No Wake

[TiltonBB]

So........................If your boat can go through the Weirs Channel and leave no wake at 1/2 MPH should you do that?

And, if you look behind you and the substantially different sized/configuration/hull design boat following you is having great difficulty steering and maintaining control at your "safe speed" should you speed up to allow the vessel behind you to maintain safe control?

Are you guilty of a violation of law?

What will you do?

How many boaters are smart enough or aware enough to realize they are causing a problem for the boats behind them?

[kawishiwi]

...if no one is enforcing it? I've been on the lake most weekends for 4 years. I dont go into the big traffic areas like the Weirs and I am most often out from dawn to maybe noon or 5ish till dark. I have yet to see ANY enforcement of ANY type, period. I am not hiding way up in out of the way places either and I can almost count on one hand how many times I've even seen the M.P. in 4 years.

[Dave R]

Originally Posted by kawishiwi

...if no one is enforcing it? I've been on the lake most weekends for 4 years. I dont go into the big traffic areas like the Weirs and I am most often out from dawn to maybe noon or 5ish till dark. I have yet to see ANY enforcement of ANY type, period. I am not hiding way up in out of the way places either and I can almost count on one hand how many times I've even seen the M.P. in 4 years.

From what I've seen on Winnipesaukee lately, wake violations need to be egregious to get any law enforcement attention. That's also what I've noticed elsewhere boating in the northeast for years, so perhaps it's just spreading into Winni from the rest of the region. Winnipesaukee is the only place I've ever boated where people get really upset over wakes that would not raise an eyebrow anywhere else.

In all the other places I've boated, "no wake" essentially means "don't plane" and "don't plow"; except in the case of small boats like a RIB dinghy, they can go as fast as they want to, anywhere without anyone caring... I don't know why dinghy drivers get such relaxed rules, but it's probably because at worst, they don't make much of a wake. Picture yourself cruising along at idle speed in the no wake zone in Meredith or Weirs Beach and having a dinghy pass you at 20 MPH in plain view of marine patrol without any reaction. That's normal outside of Winnipesaukee. Imagine the uproar here if that really happened, some people would lose their minds.

FWIW, I've been boating on Winni for decades and have never been stopped for a no-wake violation (on Winni or anywhere else except Costa Rica where it was unclear that it was a no wake zone, no ticket, just a verbal warning). I just adjust speed for conditions (in other words, don't stand out), and all is good.

[Bizer]

Originally Posted by tis

... I do not see why it would mean you could only go 1MPH though. ...

Because that's what the law would dictate if your boat could maintain steerage way at one mile per hour, then that is your maximum speed.

Originally Posted by Descant

I think hovercraft and others have no wake, and are registered as vessels, so with this change they can go through the channel at 45 mph?

No. As written, the law is purely a function of the speed. The size of the wake is not considered.

Originally Posted by Hillcountry

... my point being we don’t need to pigeonhole the wording to include any speed. Just MAKE NO WAKE! How freakin’ hard is this to comprehend??

Any boat movement creates a wave. If the wave is 1mm high (the thickness of a dime), we call it a ripple. If the wave is 150mm high (6"), we call it a wake. At what point does a ripple become a wake? If you say 76mm, how does one measure it?




FYI: Here is my "wake" in a 20 foot Four Winns. The GPS said 5.7 MPH. My minimum steerage way speed is about 3 MPH.

[Little Bear]

Originally Posted by Bizer

Because that's what the law would dictate if your boat could maintain steerage way at one mile per hour, then that is your maximum speed.

No. As written, the law is purely a function of the speed. The size of the wake is not considered.

Any boat movement creates a wave. If the wave is 1mm high (the thickness of a dime), we call it a ripple. If the wave is 150mm high (6"), we call it a wake. At what point does a ripple become a wake? If you say 76mm, how does one measure it?




FYI: Here is my "wake" in a 20 foot Four Winns. The GPS said 5.7 MPH. My minimum steerage way speed is about 3 MPH.

That wake looks about the size wake that a duck would make.

[VitaBene]

Originally Posted by Little Bear

That wake looks about the size wake that a duck would make.

And to Dave R's point, there are many on this lake that would yell at the "offending" operator from land.

[MDoug]

Originally Posted by VitaBene

And to Dave R's point, there are many on this lake that would yell at the "offending" operator from land.

Very true of the lady on the point at Y Landing, yelling and flailing arms

[Hillcountry]

Originally Posted by Little Bear

That wake looks about the size wake that a duck would make.

Yeah...that doesn’t equate with 5.7 mph in my experience. My toon makes a much more substantial wake at that speed...your 20 footer must glide like a goose!

[iw8surf]

Originally Posted by Hillcountry

Yeah...that doesn’t equate with 5.7 mph in my experience. My toon makes a much more substantial wake at that speed...your 20 footer must glide like a goose!

You can't compare a toon wake at 5.7 mph to a bowrider wake at 5.7 mph. Apples to oranges.

[tis]

Hill, isn't it nice we have so many lawyers on here who think they know so much?For some reason they will say anything to justify making a wake.

[DEJ]

Originally Posted by tis

Hill, isn't it nice we have so many lawyers on here who think they know so much?For some reason they will say anything to justify making a wake.

No lawyer is needed to understand the law as it is currently written.

[Hillcountry]

Originally Posted by iw8surf

You can't compare a toon wake at 5.7 mph to a bowrider wake at 5.7 mph. Apples to oranges.

Yes, I know...a bow riders wake, along with any v-hull makes a greater wake than a lowly toon. This fact has been borne out numerous times on this forum that toons make very little wake compared to the v-hull boats. Look it up.

[The Real BigGuy]

Originally Posted by TiltonBB

So........................If your boat can go through the Weirs Channel and leave no wake at 1/2 MPH should you do that?

And, if you look behind you and the substantially different sized/configuration/hull design boat following you is having great difficulty steering and maintaining control at your "safe speed" should you speed up to allow the vessel behind you to maintain safe control?

Are you guilty of a violation of law?

What will you do?

How many boaters are smart enough or aware enough to realize they are causing a problem for the boats behind them?

That is easy to answer. Few operators look behind them period. Not for boats gaining on them, not to see if they are making a wake.


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