[Seaplane Pilot]

Originally Posted by Turtle Boy

For your reading pleasure, from today's LDS:

Letters
State has changed no-wake-zones to anything goes a number of times
Nov 18, 2010 12:00 am
To the editor,

Mr. Chase should be nominated for Safety Commissioner or perhaps Hearings Supervisor due to the fact that the present office holders are opening a can of worms that could go back as much as 50 plus years. They seem to think they can change their minds when someone squawks that they didn't have time to read the hearing notices in the only statewide newspaper and this malarkey about only residents can sign petitions but anybody in the entire state can file appeals against rulings is a drastic mis-interpretation.

Many lake users went to the appeals hearing in Tuftonboro but weren't allowed to speak unless we were appellants and yet we were told that we all own Lake Winnipesaukee. Something is drastically wrong with this picture. As a boater who uses the "Barber Pole" passage on occasion, I believe someone should get out the measuring stick; the channel is not wide enough to allow two vessels going in opposite, or the same, ways the 450-foot clearance to allow speeds up to 45-mph by the current law, nor does it allow PWC's the 600 foot clearance to exceed headway speeds. However we were not allowed to bring this information forward during the appeals hearing. There are many areas on the lake that don't allow these clearances and yet the Safety Department has changed them from "No-Wake-Zones" to do what ever you please zones a number of times. One that comes to mind is the passage in Glendale between Pig Island and Locke Island that for many years was a "No-Wake-Zone", at least from 1969 through the late 1970s and then one year it did not appear on the chart due to a typographical error so the Marine Patrol removed the NWZ indicators and now boats literally fly through the area defying the 150 foot separation requirement as well as the need to slow to headway speed. This area is just around the corner from Marine Patrol Headquarters.

We might ask who verified the signatures for residency that were supplied, by NH Recreational Boaters Association, on petitions for the Eagle Island NWZ that was put into place a year or three ago ? And why aren't Center Harbor and Wolfeboro bays as well protected with NWZ's as are Alton and Meredith bays ? If one of the Department of Safety responsibilities is to provide for the safety of all users of Lake Winnipesaukee when and how, other than college kids riding around in patrol boats, don't they address these issues rather than waiting for the populace to request some actions that are so glaringly obvious ?

Bill Bertholdt

Perhaps he should also take over Fish & Game Department. Then he could restrict or outlaw hunting as well, seeing how "dangerous" this activity really is. Someone please pass the Rolaids.....I'm ready to puke.