Several years back we had a issue anchoring for lunch in a cove with condos, can't remember the name, a owner boating in called us out how we'd like it if he ate his lunch in our backyard, he seems to forget it is a public lake. I think the jist here, the lake is not a private enterprise as some homeowners would like us to believe, essentially most bodies of water in NH are public, hence the row at Squam about a public ramp several years back, there is a pretty sweet public ramp there now!
As for anchoring amongst moorings, I have to ask why, the lake is pretty big and moorings are granted for folks to keep there boats on, if there was a boat or boats there would you have anchored?
There is always a good reason to defend ones position, I believe in our case eating lunch in this persons BACKYARD was a reasonable argument worth defending, which in my true Irish form I did! To anchor where there are moorings seems silly and to argue the point even sillier, not to mention the potential aggravation of doing so, there are mooring blocks under water.
I believe it's either 50/75 feet off shore to anchor, and there are those on the lake who will defend that with glee, particularly if your around their property.
Boating is fun, and the lake is BIG at least New England BIG, there are many coves, we used to frequent Stonedam, quite, no properties to speak of and we can eat our lunch with no interruptions.

I know this may sound crazy to folks on Winnipesaukee, but in the rest of the world, the response to the OP would be "Why anchor if there are empty moorings? Grab a mooring and hang out."

I know a guy who has five moorings in a beautiful protected cove in mid-coast Maine. Four of the moorings are named for his favorite dogs and are there specifically for strangers to use. He only asks that you move if you take his mooring. This kind of thing is super-common.

This war will never end. Yes, the lake is owned by all. The sidewalk/street in front of your house is owned by all. How would you like it if 25-50 cars started partying with alcohol, drugs, music, and going to the bathroom on your sidewalk?

Anchor so close in an Empty Cove
 

Is it just me.
But if I go out on a weekday or even a weekend and anchor in the Moultonboro area, Someone will anchor within 75-100 feet from me while the entire cove or bay is empty. It may fill up later but at the time no one is near me.

The lake is 44,000 acres and I get the guy who pulls up and anchors practically on top of me.

Hahahaha! I just posted about this a couple weeks ago. We were in MB tubing with NOBODY there (10 AM weekday) and within minutes there were two other boats within a few hundred feet with STILL nobody else around.

Maybe there's a magnet effect in the bay!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

My daughter and friends are renting a boat this weekend and she said something about anchoring in "our" cove. I said don't do that. There will be six more boats next to you.

Same thing
 

There is a small island-cove that I used to pull my 13' Whaler into- sometimes anchored/sometimes pulled up on shore. I've done this for many, many, many years. Just sit, swim and enjoy.

A few years ago, me heading out to this beautiful spot, I saw a boat- maybe 24'-26' bow-rider- lake anchor off the bow/stern line tied to shore. It completely blocked off this little cove.

It may seem rude, but I hovered in the cove pretending to look for something below the water surface. I guess i interrupted their privacy, my 30+ year old OB churning out fumes!- after about 15 minutes they left- dogs and all!

Old Lives Matter!

Some kind of universal constant
 

Have you ever parked your car far away from a store in an empty lot only to come out and find a car parked right next to yours while the lot remains virtually empty?

I think its one of Newtons Laws

Yes, it does happen. And one time they had parked so close to me that I could not open the driver's door, and had to enter on the passenger side and crawl over the gear shift lever to get into the drivers seat..... Not fun, and definitely not considerate!

Darwin's theory of proximity---It's more fun to graze with the herd even if others have eaten all the grass.

Class of Visitor?
 

About thirty years ago, I regularly asked anchoring boaters to move from in front of my place. Or, at least, unhook from my waterline. (!)

In succeeding years, tubers being towed behind 24+ foot boats would make any anchored picnickers seasick! So, in Winter Harbor, at least, we don't see the "south-side" of anchored boaters any longer.

Tuesday, a boater anchored nearby, and had a good time. We couldn't object, because they were 500-feet away, and in 20 feet of water.

Wednesday, a two-story pontoon boat anchored. My comment to a guest, "It looks like an entire boy's camp is on board!" They had lunch, went tubing for hours, and left. They, too, had anchored in deep water, and were perhaps 750-feet away.

Maybe we have classier visitors to Winter Harbor?

15 years ago, I managed a property with large frontage, for about 10 years. and this is what I learned over the years...

Except in legally restricted areas, you can anchor as close to other boats, and shore, as you like.

You may not beach, tie to a dock, tree or rock, or place an anchor above the water line without the permission of the property owner.

You may not tie to a float line or exceed head-way speed within 150 feet of a float/swim line. Also a no-no for official buoys.

You may not bring a motorized boat within a float/swim line unless you have the owner's permission to dock or beach there. (Owners/tenants are restricted to launch/recovery only in these areas.)

You may still swim and wade within the areas protected by float/swim lines. Just keep your feet wet. You may leave the water to get around docks or other structures installed by the property owner, you may also step on docks for the purpose of continuing your stroll. You may not go further than necessary though.

By being considerate and behaving reasonably (especially near houses obviously owned by the wealthy and influential people) we can slow the spread of no-wake/no-rafting areas which is the lake equivalent of snob-zoning.

That's pretty much all I think I know about that. Some of these rules may have been refined since the period when I had an active interest.

Enjoy!

Thanks everyone for the responses, figured I would only get 1 or 2. Left today but found some good areas from recommendations that the kids were able to stand in for the most part. Looking forward to coming back again.

Glad to hear!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

So this dude, the ONLY boat we've seen in the last hour, just came in to do laps back and forth, in the quiet back stretch of Moultonborough Bay, while the WHOLE BAY is wide open. Blasting "Carry on My Wayward Son" over and over. L'il Buddy's boat is getting close to swamped. Wakeboaters suck.

Attachment 16352Attachment 16353

Sent from my SM-G950U using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

Yipes! Agreed that wakeboaters (and Kansas) suck. Back to an earlier convo-- this is why my man needs a life vest in a small boat. They're not uncomfortable once you get used to it :)

https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/8098...d-life-jackets

Cropped photos like this do not help your cause (plea's for sympothy). I am sure LE would view it the same way.

I see NO wake behind the boat you are complaining about. It also looks like the kid is not even in the boat you are saying is "being swamped". I say this because the yellow duffle bag, that is being stored on top of the gas tank, appears in both pictures. That gives a reasonable idea of the positioning.

So just a take-away from this.... If you are using pictures to support your opinion, make them visible enough to actually "give a picture".

Well for all my knocks about the modern world, life jackets have come a long way and are in fact much better than when we were kids!

Cranky old guy that I am, I dont get the blasting music thing. Its as if these folks want to feel like what they would look like if they were watching themselves in movie with background music and editing and all the hollywood stuff.

Cant speak to the wake boarding and wake surfing, but that blasting music thing is just weird to me. We would NEVER have wanted blasting music while water skiing in my youth, it would have ruined the experience.

I'm sure I'm missing something,,, NOT.

Good (learning) experience for the young Captain. Life is not always smooth sailing...

Nwz
 

Wherever Little Buddy was should have been a NWZ within 150 feet. I can think of several ways to protect that 150 feet. Yes some might be confrontation, but video recording while waiting for an MP response would be OK. Being truly confrontational (egg toss?) would be a lot more fun but probably less productive. Nevertheless, confrontation may be what is needed. A few sympathetic boats/kayaks/canoes in the area whenever wake boats are destructive? Three canoes create a 900' NWZ, right?

Since Think has been a reliable poster for years, and there's nothing inconsistent in the pictures, we have no reason to question his reporting.

So I'm gonna guess that you're the guy in the wakeboat. Please turn your crappy music down, stop driving in circles, and someday take a real look at those monster wakes and the damage they do to other boats and the shoreline.

I missed this idiocy yesterday.

1. The boat is turning around in the image, hence no wake.
2. I'm IN the boat, and that's only one of a few not cropped images I took, since I couldn't start my phone's video recorder in time.
3. You'll also notice the surfer is in the water, not remotely 150' from the other shore.
4. He got close enough to us for me to record, and get his bow numbers—which I could've posted, but my intent wasn't to out this specific person but rather reinforce my belief that wakeboaters suck.
5. Since you're attempting to minimize my experience with minutiae, I'll be proactive and point out that the event took longer than just one "Carry on My Wayward Son"—he also played ****ty Van Halen tracks, among them "Big Bad Bill," more evidence this guy was a doofus.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

I spoke with the Marine Patrol today. I was told there is no minimum distance required for anchoring close to a private mooring, other than common sense to ensure the swing of the anchored boat will not allow it to contact anything else, such as a mooring or other anchored boat. Further, a line of individual, private moorings such as a row of private homes each with it's own mooring is not considered a mooring field.
I was already aware it is prohibited to anchor within a public mooring field or congregate mooring field (such as for a homeowners association that has four or more moorings under a single permit).

There is a fairly easy solution to this...

1. Turn little buddy's boat around so its nose out. Solves the swamping issue.

2. Place a couple of clorox bottles (or whatever) approx 125' from shore. They will think they are rocks and stay away.

Woodsy

The reason Van Halen recorded "Big Bad Bill" on the Diver Down album, was to give Eddie and Alex Van Halen a chance for their clarinet playing father to record a song with his two sons that actually got "recorded" on an album. It was a way of paying tribute to their father for his influence on his sons music career. Also, FWIW, both Eddie and Alex started playing the opposite instruments at a very young age before they decided to "switch", and found their real passion for the instruments they play today. One other needless piece of information about Van Halen that I find interesting is that they considered naming the band "Rat Salad" instead of Van Halen because of the influence the band Black Sabbath had on them growing up. For those that don't know, Rat Salad is an (instrumental, drum solo) song by Black Sabbath on their "paranoid" album. Don't you feel smarter now, knowing this???

Anchoring near shore
 

I think the issue is common courtesy. If you are in shallow water right in front of someone's house, don't you think you are begging some unnecessary conflict? Is this conflict going to be a buzzkill on your much-needed day off? The people that live there aren't going anywhere...They pay massive taxes (with no voting rights for out of state people) for the privilege of living there. Yes, these are waters of the state, but common courtesy should take precedence (I know, this is not en vogue these days). If there is somewhere to go with more space and less hassle, isn't that a win-win?

Also, with the increase in popularity of rafting in areas like this, there have been some water quality issues. Hopefully, families with young children will be careful of that and proceed accordingly. Typically, areas further from shore have better circulation and water quality. Finally, if you are hanging out in front of someone's house all day drinking (and peeing in the lake and making noise) and then drive away, you might consider whether they have been filming you and talking to marine patrol.

Enjoy the water safely, friends....and don't forget to support the Clean Water and Shoreland Protection Acts...After all, that's what protects the lakes that we love so much!

I’m just here to be miserable about people’s wakes, anchoring choices, music choice, choice in fishing lures, and if I don’t like the color of your boat! Waaahh:laugh::laugh:

Not looking to open a can of worms but I have a few questions.

See you speaking about those anchoring within or outside 150 feet?

If they are anchored outside the 150 feet the boat has just as much a right to enjoy that part of the lake as the landowner does

Do you have proof that rafting hurts the quality of water? Not speaking about the larger rafting areas such as Braun, West Alton, Margate etc but a few friends 150 feet off shore

Remember at most you see larger rafting maybe 30 days a year at best they leaves 330 days a year of circulation.

Honest questions


Sent from my iPhone using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

Hard Water
 

Good luck on boating some of the remaining 330 days. :D

Wasn’t speaking of boating I was referring to water circulation issue. [emoji4]


Sent from my iPhone using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

Honest answer--you've only asked about a portion of the problem.

Wouldn't it bug you if six boats were rafting for a day 160' from your land? (Not one boat floating by with a few happy people)

It might it might not but that’s not the issue. They have a right to use the lake just like I do and if they are 160ft out they are legal and I have to live with it and hope they are respectful.

Just because you own waterfront and I did for 12 years doesn’t mean I own the lake in front of my home. The door swings in both directions.

At the end of the day if you buy a waterfront home especially in a quite cove you should also understand there is a possibility of people anchoring off your property. You cannot be naive.


Sent from my iPhone using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

My understanding is they could be 10 feet from shore and still be legal. State water is defined as the mean high water mark and the public has the right to use all of it, to the water’s edge, even though that might be discourteous. The only limitation is a prohibition against blocking access of those who hold littoral rights; I can be a jerk and anchor 10 feet in front of your dock as long as I don’t obstruct passage from your dock out to the lake.

In a no rafting zone you must be 150 feet from shore, docks, rafts etc. If two boats are tied together other boats must be 50'away from them, if a single boat is anchored other single boats must be 25' from them.

Who is being naive?
 

Joey, while it might be legal to anchor off a waterfront property, it’s naive to think that the residents are going to be receptive to unruly, boisterous boaters, and that’s what frequently happens for a variety of reasons: sometimes the people don’t realize the extent that noise travels over water, and others don’t care, just as long as they are having a roaring good time. Consideration and respect are frequently lost.

I agree that consideration and respect are lost but I never said the property owner would be or should be receptive again there is nothing illegal so nothing you can do.

I don’t agree with that type of behavior but it’s a reality with waterfront ownership.


Sent from my iPhone using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

I think you've missed most of the previous posts. We've been discussing etiquette and manners, and we've already acknowledged the law does not prevent rude behavior immediately offshore

No I haven’t I read all the posts and responded specifically to Sue. Maybe you missed that asking her several serious questions.


Sent from my iPhone using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

Not My Photo...Huge Erosion Factor—Too...
 

I'd expect things to change where there's abuse. :rolleye1: