was it crazy busy saturday?

[Mr. Moyer]

I just got back home and am surprised to see that many felt the lake was empty on sunday. I felt that in certain areas the lake was as busy as I've ever seen it! I went from Alton to Weirs and found that the area near the witches and the half mile to governers bridge, was nuts. The chop was about 3 ft all around and as far as the eye could see there were boats. Then as we went to the NASWA we couldn't get a spot for about 20 minutes, when we did they squeezed us between two boats. Weirs beach was as busy as I've seen. Maybe some NH residents are doing staycations instead of traveling outside the state and revistiting Winnie for the first time in years. Also, despite cooler weather the West Alton sandbar was packed on Monday.

I will admit though that early morning and early evening were fairly slow, but I though that was due to the fact that it was cool in the am. Also, more sailboats then I have ever seen. there were about 20 near the witches on Sunday in what looked like a race. Great weekend overall, if they were all like this I would know what heavan is like.

[Silver Duck]

There was a lot of boat traffic in Meredith Bay, but I think that it was due to the craft show that was held over the weekend directly across from the town docks.

Weirs beach was busy because of what looked to be a hot rod show. Other than that, the lake was pretty much a ghost town this weekend.

Silver Duck

[Skip]

At nearby Ossipee Lake it looked more like a casual mid-week situation. The light scattering of boats didn't even equate to a normal weekend, much less a beautiful holiday weekend.

Also of interest was my trip home today from West Ossipee to Dover at the noon hour. There was moderate southbound traffic with no backups at the lights at 25 or at the infamous 153 intersection in Wakefield. Of particular surprise was the light traffic coming from Winni at the Route 11/Spaulding merge in Rochester. The only delay I experienced was 5 to 10 minutes due to the construction widening on the Spaulding just north of the tolls. And yes, absolutely no lines or delays at the tolls and once the Spaulding opened to two lanes it was smooth sailing the rest of the way.

I did get a good chuckle later when I tuned in Channel 9 at 6 and was informed of the overwhelming number of tourists that supposedly swarmed the area. I am very familiar with Hampton Beach and chuckled at their tapes showing a good showing on the sand but still plenty of room for bathers, and their sidewalk clips looked like a midweek crowd, not the jam packed throngs that have inundated that area in years past.

But hey....no one knows NH like the good folks at WMUR!

[skisox24]

Saturday between 10 and 4 was mid-summer busy in Meredith Bay. Perhaps because of the craft fair, who knows? Today's traffic was definitely lighter, but it was windy and choppy out there with some cross currents in the wide open spaces. Summer is here!

[SIKSUKR]

I too went through Merideth and thought it was pretty light traffic for a holiday.The craft show was fairly busy and the docks were full but that is to expected on a summer weekend.We drove by the Weirs and had light traffic.Looking at the channel,there was only a dozen boats or so.I was at a freinds place on Paugus and the boat traffic was very light by 80 degree holiday standards.The real telltale for me was the traffic on 93.We headed back to Manch at 4 and expected the usual backup in Concord.We had a small one just north of Concord which was made worse by an accident but for the most part we drove through at40-60 mph.The tollbooth had zero back-up.My friend picked his boat up at Silver Sands and some guy told him they had about 50 people tell them not to bother putting their boats in.This speed limit thing works fast!

[shooter]

sunday's boating weather was perfect , we took our new craft out for its maiden voyage , launched at center harbor and crused out to braun bay and then over through the graveyard to the end of moultonboro bay
and then back to center harbor , boat traffic was light in the morning and then only moderate in the after noon, the lake seemed rather calm considering the fair amount of wind that was blowing , most waves were from other boats, the new boat managed a top end of speed of 64mph ,this boat is like a corvette on water ,cant wait to put the hammer down next week end , just have a need for speed .

[jayp603]

thanks for all the replys. we put in monday at ames farm {nice place, first time there} and had a nice break in cruize to paugus and meridth. trafic was much lighter than expected, both on the water and the road home. a nice day, except for a bit of unintended wake jumping at the mouth of the weirs channel off the 4 + foot wake off some big cruiser coming in. i can see why people get upset. i would rather be buzzed by a gfb at full honk, my son thought he broke his foot for a few minutes after that.

[ossipeeboater]

Originally Posted by Skip

At nearby Ossipee Lake it looked more like a casual mid-week situation. The light scattering of boats didn't even equate to a normal weekend, much less a beautiful holiday weekend.

Also of interest was my trip home today from West Ossipee to Dover at the noon hour. There was moderate southbound traffic with no backups at the lights at 25 or at the infamous 153 intersection in Wakefield. Of particular surprise was the light traffic coming from Winni at the Route 11/Spaulding merge in Rochester. The only delay I experienced was 5 to 10 minutes due to the construction widening on the Spaulding just north of the tolls. And yes, absolutely no lines or delays at the tolls and once the Spaulding opened to two lanes it was smooth sailing the rest of the way.

I did get a good chuckle later when I tuned in Channel 9 at 6 and was informed of the overwhelming number of tourists that supposedly swarmed the area. I am very familiar with Hampton Beach and chuckled at their tapes showing a good showing on the sand but still plenty of room for bathers, and their sidewalk clips looked like a midweek crowd, not the jam packed throngs that have inundated that area in years past.

But hey....no one knows NH like the good folks at WMUR!

Have to say Hampton Beach was extremely busy yesterday, seemed like more than last year. Made the mistake of coming from Salisbury to home via the beach last night, 45 minutes from the bridge traffic to end of the strip.

[codeman671]

Originally Posted by Skip

Also of interest was my trip home today from West Ossipee to Dover at the noon hour. There was moderate southbound traffic with no backups at the lights at 25 or at the infamous 153 intersection in Wakefield. Of particular surprise was the light traffic coming from Winni at the Route 11/Spaulding merge in Rochester. The only delay I experienced was 5 to 10 minutes due to the construction widening on the Spaulding just north of the tolls. And yes, absolutely no lines or delays at the tolls and once the Spaulding opened to two lanes it was smooth sailing the rest of the way.

We came south to Dover down 11/16 and 6pm and there was ZERO traffic on 16. The only wait we ran into was the ice cream line at Johnson's

Boat traffic was very light, although I heard that the Wolfeboro docks were crazy. We did not see much traffic near us. Surprisingly a lot of GFBL boats were out, however they were all well-behaved. I was thrilled to see the M/V Bear II cut the corner and come approximately 100' from my dock, sending a tidal wave our way. I was also thrilled to see the Meredith Bay Sailing Association launch almost run over my wife while she was down from a wakeboarding crash...