Quote:
Originally Posted by Bear Islander
You can't deny that there is a cowboy atmosphere out there at times. If you are a camp director thinking about sending out canoes, row boats, sailboats and kayaks with children in them then that atmosphere is a serious consideration and worry.
A speed limit will not make Winni into Golden Pond, but it is a viable step to getting the lake under better control. We all know there are performance boaters that have left the lake and claim they will not return while there is a speed limit. Hopefully some of them are the Captains we speak of.
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I can't deny it and I won't deny it. This was the crux of a discussion recently between elchase and myself and others. I firmly believe that cowboy atmosphere is ever present on the lake and has not been affected by the new law. This supports my main point. I truly believe that any resources directed at this law is a waste. True, Winni will never be confused with Golden Pond but I think this was the wrong step. It deflected attention away from the real problem.
I still question whether or not a large amount of boaters actually possess a Boaters License. A kid at one of the Marina's sort of confirmed that for me when he told me that many people ask him what the fine is for driving a boat without a license. But I digress.
I think the current law was thrown in as a supposed cheap and easy magic bullet that many thought would "fix" the lake. I don't think by my experiences that anything has been fixed. I know it's early but it doesn't look promising.
As for the camps, if you know where I am you'll know that there are two camps very close to me. I see what you mean with your concern about the campers safety. I see people using the kids in kayaks and sailboats like a slalom course.
Instead of altering their course and giving the kids a huge buffer they pick the gaps between the pack of boats. Scary stuff. However, I've never observed this activity taking place at more than 25-35 MPH. Not saying it hasn't happened before it just seems that generally speaking speed isn't the issue with this one.
So I defer to my point that we are targeting the minority problem in hopes of fixing the majority problem. I have a hard time with that correlation.
Also, I hope you don't see these posts as ganging up on you it just seems that you are the only SL Supporter interested in engaging in actual debate right now.