Headway Speed

[Airwaves]

270-D:1 Definitions. – In this chapter:
VI. "Headway speed'' means 6 miles per hour or the slowest speed that a boat can be operated and maintain steerage way.

VIII. "No wake area'' means an area where a boat is to be operated only at headway speed.

You boys think what you want and go ahead and operate at 6 MPH through a NWZ with a NHMP boat sitting there and smile. Just keep in mind that beginning 1 Jan 2009 a misinterpretation of this law on your part will mean a moving violation on your drivers license record.

Originally posted by Orion
The minimum speed to maintain steerage in no wind is 0. I can keep my boat in a fixed position with no problem, as can most boats.

Actually under those conditions you are NOT at headway speed. You are said to be Underway, not making way. There’s a difference.

[Woodsy]

Originally Posted by Airwaves

You boys think what you want and go ahead and operate at 6 MPH through a NWZ with a NHMP boat sitting there and smile. Just keep in mind that beginning 1 Jan 2009 a misinterpretation of this law on your part will mean a moving violation on your drivers license record.

Airwaves...

I have absolutely no problem going by an NHMP boat at 6MPH in any NWZ...

A little back story... Earlier this season right around Bike Week I was travelling thru the Weirs Channel from Paugus Bay to Weirs. I was following a HUGE SeaRay cruiser and there was one of the NHMP RIB's 2 boats behind me. The SeaRay was going up the channel at approximately 1-1.5 MPH (GPS) essentially the DEAD SLOW speed for this particular SeaRay (there was no boat in front of him for at least 600') This monster SeaRay was causing a backup of boating traffic, neccessitating myself and others to needlessly shift in and out of gear and reducing my ability to maintain steerage against the current. (Just for the record, DEAD SLOW on my boat is 3.5-3.9 MPH on the GPS) Needless to say I was rather agitated, so upon clearing the exit of the Channel I flagged over the NHMP boat and ASKED specifically what their interpretaion of the NWZ rule was....

I was told and I quote "NO WAKE DOES NOT MEAN DEAD SLOW" They completely understood why I was somewhat agitated... during the course of the 5 minute conversation, the NHMP officer explained the rules to me the same way Skip described it above. The No Wake Rule was a 6MPH guideline, as some boats do in fact need to travel faster than 6 MPH to maintain steerage. The NHMP officer nicely explained to me that "If you need to travel faster than 6MPH in a NWZ you better have a darn good explanation!"

All boats create a wake regardless of speed, a wake is created by water being displaced by the hull, a larger heavier boat under most circumstances will create a larger more powerful wake than a smaller lighter boat traveling at the same speed. 6 MPH or 5 Knots is the compromise made in order to keep boat traffic flowing safely and smoothly...

Woodsy

[Winnipesaukee]

Okay, you are all wrong.

Headway speed is 6 mph or the slowest speed to travel and still maintain steerage."

If your boat can maintain steerage at 3mph, then you can go up to 6mph. 6mph is the limit for boats which can maintain steerage under that speed.

If your boat can only maintain steerage at 10mph, then you obviously can't safely operate at 6mph, so you must proceed under the second part of this clause, and your limit is 10mph.

It's pretty simple.

[Woodsy]

Originally Posted by Winnipesaukee

Okay, you are all wrong.



If your boat can maintain steerage at 3mph, then you can go up to 6mph. 6mph is the limit for boats which can maintain steerage under that speed.

If your boat can only maintain steerage at 10mph, then you obviously can't safely operate at 6mph, so you must proceed under the second part of this clause, and your limit is 10mph.

It's pretty simple.

You simplified the rule perfectly!!! Thanks!

Woodsy

[Winnipesaukee]

Now let's make it complicated.

That minimum speed a boat must maintain can change given the conditions.

Take, for example, a 4mph current to the Lakeport dam (it's a crazy spring). If you're going into Paugus Bay, and your little 15' Whaler needs water moving under its rudder at 3mph to maintain steerage. So since you're going with the current, your speed over ground will need to be 7mph: 4mph with the current and 3mph more to get water moving over the rudder.

It's kind of like walking on one of those airport walkways. You're walking at your normal speed, but that plus the speed of the walkway makes you move much faster.

Now, let's say you're in your Whaler in the above conditions, with a following sea with 2 foot waves. You need 10mph to maintain steerage. Illegal? What if you're in a NWZ on Lake ABC in Xyz, New Hampshire that has a following current of 10mph? Do you need to throw your boat in reverse to stay under 6mph?

Generally, as a rule of thumb when powerboating in a NWZ, I make a wake as big as the waves I'm in, and speed is irrelevant. By this I mean that my wake can be seen feet off my stern but "blends in" with the water past that.

This generally means that a) my wake isn't more damaging than the natural waves are, if at all, and b) I can maintain a good amount of steerage at that speed. I don't know how legal this is, but I've done this on several bodies of water, past law enforcement and property owners, and have never had any issues.


Okay, how about this... I'm sailing zig-zag upwind in a NWZ with an average speed of 12mph, but a velocity made good of 5mph. Is that illegal?

[chipj29]

Does anyone really think the MP would or even could use a radar gun to track speeds of boaters in a NWZ? Or is simple observation good enough? Seriously, 6 +/- 2 mph, you can't tell the difference. Boat speedos are not that accurate. The only difference could be the size of the wake.

[jrc]

Originally Posted by Winnipesaukee

...
Okay, how about this... I'm sailing zig-zag upwind in a NWZ with an average speed of 12mph, but a velocity made good of 5mph. Is that illegal?

Please, all my sailing buddies tell me that sailboats don't make wakes. You can go as fast as you want as long as the sails are up.

[Airwaves]

A couple of quick comments then I think I've had enough.

Originally posted by Winnipesaukee
If your boat can maintain steerage at 3mph, then you can go up to 6mph. 6mph is the limit for boats which can maintain steerage under that speed.

If your boat can only maintain steerage at 10mph, then you obviously can't safely operate at 6mph, so you must proceed under the second part of this clause, and your limit is 10mph.

It's pretty simple.

I am in total agreement with the second paragraph, not the first.

Originally posted by Woodsy
...I flagged over the NHMP boat and ASKED specifically what their interpretaion of the NWZ rule was....

It has been my observation over the decades of boating on Winnipesaukee, and in the past few years of reading this forum that consistency is not one of the strong points of the NHMP.

As one example I remind you of the email that I sent to the NHMP asking about the Boat Wise NASBLA certificate and whether it was recognized in NH. The NHMP wrote back saying NO private agency certificates were recognized NASBLA approved or not...I passed that information along to a friend who had a Boat Wise certificate, he went up and took the proctored examine in NH and the NHMP proctor told him they would have certainly accepted the Boat Wise certificate. Asking the NHMP is not going to guarantee you the correct answer!

Originally posted by Winnipesaukee
That minimum speed a boat must maintain can change given the conditions.

Without reposting your entire comments, you are correct. There are times in when a boat, even one with a headway speed of below 6 MPH, can exceed that speed in order to maintain steerage way. That is the clause that everyone seems to be ignoring...

Originally posted by Chipj29
Does anyone really think the MP would or even could use a radar gun to track speeds of boaters in a NWZ? Or is simple observation good enough? Seriously, 6 +/- 2 mph, you can't tell the difference. Boat speedos are not that accurate. The only difference could be the size of the wake.

That gets to the crux of the problem. A NHMP officer is going to visually determine your speed through a NWZ. If he decides you are violating the NWZ you could end up with a ticket and next year a ticket will become a moving violation on your driving record.

Because of that added little bonus to the new law, a district court judge is ultimately going to rule on this, create a precedent and thereby clarify the law.

Because of the lack of the word "SHALL" anywhere in the RSA, and what appears to me to be the INTENT of the RSA is to establish the definition of Headway Speed that forces a boat to maintain the slowest possible speed through a NWZ, it is pretty clear to me that the 6 MPH speed is guide, not a hard and fast speed to be traveled.

Don't forget, this added bonus of the new law covers the entire state of NH, not just Winnipesaukee and also applies to the safe passage law.

As I said, you do what you want but me? I am going to err on the side of caution and let someone else be the test case.

[jrc]

Airwaves, we will have to just agree to disagree on how to interpret the words.

I do agree with you that "discretion is the better part of valor"

Given our new law promoting certain boat infractions to be auto insurance effecting, I will not recklessly test the limits of our Marine Patrol.

[Skip]

Originally Posted by Airwaves

...Because of that added little bonus to the new law, a district court judge is ultimately going to rule on this, create a precedent and thereby clarify the law...

Before anyone gets the wrong idea, neither precedent nor case law is determined at the District Court level.

Precedent and case law can and is set on appeals to higher courts, however most of the boating regulations we are discussing here are merely violations and not appealable to higher court (changed a number of years ago).

Even within the same District Court, one justice's opinion on a matter does not set precedent with other judges within the same Court, or any other District Court.

Oops..one exception. A Judge is free (and often does) set personal precedent on similar cases he may have come before him under similar circumstances!

[Airwaves]

As I posted somewhere, I am not debating the judical system in NH. The courts set precedent, not the officer issuing a ticket.

An example, even on the district court level.

Skip you are handed a ticket for violation of the Headway Speed provision. You go to district court and the judge agrees with your interpretation of the law and dismisses the case.

A couple of weeks later I find myself in the same position, but my judge is different from yours and decides that because my boat will do less than 6 mph and still maintains steerage way, that I violated headway speed and I am found guilty.

Do you not think my lawyer will use your case in the argument before the court?

As for not being appealable I would say a sharp lawyer would be able to argue that because the penalty for violation of 270-D has been increased then the appeals process is subject to review.

On thing that is taken into account, even on the district court level, is the intent of the law especailly if it appears to contradict itself.

A district court judge may not actually set the precedent but the process of setting a precedent certainly starts there and will ultimately be set by a judge.

As I said, you do what you want but I interpret the key provision of 270-D1 VI as the slowest speed that a boat can be operated and maintain steerage way.