The way the proposed law is worded, it's actually worse than that:

If you have a boat that can maintain steerage at 3 MPH and your boat is facing a 3 MPH current, the slowest you can go and maintain steerage is 0 MPH.

If you are in the same boat facing into a 4 MPH current, you can maintain steerage while moving backward at -1 MPH.

Perhaps someone that understands math should amend the proposal...

The law (and common sense) implies using a “no current” situation. Obviously, in any current you have to adjust accordingly...my point being we don’t need to pigeonhole the wording to include any speed. Just MAKE NO WAKE! How freakin’ hard is this to comprehend??

No Wake
 

Your absolutely correct but way too simple a solution for lawmakers. Everything needs convoluted language to confuse us. It’s how they keep their jobs. [emoji4]


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No wake...
 

I am 100% confident that I will be able to follow the spirit and letter of the law in any boat, in any circumstances. I won't need a speedometer, tachometer, or to turn around and see if I'm creating a wake. My guess is this is the case for pretty much anyone on the forum. Those who are not abiding by the letter and spirit of the law know it.

That said, I do enjoy reading the ongoing discussion about the different ways to interpret what I find to be a pretty straightforward issue.

Exactly.

This is a Winni forum, not a Piscataqua River forum and to the best of my knowledge the only current is the Weirs Channel heading into Paugus, so everywhere else (Governors bridge, between Eagle and Gov, Bear Island post office, etc,,,,) there is ZERO current, meaning the wake your making, is the wake YOU are making. All the wording in the RSA means diddley. Wake = wake. Not rocket science.

I think Garcia said it best. “Spirit” of the law. Just don’t make a wake, it’s not difficult the problem is there is always someone looking to circumvent the system.


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I believe the mph limit in “headway” refers to speed your boat can maintain steerage in the water/wind condition it is in. If I can maintain steerage at 3 mph in still water and I move to a 3 mph current I will need to go faster than 3 mph to maintain steerage because no boat will be able to continually maintain a heading 180 degrees to a current. As soon as it falls off it looses steerage. Same in a following current. Common sense, but that will never stop some from twisting it to fit their argument. And by the way, if you don’t want to spend the time going thru a no wake zone properly, go around it. If you can’t go around it, enjoy the slow ride.


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You can't assume a law implies anything, that's the opposite of the point of laws. Otherwise we could just have one law that says: "don't do anything bad".

Wow, how can we make something so easy so difficult???

This is a great example of why government gets bigger and bigger. The more we try to find loopholes, require specifics rather than use common sense, and try to over analyze the intent of rules and regulations, the more bureaucracy we create. I'm not trying to make a political statement, just pointing out the more we debate things, the more politicians try to clarify, and the more things get clogged up in the interpretation of the rules and regulations (which can lead to the court system).

I agree with you again, Garcia. I can't believe how complicated some people have made this discussion.

If you find this stuff complicated, perhaps boating isn't for you. No wake zones are pretty much the easiest part of boating to deal with.

Dave R. I don't find the "stuff" complicated, I find the way you guys make such a big deal out of it complicated. As Garcia and Hill said no wake means no wake, how hard is that for you to understand? BTW, I bet I know a lot more about boating that you do.

It is so freaking simple...

A No Wake Zone is the same as School Zone or a Thickly Settled Zone... it defines an area where there is a reduced speed limit.

Headway Speed (6MPH) is same as the 20 MPH speed limit sign when you enter a School Zone. It tells you how fast you can thru the zone.

The law has to be absolute... and it is. 6MPH.

The only place this really even comes into play is the Weirs Channel and Meredith Bay... mostly the Weirs Channel. There is way too much boat traffic to have them move thru the Channel at 2 MPH...


Woodsy

You got it Woodsy. 134 posts about something so simple if people just use common sense.


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Two rules,

1) Don't make a wake in a "No Wake Zone"

2) Don't do anything bad.

That was easy.

3) Stay home, pull the shades, hide in the house, have no fun.

That sums up life in the “Live Free or Die” state.

So........................If your boat can go through the Weirs Channel and leave no wake at 1/2 MPH should you do that?

And, if you look behind you and the substantially different sized/configuration/hull design boat following you is having great difficulty steering and maintaining control at your "safe speed" should you speed up to allow the vessel behind you to maintain safe control?

Are you guilty of a violation of law?

What will you do?

How many boaters are smart enough or aware enough to realize they are causing a problem for the boats behind them?

What does it matter...
 

...if no one is enforcing it? I've been on the lake most weekends for 4 years. I dont go into the big traffic areas like the Weirs and I am most often out from dawn to maybe noon or 5ish till dark. I have yet to see ANY enforcement of ANY type, period. I am not hiding way up in out of the way places either and I can almost count on one hand how many times I've even seen the M.P. in 4 years.

But Woodsy why don't you understand??? It's not 6MPH, it's NO Wake!!!

From what I've seen on Winnipesaukee lately, wake violations need to be egregious to get any law enforcement attention. That's also what I've noticed elsewhere boating in the northeast for years, so perhaps it's just spreading into Winni from the rest of the region. Winnipesaukee is the only place I've ever boated where people get really upset over wakes that would not raise an eyebrow anywhere else.

In all the other places I've boated, "no wake" essentially means "don't plane" and "don't plow"; except in the case of small boats like a RIB dinghy, they can go as fast as they want to, anywhere without anyone caring... I don't know why dinghy drivers get such relaxed rules, but it's probably because at worst, they don't make much of a wake. Picture yourself cruising along at idle speed in the no wake zone in Meredith or Weirs Beach and having a dinghy pass you at 20 MPH in plain view of marine patrol without any reaction. That's normal outside of Winnipesaukee. Imagine the uproar here if that really happened, some people would lose their minds.

FWIW, I've been boating on Winni for decades and have never been stopped for a no-wake violation (on Winni or anywhere else except Costa Rica where it was unclear that it was a no wake zone, no ticket, just a verbal warning). I just adjust speed for conditions (in other words, don't stand out), and all is good.

Unfortunately for you... that is NOT the way the law is written! Its not my fault you do not understand law.... perhaps a law class or two?

Woodsy

Tis, Woodsy is correct, you do not understand the law as currently written.

Because that's what the law would dictate if your boat could maintain steerage way at one mile per hour, then that is your maximum speed.

No. As written, the law is purely a function of the speed. The size of the wake is not considered.

Any boat movement creates a wave. If the wave is 1mm high (the thickness of a dime), we call it a ripple. If the wave is 150mm high (6"), we call it a wake. At what point does a ripple become a wake? If you say 76mm, how does one measure it?




FYI: Here is my "wake" in a 20 foot Four Winns. The GPS said 5.7 MPH. My minimum steerage way speed is about 3 MPH.

That wake looks about the size wake that a duck would make.

And to Dave R's point, there are many on this lake that would yell at the "offending" operator from land.

Yeah...that doesn’t equate with 5.7 mph in my experience. My toon makes a much more substantial wake at that speed...your 20 footer must glide like a goose!

You can't compare a toon wake at 5.7 mph to a bowrider wake at 5.7 mph. Apples to oranges.

Hill, isn't it nice we have so many lawyers on here who think they know so much?For some reason they will say anything to justify making a wake.

That is easy to answer. Few operators look behind them period. Not for boats gaining on them, not to see if they are making a wake.


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No lawyer is needed to understand the law as it is currently written.

Yes, I know...a bow riders wake, along with any v-hull makes a greater wake than a lowly toon. This fact has been borne out numerous times on this forum that toons make very little wake compared to the v-hull boats. Look it up.

Wake Watchers
 

Very true of the lady on the point at Y Landing, yelling and flailing arms:eek: