Capt. Boneheads, Marine Patrol

[Kracken]

I have always complained about Capt. Boneheads, Marine Patrol and discourteous boaters on Winnipesaukee. I use to cruise the lake pointing out to my passengers poor behavior by other boaters. This critiquing has come to an end because I had an epiphany. I spent a week at Sebago / Long Lake. After that experience, I have to say. We have it pretty darn good here at Winni.

Here is a list of some of the things I have seen during my week long vacation. Keep in mind; I didn’t see these events happen once. These happened constantly.


1. Boats in a channel, 30 feet from shore doing 25+ MPH, some on plane.
2. Children sitting on the bow (in front of the gate) of pontoon boats with the legs in the water while underway.
3. Boats passing other boats (on plane) at less than 30 feet. The safe passage law in Maine is 200 ft
4. Boats with no hull numbers.
5. Boats using docking likes as headlights.
6. Boats with no navigation lights
7. PWC riders without life jackets.
8. Skiers/Tubers without life jackets or just belts.
9. GFBLs without any exhaust restrictions. (Running at 2:00 AM).
10. Boats passing in a channel at less than 10 feet on plane.
11. Boats overloaded by 100s of lbs.
12. People riding on transoms.

I even saw a kid bodysurfing off the swim platform of a 25ft bow-rider. (yes about 2 feet from the prop.)

Maybe I was there on a bad week, and this is not typical for that area…but I doubt it.

The biggest reason all this happens up there is the lack of MP. There were several days in a row I noticed the marine safety boat never left the dock. So next time you see those blue lights go on be thankful they are there. They may not be perfect, they may be annoying at times, they may even diminish your enjoyment of the lake, but without them things would be far worse.

And for an added plus they charged me $25.00 to put the boat in and $25.00 to take it out, and another $20.00 for a milfoil sticker for out of state boaters. I didn’t feel that bad about the milfoil sticker because when I took the boat out I got an official Maine souvenir milfoil on my outdrive.