Quote:
Originally Posted by Mink Islander
What seems to happen there is that boats heading East to West through there often leave little room for boats exiting the Mark Island channel heading West to East. Most of the time the West to East boaters will try to hug the shore closer to your place to maintain maximum separation from the oncoming traffic rather than come off plane like they're supposed to to adhere to the 150 ft rule. Of course the oncoming traffic will rarely slow down either. I'm a little incredulous that some bonehead would cut inside your moorings, but not atypical behavior these days, sadly. I definitely agree that a boat moored there overnight would be at risk of getting hit particularly if the wind was blowing the stern out. Not sure a raft would be the best solution either from a pure safety perspective at night, but you'd be within your rights, I suppose.
I have long thought that a NWZ through that channel is the best and most practical solution. It's not even 150 ft wide anyway and boats fly past each other through there. Add weekend congestion and you see bad behavior constantly with the crush of boats looking to pass through there on a nice day. With a NWZ, seems to me there'd be no need to hug the shore so close to your place anymore.
The beauty of a NWZ is that it's easy to understand, and easy to enforce and affects all boaters the same. It would add a minute or two to my and everyone else's travel time. Small price to pay to just calm things down a bit in one of the busier pinch points in the lake.
It would take petitioning from island residents to make that a reality -- that's what happened between Pine and Bear Islands some years back and the gap between those islands is 10X that of the Mark Island channel. Good idea? I'd sign up in a heartbeat.
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In this case a new NWZ makes sense to me as well. This seems to be in the best interest of all boaters and the shore front owners.
R2B