Lake safer this year?

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Skip

The most common factor in accidents on sleds...most years and particularly last year?

Alcohol.

'Nuff said....

Originally Posted by VitaBene

You can't say that enough times!

I would have to say the worst boating accidents share the same cause

I'll agree with that 100% about alcohol related accidents, I personally NEVER drink (alcohol) and then drive anything, its just not worth taking the chance and I would never want to be in the position to have to defend myself should there be a problem the deck is just stacked way to much against you. I enjoy my adult beverages as much as the next guy, but not when driving,,,

Let me also add that I think outright reckless operation has to be way up there as well for causes of serious accidents,,, Snowmobiles are tough enough to keep safely on the narrow and windy NH trails without people acting like hotdogs showing off to their friends or playing bumper-sled. There is just no room for error on most NH trails and reckless operation is a sure way to end up in the woods or worse,,,

That said I have to disagree with the comments about running flat out on a lake. As far as I am concerned a frozen lake is the ONLY place I will run flat out in NH. For those of us who do enjoy a blast across the lake, and do so responsibly (and by that I mean not putting others at risk) a lake offers the only place you can be sure not to run into a tree/rock/etc (unless you know of a really large flat and open farm that will let you ride on)

It’s a fairly simple process to ride a mile or two of lake to determine if it is safe enough for a high speed blast, and there are plenty of places wide enough that you can see if anyone else is riding in the area so as to avoid any collision possibilities.

I’m personally not too much interested in seeing super high speed numbers anymore, but I do enjoy get out and making a couple of good hard acceleration runs once in a while and a mid-week day when the snow cover is good and everything else is right, is when Winnipesaukee is the best place you will find to blow the soot out of your sled and not have to worry about taking out someone else or yourself.

I suspect some will be put out by my opinion and honest confession that I enjoy an occasional high speed run on my snowmobile and that’s fair, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it for better or worse,,,

p.s. I also have to confess to enjoying a good high speed blast in my boats also under the right conditions, and again some wont like that and that’s fair, but I feel no need to hide the truth and offer up a false façade. I don’t buy snowmobiles and boats to go as slow as possible and I don’t buy them to go as fast as possible. But I do enjoy making some use of whatever there performance capabilities are when I can and I apologize to no one for it.