Witches

[Smith Point]

I was out with my fishing buddy (Captain Jay) about 3 week’s ago looking for new fishing spots we started at the lady of the lakes (way to much boat traffic) and headed toward Locks Island, (not much luck there either) so we pulled up the trolling motor and headed to the witches, (hadn’t fished there in a while) boy they came up on us fast! The witches are not marked well at all!
There needs to be the bigger hazard buoys! Not just the little 3” red and black buoys but the big 12” hazard and rock buoys! Now before you guys ream me a new one for not having any navigational skills, I have been on the lake for 55 years and know it well, plus I have a certified captain on board, it’s a fine line between trying to read a chart at 45mph (imposable) bouncing around and keeping a look out for boater traffic. Does anybody else think that the witches need better marked?

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by Smith Point

I was out with my fishing buddy (Captain Jay) about 3 week’s ago looking for new fishing spots we started at the lady of the lakes (way to much boat traffic) and headed toward Locks Island, (not much luck there either) so we pulled up the trolling motor and headed to the witches, (hadn’t fished there in a while) boy they came up on us fast! The witches are not marked well at all!
There needs to be the bigger hazard buoys! Not just the little 3” red and black buoys but the big 12” hazard and rock buoys! Now before you guys ream me a new one for not having any navigational skills, I have been on the lake for 55 years and know it well, plus I have a certified captain on board, it’s a fine line between trying to read a chart at 45mph (imposable) bouncing around and keeping a look out for boater traffic. Does anybody else think that the witches need better marked?

You are a perfect example of what I was talking about a in my above post #5. I agree with you completely.

Dan

[Greene's Basin Girl]

I think most marina's on the lake like the markers just the way they are. Their service departments are always busy.

[Dave R]

I am perfectly capable of dealing with Winni ATONs but, I would love to see NH adopt a better marking system.

The witches (and other similar hazards that are not near shore) could be easily surrounded by standard hazard markers that would be far easier to see. Bright orange on white is much more visible than red over white or black over white, and the current marker diameter is too small.

Standard underwater hazard markers:

Hazards near shore could be marked with these:

Which everyone (that boats outside of NH...) knows means don't pass between marker and shore.

Channels like the 6 pack and Graveyard should stay marked as-is, but I would live to see the number of marked channels expanded to include areas like north and west of Dow Island. The spars there practically mark a channel now, why not just make it official so there's no possibility of thinking the proper thing to do is go around the markers rather than through them?

[Descant]

There really aren't many new ideas here.

I hesitate to guess the dates, but I'd say in the late 60's, for several years, the Witches were ringed with (6? 8?) orange barrels, probably old beer kegs to be consistent with the state budget. These floated on their sides, very high in the water, and had a white reflective stripe, probably 6" wide. Very easy to see, day or night. Good for radar, but nobody had radar in those days.

I don't know why they were removed and not replaced, but I bet they didn't reduce the number of service calls enough to justify the cost of removing replacing seasonally. I believe it was shortly after that when flasher #71 was added.

I sometimes think the extra flasher adds to light confusion. When there was only #28, and you saw a flasher, you knew which one you were looking at. Of course, if you can read the chart at night, you'll see that #71 has a double flash.

Nevertheless, it seems most of the discussion here is about daytime navigation.

If you can find Governor's Island, Lockes Island, and Timber Island, it should be simple stuff to find and avoid the Witches, or to go to the deep water closer to Governor's and Lockes. The Mount goes through there occasionally. You should have no problem.

[Bizer]

Originally Posted by Greene's Basin Girl

I think most marina's on the lake like the markers just the way they are. Their service departments are always busy.

Sarcastic? Twenty years ago when I was selling my first map, one marina owner said, "Why do we need a more accurate map? We make our money fixing boats." Yes, he said it tongue-in-cheek, but, as my wife says, there's a bit of truth in everything we say.

[8gv]

Most of my boating has been in salt water.

I realize that the markings on inland waters may have a different scheme but my opinion at first observation was that they are inadequate.

My opinion hasn't changed after thirteen years of Winni boating.

As much as some may desire it to be, this is not a place where everybody comes equipped with charts, experience reading them and Chapman's Piloting committed to memory.

Better marking is needed.