Quote:
Originally Posted by Mee-n-Mac
OK, the Gov called and told me to stop. 
Seriously though in any debate it helps not know the "answer" until you've settled on all the facts. To that end I've not put up my "answer" hoping that some of the numbers I've used would be scrutinized. I still invite that. But to save you any more anguish and to perhaps stir some conversation on this topic I present you the following graphs. In them the stationary boat (kayaker, canoe, PWC, whatever) sits at the 0,0 point. I've drawn a redlined quarter circle at 150' around it. The boat comes in along the horizontal line, from right to left, it's position every 0.1 seconds plotted with a blue diamond.
The initial speed of the first boat ... 100 MPH.  Which I think most people would agree is fast. Does this mean it's perfectly safe to do 100 MPH at all times and in all places ? No, certainly not. But it does start to put things in perspective as to what humans can do (or can't) and the kind of sightlines needed to run at truly fast speeds. It also starts to explain why we don't have boats at "high" speeds running over other boats every weekend. A more realistic case is the next graph where it's a 70 MPH boat. FWIW I didn't even have this one touch the throttle. |
1) Using all your numbers--which I believe are reasonable and not conservative--a boater doing 70 mph that looks over his shoulder or adjusts the radio or scratches an itch for 3 seconds would violate the 150' rule.
2) You're completely ignoring the perspective of the kayaker. A kayaker needs about 5 seconds to dump and orient. That means that 5 seconds is the margin of safety--or 650 feet. At 70 mph--even if the boater is not distracted at all--you can't meet that standard. The boater may feel fine, but the kayaker is unpleasantly wet--and hopefully hasn't ingested any water from cold convulsions.
I think it's clear that the higher the speed limit, the more of the lake is off limits to small craft (or conversely, the faster the craft must be to occupy the same general area)