Re: Lake Winnipesaukee Speed Limit
 

ttt

Re: Lake Winnipesaukee Speed Limit
 

CMG is right ! Think this might be the problem ...

Perhaps the issue is one of skills and not speed. I think I'm going to take the real Safety Nazi approach. Mandatory liscencing and skills testing for all boaters. If you can't boat safely at reasonable speeds then you aren't safe enough for me. After all there's "no reason" somebody "has" to be boating on the lake, we do it just for fun. No need for unreasonable limits to make (it appear) that it's safe for incompetents to boat, let's just ban the incompetents.

I wonder why Mr Pilliod's boat has twins and yet he doesn't go over 25 ? I wonder what he'll say when wakes become a "safety issue" (as some already claim !).

What really irks me is the complete lack of any reasoning in putting forth the limits proposed. 55 "seemed" too fast and 50 was a maybe so they settled on 45 ?!???!? Even the Safety Czars at NHTSA do (overly conservative) analysis to set limits for our roadways. Where's the analysis to support these limits ?

I started boating on Winni 30+ years ago. I can't recall a single time when I've "felt" unsafe because somebody was going over 45. And I'm out there on weekends and on weekend nights when the supporters are afraid to go out. I didn't then, nor have now, a large or a performance boat. I've seen lots of bonehead behavior but speed isn't the real safety concern. Speed limits won't fix the real problems and should this bill pass I wonder how long it'll be before the proponents start griping about how unsafe the lake still is.

ps - How about a little less "feeling" and some more thinking !

Re: Lake Winnipesaukee Speed Limit
 

ttt

Re: Lake Winnipesaukee Speed Limit
 

Went to the meeting in Gilford last night.. The way that people in favor of the speed limit portray us as performance boaters (drunk,unruly , discourteous, ect )makes my Blood Boil :hothead: Something has to be done on the lake I know but to be stereotyped Pisses Me Off! I stayed till 10:30 P and had to Get home 1 plus hr Drive ( Sitter At Home) dont know how it ended But Wish I could have stayed to Give My .02
My thanks to everyone who Did Get to say something Opposed to the bill! We all need to contact our reps to make sure they don't make a Mistake The People who Showed Up In Favor of the Bill Are either Retired Or Just don't Like Perf Boats..
Im Still A little cranked up So Ill Cool Off So I can Focus My Thoughts..
Bob

Re: Lake Winnipesaukee Speed Limit
 

Bob what did you feel was the ratio of for vs. against?

Jon

Re: Lake Winnipesaukee Speed Limit
 

In The Crowd 50/50 Of those speaking 70/30 for HB162 some of the people who spoke out against it were well versed and factual .. a lot of the people for it were emotional in the testimony..and a few just plain ridiculous so if I was on the Board I would go with the facts instead of the story's But Who Knows

Re: Lake Winnipesaukee Speed Limit
 

Here was the summation from the Save Barnegat Bay organization back in 2003 when we showed up with plenty of powerboat members to a Regulation Meeting:

We have since smoothed the waters with most of the sail boating community, and have proven that we all are not "reckless boat operators."

Here was there take on how the meeting went:

January 8, 2003

Noisy, Speeding Boats on Barnegat Bay: What to do?

Read SBB's account of the January 8, 2003 Boat Regulation Commission Meeting:

The opportunity to create a speed limit on Barnegat Bay experienced a serious setback on Wednesday, January 8, 2003 when New Jersey’s Boat Regulation Commission, meeting at State Police Headquarters in West Trenton, voted to withdraw their proposal for a thirty mile per hour speed limit on inshore tidal waters. The Commission instead decided to make minor revisions to “slow speed no wake buoys” and to urge the Legislature to require licensing and enhanced boater education.

The Commission announced its decision at the openning of the hearing and then allowed the public to comment.

Save Barnegat Bay strongly objects to this move by the Boat Regulation Commission, which we see as a betrayal of public safety and of the public interest in favor of a small number of reckless boat operators.

The Boat Regulation Commissiom Chairman portrayed the conflict over a speed limit as a dispute between sailors and powerboat operators only. In truth, this is a conflict between a small group of reckless powerboat operators and the overwhelming majority of law abiding powerboat operators, sailors, crabbers, fishermen, kayakers, canoeists, and swimmers.

The Commission received an overwhelming quantity of letters in favor of a speed limit, which it ignored. The crowd at the Trenton meeting, however, was strongly opposed to a speed limit, as the New Jersey Performance Powerboat Club turned out impressively and in force.

Only a spokesman for Save Barnegat Bay and a small handful of others expressed support. Although the Commission openned by stating that slow speed no wake areas would be significantly increased, they retreated from that position over the course of the hearing. They indicated that the Borough of Mantoloking would likely be denied its request to have the length of its waterfront posted slow speed no wake.

It is notable that of approximately twenty performance powerboaters who testified, two volunteered that they had been involved in fatal accidents. Each insisted, however, that speed was not a factor in his particular case.

Although Save Barnegat Bay supports licensing and education, we see them as inadequate to deal with the crisis on the Bay, which will only get worse as our area’s population increases. We fear that it will take some terrible tragedy before our public officials finally find the courage to stand up for common sense, the environment, and the public interest.

Save Barnegat Bay will continue to explore methods of ameliorating the problem of speeding powerboats.

I hope you guys have the luck and understanding we had to overcome the speed bump of your waterways....

Re: Lake Winnipesaukee Speed Limit
 

Interesting information, thanks for sharing that. Down here Gov. Bush just signed recently three bills into law that combined, protect the public's access to the waterways, expedites the dock permitting process, and requires new manatee legislation to be based on fact, not fiction, among other issues. This was a MAJOR setback for the SMC as they brought everything they had to bear against him signing these bills into law. Unfortunately "Judge Moody" a bottom rung district court judge has decided that the Feds have the authority to actually ban all powerboats from any area that manatees are known to either congregate or found in numbers. This resulted from a court case that the Florida Marine Contractors Association had brought about against the unreasonable actions of the Feds. District court judges rarely go against any Federal action, and the FMCA is extremely confident, as they have one of the top admirality lawyers in their corner, they will win on appeal. They fully expected to lose the first case but that had to be done to get it into appeal. Unfortunately it's going to cost a lot of money to get it there, minimum of 50K which is why I'm pressing so hard on a membership drive for Citizens for Florida's Waterways to try to help. Steven Webster is the Executive Director for the FMCA and VP of CFFW. This will be the biggest fight Florida boaters have faced yet. If we lose this, the Feds could shut down 75% of the ICW to powerboats. This is serious serious stuff.

In my opinion, every Florida boater that does not get on board to help fight this, is part of the problem and might as well put SMC decals on their boats.

It absolutely boggles my mind that a 3 billion dollar a year industry and one of the, if not the, reason to come to Florida is being threated in this manner for a stupid mammal. No one wants to harm the manatee but human beings should at least be considered also.

The SMC's agenda for years has/is to eliminate pleasure boating in coastal Florida's waterways so they can all sit on the shore and watch their beloved manatees.

The reasoning behind their logic which actually got the Feds to stop docking permits was "for every dock that's built, it's one more boat that potentially could harm a manatee". Even in waters where a manatee has never been seen, but "just in case". It's ludicrous.