As nice as Torch and Higgins are, why go there and deal with trouble when you have that kind of hardware?

I understand the "principle" argument but, for as short as our boating season is, why even bother or put yourself in a position where you have to deal with that? Pick your battles - life is too short for that kind of conflict.

Like has been pointed out, Lake Michigan is right there. If Lake Michigan is blowing, Grand Traverse Bay has gorgeous water and stays somewhat protected if the wind and waves kick up.

If you really need to get on Torch, or some other inland lake, go on your buddies smaller/quieter boat, rent a run about or a pontoon and have at it..... I'll shake my head and wonder why, but you'll be on the water and any trouble you still find yourself in won't have to do with loud exhaust.

I agree about Lake Michigan or maybe Charlevoix, which has access to the big lake. Or buy some Gibson clamp on mufflers.

As an older guy (65) I have learned a few absolutes: Average go fast boater verses law enforcement = you lose!, Well behaved, rational, respectful go fast boater verses law enforcement = you lose!, Drunk or obnoxious go fast boater verses law enforcement = you lose, with expenses! There are unfortunate stereotypes that have been earned and cultivated by a minority of irresponsible and careless members of our fraternity. In my experience, most of the average family boaters out there don't care about what we do as long as we are responsible and law abiding. The problem with small affluent waterfront communities is consistent pretty much everywhere. Wealthy, liberal, taxpayers are setting legal but possibly unrealistic standards that impact what we do. I try to not offend any one when I launch the Tiger, and have gotten positive responses from the harbormaster and observers most always. My boat has 653" supercharged motors, and even with GGB inserts will never meet noise standards. I launch, warmup, and maintain proper speeds in a very trendy yuppie town in Massachusetts, on a 20 minute ride to the ocean. So far, no issues. I also understand that certain towns along Cape Cod and specifically the Vineyard and Nantucket are off limits. I don't need or want the aggravation involved with law enforcement tussles, whether justified or imagined. It is counterproductive to go out for a blast that is marred by stress! Remember to pick your battles! As usual, just my opinion.

I keep my boat on West Bay but spend some time at a place on Torch also. The 4th of July sand bar mess in the past has a lot to do with attitudes on the lake. A bunch of slob boaters and slob walk ins, under age drinking and drunks trashed the south end of the lake and left their mess in the water and along the roads for the home owners in that area.
Homeowners are pissed about the situation, hear a loud boat, they associate the loud boats with the mess wrongly and the loud boaters take the heat.

Never knew how nice that Lake was. Too bad about the cocksuckers, I`d probably last about 5 minutes before getting hassled

This year was a lot better on the 4th, multiple blue plastic 55 gallon drums were placed on the sandbar for waste and recycling. This kept the trash in the water to a minimum. Not sure who supplied them but they worked well.

Was this strictly DB related or was speed around others tied in with the DB?

Few Years back we were on Higgins Lake with (Check300) Single engine 1500 hp plus.
Bill asked the cops straight up what the rules and regs were?

Best I remember he told us common sense prevails.
If we are in a safe area, and not putting others in harms way, they enjoy watching as much as
we enjoy boating.

Seemed far enough, we opened it up several times with out issue.

Jon

And the buyer of the gladiator has been running all around with those ZULs with Stelling Headers and even the police wave as we go by! :coolcowboy:

What's the process fro the dB check? Certain amount of feet away from the boat at idle? Do any of the areas stated herein have the same laws for car exhaust? From what I've read locally, they've been unable to get such laws to stick for cars. Why are they relevant for one vehicle but not for another?

As for being told not to come back. I'm going with there has to be a paper trail in order to enforce such a statement. As "we" know verbal contracts don't exist. I'd tell the officer to put it on paper and welcome his boarding to check anything he wants too. A big smile from me when he acknowledges my **** is straight as an arrow.

IMO, cost of ownership, just like speeding tickets on a sport bike. I accepted them with a smile.

Not on my boat!
 

A cop on the boat is never a good thing! I too was once naive and confident in my level of compliance. By the time they raft alongside. (with a potential for damage to the cosmetics), climb over your upholstery with nasty police issue black sole shoes, do the 15 minute inspection, and find that you have full, green arrow but not current dated fire extinguishers, straight arrow smugness is not much consolation. Ask me how I know!

AS I said I'm good to go. Kinda how I roll in all aspects of life not just boating. The Coast Guard Auxilliary inspector who reviewed my boat for the yearly and voluntary compliance decal said I knew more about the requirements then he did.

Keith

I'd guess a Go Pro or other camera recording everything may also have some ability to keep things professional and reasonable. Definitely don't rub it in anyone's face but when everyone knows there's video evidence of the conversation things tend to be more in line with the actual law. Attach it to the dash to record each outing and not only will you probably get some good running footage but you also get video evidence of your normal boating activities and encounters. If a LEO gets out of line and you can show their COC the video and you can bet things will be addressed no department wants to end up on you tube doing something wrong or out of line.

We live on an inland lake and I can tell you I wouldn't want the Torch Sandbar Circus in front of my house either...On the other hand you shouldn't move next to an airport and complain about the airplanes.

I haven't been to the sandbar in years but it was explained to me that the vast majority of the problems weren't caused by boaters but rather by the "walk ins" from some narrow parcel of access. A simple solution if that's true would be to eliminate that access IE have the association purchase the property.

We frequently boat on the Muskegon River backwaters of Hardy Dam and the marine patrol up there has had a reputation of being very level headed in terms of what they write and why. To be blunt if got a ticket you probably had it coming.

A couple years ago there was an overzealous deputy who would hide behind the bridge where M20 crosses the river (no wake zone) and when people were idling through would ambush them - literally would zoom out - and was an incompetent idiot in terms of (lack of) boat handling skills; several people had their boats damaged. There is also a very nice campground/launch/general store (River Ridge) at that location and it's the only place to get gas on the river.

I know that several boaters / campers complained to the people at River Ridge and said they wouldn't be back & some others called the chamber of commerce and told them the same thing...if this is the way we're going to be treated we'll take our $$ elsewhere. The beautiful thing about W. Mi is we have lots of choices.

I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but that idiot is no longer there.

I'll add that other than "that guy" and Grand Haven back in the 80's, every marine patrol officer I've dealt with, whether USCG or Sheriff Patrol, was great to deal with. I know I wouldn't want their job.

Sad that "we" have to protect ourselves from law enforcement. I'm doing the above when I start to commute to work on interstates again. Sick and tired of LEO blatantly lying about my speed to boost their quota. Got a ticket for 86 mph in a 70 mph when I was dong 79 per my gps and speedometer. No lawyer would touch it in the county in which it happened, I was told the judge will believe the officer no matter what. When you drive for a living and rely on having a drivers license, this type of crap really starts pisssing people off.

Keith

I`m taking a knee next time I`m at the launch ramp .

watch out for gravel. ;-)