Its entirely possible she was swamped by a larger cruiser... She did not specify what type of boat swamped her. Actually, none of the people who spoke in favor of the speed limit spoke of what brand or length of boat caused the problem. Although I do believe there was more than a little embellishment on thier part, I think most of thier stories have a ring of truth to them. They spoke volumes about 150' violations and reckless operation. Almost all of thier stories involved the breaking of one or both of those statutes. When your on the water in a small boat, and a much larger boat goes by you, 35mph can seem like 70. The performance boats when on plane cause very little wake. Those big cruisers though... YIKES! I have caught a few of those wakes and its not fun.
The question remains, what to do about it? All though both sides agree there needs to be some sort of improvement, they differ on how. Its too bad that the first approach taken is lets write another law. The first approach should be better education, hire a few more MP officers, maybe enact few more NWZ's in the congested areas. Another law targeting one specific type of boater isn't a blanket answer to Lake Winni's problems.
Woodsy
|