like facts don't lie.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Resident 2B
How about getting back on topic - the spirit of compromise! R2B
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The best compromise is already in place. A 45MPH speed limit lets everyone share the lake without fear or intimidation. And those who like to go fast can still do so (up to 45 mph, which is very fast in a boat).
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll...4/-1/CITNEWS04
The speed limit on New Hampshire's largest lake will be 45 miles per hour during the daytime and 25 miles per hour at night. The 25-mile-per-hour speed limit will be in effect from one half-hour after sunset to one half-hour before sunrise. Boaters who exceed the speed limit will be stopped and issued a warning or citation at the discretion of the officer.
"Now boaters look at that number and thinks it's low, but it's not," said David Barrett, director of the Division of Safety Services.
"Traveling on the water at speeds beyond 35 miles per hour may feel like one is traveling on a highway going 55 miles per hour or more."