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Originally Posted by Evenstar
I'm just wondering why Lake Winnipesaukee is being singled out for a bill to impose a limit on speed. Why not a state speed limit for all lakes? After all, aren't high speeds likely to be even more dangerous on smaller lakes?
I haven't kayaked on Winni yet, but I have been on other NH lakes enough to comment on high speeds. Yes, I have felt very unsafe at times, wondering if that speeding boat even sees me. In a sit in kayak, you actually sit below the water line and your top speed is maybe 5 MPH.
While kayaking on Squam last summer, my friend and I were both swamped by a speeding boat that passed within 40 feet of us and never even slowed down. So enforcement of current boating regulations seems to be the bigger issue here.
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A few things from my side of this issue just so that you know what we are thinking. First off it is often very hard to see you guys, I do not care if you are in a bow rider, speed boat, or a sail boat. Often times your hulls and wet suits blend into the surroundings. My father and I both sail and we always laugh when we go to buy our foul weather gear and it is blue and white!!!! How stupid would you have to be to buy blue and white foul weather gear!!!! YOU BLEND IT and your boat will never find you in the dark sea with white caps on top!!!! I have lots of friends that kayak and we have talked about this at great length. They now understand that a lot of times when boats come close to them it is because they are just not visible. They have mentioned to me that they often wear what they wear and so on to make it so that they blend in and can enjoy nature, sneak up on animals and so on. I said great but please understand that what makes you invisible to animals also make you invisible to people as well. They all now use the flags that were recommended above and say that things have been better since. As for being swamped on Squam then I would suggest that boat was probably going much slower then the speed limit. I would suggest that they were probably only going 20mph or os if they were putting of a wake large enough to swamp you. I know that over 30 my boats put out amost no wake at all.
Jon