Re: Speed limits on lakes?
 

Gulf Coast: no speed limits (except sea cow zones of course :blaster:) and NO noise issues. :drink:

Intracoastal usually can run 25/30/35/ or whatever in channel or WOT

Re: Speed limits on lakes?
 

I guess I'll put my Valentine One on the Fountain .....

Re: Speed limits on lakes?
 

More people die each year in canoe and row boat accidents than in all of high-performance boating,including racing,put together.Speed is rarely a factor in any accident...

Re: Speed limits on lakes?
 

There are bouys but they are pretty far apart, like every 1000 feet or so, just enough for you to get the ides.

Re: Speed limits on lakes?
 

Lets face the facts though. Most people don't have it!

Re: Speed limits on lakes?
 

I don't know about Wisconsin waters but all of the Michigan waters of the great lakes there is a 55mph speed limit if your within two miles of shore, after two miles it's WFO.

I have no problem with that, their big lakes go out two miles if you want to run plus there's no noise issues either, I can deal with that any day over what the LOTO people are dealing with right now.

Re: Speed limits on lakes?
 

I like the idea of a minimum planing speed at night 25-35mph.

We have had a couple of very nasty night time accidents around here with High speed boats cutting through cruisers.

As far as daytime goes. Reckless driving should be punished regardless of the speed. Whats a safe speed one day may be way too fast for the conditions on the next. Then they try and set a speed that is safe for all boats in all conditions and everyone loses

Re: Speed limits on lakes?
 

I think what Wobble said is right on the money. If most of these lakes would start actually enforcing the reckless driving laws that already exist they would most likely find it unnessesary to make speed limit laws.

Re: Speed limits on lakes?
 

I think the size of the lake should dictate a lot of things including, size of boat, size of wake, noise. and speed We boat on the great lakes and I agree with offshore when you are out there it is pretty wide open and you can get a fair distance away from shore.

However we live on a small inland lake and there are all sorts of headaches.
- Noise can be a big problem on a small lake, one of the homeowners has an everglades boat with a jet engine, you can hear him everywhere, he especially likes to take it out on Sunday evenings and ride around the lake close to shore! All the homeowners complain and the sheriff has nothing but excuses on why they can't do anything about it.
-Boat sizes, in this area a lot of people get these in between boats thinking they can use them local and then also trailer to a great lake. Instead they wind up being to small for the great lakes and to large for the inland lakes. Often they can't see over their bow if they are not on plane which is a problem when on a small recreational lake. We had a skier down and a small cruiser almost ran right over her :eek: We call them Wally boats :D
- Wake boarding, the lake is being over run with these boats that are designed to throw huge wakes, one or two boats in an area that is about 500 feet wide throw rollers big enough to crash over 6'ft sea walls. On a busy day you might have 4 wake board boats running continuous laps. I know this is not good for the shore line, or anyone else trying to enjoy the lake. It is sad just about every new boat that comes on the lake is a wake boat, and then makes me nervous about the future of lake living.

Funny thing speed is not one of the concerns around here, it is more about noise which of course can go hand in hand with speed