[Lakegeezer]

If you want to avoid the personal attention, launch before 8 or after 5 on weekends, or during any week day. You can also launch at the state ramp aside Harilla Landing anytime.

The lake hosts are providing a service to other lakes more than Winnipesaukee. If you delaunch from Lees Mills or States landing, is it VERY likely you will have milfoil on your trailer, which can live a week or more. If your trailer goes into another lake, it can introduce it there.

As one of the lake hosts in Moultonborough, I understand the procedure and potential privacy concerns. The primary purpose for recording bow numbers is so that if the boat comes out the same day, the same entry on the log sheet is used and the other questions don't have to be asked again. To my knowledge, the bow numbers are not used for other purposes - but I will ask the question to be sure.

Bow numbers are indeed public information, so there should be no expectation of privacy, just as your car license plate is recorded by camera as you pass through the toll-booths. Lake hosts are instructed to disengage from the boater if there is any resistance, but also instructed to write down the number anyway. You don't have to answer the questions about where your boat was last in the water, nor do you have to submit to an inspection. In the training, we were asked to check tackle boxes for milfoil on the lures, but I don't know any lake host who has gone that far.

In my experience - 100% of the boaters at the ramp were friendly, interested in learning more about invasive weeds and glad to be sure they were not a channel for spreading the problem. That said, there are times that I might be in a private mood and would feed my space had been invaded by the lake hosts. It is one of the downsides of milfoil.