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Winni Boater 17 Years · 04-11-2008, 04:59 PM

I am currently a boater on Lake Winnipeasaukee entering my 18th year and have a cabin cruiser. My boat cannot go 25 miles per hour so I have no vested interest in speed limits controls and I respect my wake, as best I can. Here is my time tested observations.

1. There is very little boat traffic of any type during the weekdays. The boating season is really on weekends during the months of July and August. Exclude rainy, windy days and you are talking about 14 days a year when the lake is crowded with boats, at most.

2. People who have property on the lake have considerable investments and want unencumbered access to the water. They resent "weekend “boaters”; their wakes, their anchoring and their constant disruption to the owners’ view of the lake.

3. Lake front owners continually press for laws/rules for speed limits, no wake zones, no rafting zones, establishing swim lines, and now horsepower limits etc. All of these actions are directed at the “boaters” trying to restrict their activities more and more, hoping they will leave.

4. Several years ago as my wife and I were slowly cruising off of Wolfeboro Neck on a Sunday morning, when someone put a rifle bullet into our stern from shore, 12 inches from the gas tank. The local Police could not find the perpetrator. We concluded it was a festered emotion (probable a youngster) of a lake front property owner or summer renter, who acted out, their built in frustration. They are a serious bunch.

The entire issue is not one of safety or Lake preservation; it is about a select group of lake front property owners trying to squeeze the weekend boater; hoping the Boater will leave, through Legislation or frustration. There are now very few speed boats left on the lake, they just cost too much and are not versatile. Now the shore front owners are moving to step three, going after the cabin cruisers keeping them far off shore so as to “protect the shore line”, or restricting hoarsepower. Once again, it is nothing more than a squeeze play against the boaters. After all, lake front home owners feel they “own the water”, lucky for us the State of New Hampshire does. Why can't we get along? Won't Happen.

04-11-2008, 04:59 PM	#35
Winni Boater 17 Years Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 6 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Why Can't we get along I am currently a boater on Lake Winnipeasaukee entering my 18th year and have a cabin cruiser. My boat cannot go 25 miles per hour so I have no vested interest in speed limits controls and I respect my wake, as best I can. Here is my time tested observations. 1. There is very little boat traffic of any type during the weekdays. The boating season is really on weekends during the months of July and August. Exclude rainy, windy days and you are talking about 14 days a year when the lake is crowded with boats, at most. 2. People who have property on the lake have considerable investments and want unencumbered access to the water. They resent "weekend “boaters”; their wakes, their anchoring and their constant disruption to the owners’ view of the lake. 3. Lake front owners continually press for laws/rules for speed limits, no wake zones, no rafting zones, establishing swim lines, and now horsepower limits etc. All of these actions are directed at the “boaters” trying to restrict their activities more and more, hoping they will leave. 4. Several years ago as my wife and I were slowly cruising off of Wolfeboro Neck on a Sunday morning, when someone put a rifle bullet into our stern from shore, 12 inches from the gas tank. The local Police could not find the perpetrator. We concluded it was a festered emotion (probable a youngster) of a lake front property owner or summer renter, who acted out, their built in frustration. They are a serious bunch. The entire issue is not one of safety or Lake preservation; it is about a select group of lake front property owners trying to squeeze the weekend boater; hoping the Boater will leave, through Legislation or frustration. There are now very few speed boats left on the lake, they just cost too much and are not versatile. Now the shore front owners are moving to step three, going after the cabin cruisers keeping them far off shore so as to “protect the shore line”, or restricting hoarsepower. Once again, it is nothing more than a squeeze play against the boaters. After all, lake front home owners feel they “own the water”, lucky for us the State of New Hampshire does. Why can't we get along? Won't Happen.