Hi Silver Duck. On busy times like sunny weekends, I like to go out to buoy 3 in a kayak and mess around in the two to three foot wakes. I have a 12' kayak that is not capable of long distances so I stay close to the shore. Always staying on the inside of the buoy for safety and have never had a problem with motorboats cutting inside the flasher buoy. Most of the time, the two opposing lanes of motorboat traffic pretty much line up like two lanes of traffic and space themselves safely apart as they pass through the narrows formed between buoy 3 and Dolly Island. That spot can be a choke point and probably as boaters get closer to it from either direction, they see it is narrow and start thinking safe boating.
There's never been a collision or accident there that I know about. Drivers can see it coming from both sides and know they had better make some space adjustments with nearby boaters before they get to the narrow area. So, probably any space jockeying takes place a few hundred yards out before they run out of lane space. Sure, it can be congested on a busy weekend. The Marine Patrol likes to stake it out during busy times looking for 150' violations, or whatever. It seems like a lot of the boaters that get 'pulled over' by the MP's are on pwc's, probably for violation of the 150' rule. A lot of boats, including the Mount Washington, go through that spot.
The go-fasts like the cigarettes and skaters tend to slow down for a look-see as their look-ahead. sight zone is impaired as it is not a straight shot thru the narrows. It can have a bit of an angle to it going from one side to the other.
On sunny weekends the area can be congested and crowded. No surprise with that but everyone just lines up and cruises through according to their boat and their comfort level.
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