Speed Limits

[jeffk]

Originally Posted by Great Idea

I had a guy go by me in narrow channel YESTERDAY at 60 plus within 40-50 ft of my boat near Bear and he and his buddy weren't even looking up or forward. They passed between mine and another boat while fiddling with something on or under the dash. Never even saw us or if they did they didn't much care.

I am far more worried about reckless boaters than simply fast boaters. These boaters were reckless and were violating existing laws. What you needed to be protected from is their stupidity and carelessness. Further, they would have been just as guilty if they had been traveling at 50, 40, 30, 20, or 10 MPH. If the idiots had actually hit you at 40 MPH do you think the outcome would have been significantly better than at 60 MPH? No MP was around to do anything about it either, which seems to be the case for most of these problems which happen far more frequently at speeds less than 45 than they do at higher speeds. Waving a speed limit law at the offenders won't make any difference. They are ignoring existing laws (and not getting caught) and one more to ignore won't make a difference.

I was also out yesterday, for the first time this season. A fishing boat approached from the port side and he should have been the give-way vessel. He did not slow and cut right across me at a close distance. I slowed to avoid a collision. He was probably doing 25 - 35 MPH. I was going 30 MPH. No MP for this close call either.

When I was clear of traffic I pushed my boat to 57 MPH (WOT). I saw a small powered inflatable fishing and gave him a wide berth. As far as I am concerned I was boating responsibly and enjoyably and I don't support your trying to define me as a criminal because I want to go faster than you.

Suppose I'd like to make it a crime for fishing boats to block traffic flow in a channel. If passed, it would immediately make these fishermen criminals as well. This seems to be part of the speed limit arguement, if there was a speed limit then the boats going faster would be breaking the law. Well, DUH.

If I can hear a discussion about the visibility and response time required to properly handle a boat at very high speeds and the specific lack of those conditions on Winni I would be glad to listen. In any case, at 55 MPH I can see and easily react to the conditions around me. I suspect this would be true for at least 65MPH as well. The responsible GFBL boaters that have posted indicate they can travel at 70+ and maintain control and visibility.

As for my credentials, I am a NH resident x 2 houses, both on the water, and I don't own a GFBL boat (and probably never will) but my next boat will probably go 60.