Anchoring Near Shore

[trackeer]

Originally Posted by stevem

Wondering what the etiquette is when anchoring near the shore with houses around it? I know it’s a public lake so there shouldn’t really be an issue anchoring for the most part but had a woman today near melvin bay that wasn’t happy at all that we were anchored in front of her house. We were anchored out near the row of mooring buoys so about 150’ from shore. She decided to bring her sailboat from shore and attach it to what I assume is her mooring which was right next to our boat in what seemed like an attempt to get us to move. She seemed to have an attitude from the start when she first came out plowing into the tube we had in the water that the kids had been playing on telling us it looked like we were right in her house from where we were. We asked her if she wanted us to move and she said it would be nice if we went out further past the moorings. We stayed for about another 1/2 hour then took the kids tubing.

First time renting a house on lake Winnipesaukee but have rented houses/boats on other lakes and never had an issue before. I would have had no problem moving further down if she had been polite but all she made me want to do is go back there again tomorrow.

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.

[Dave R]

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.

[tis]

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?

[milesbob]

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.

[thinkxingu]

Originally Posted by milesbob

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

[rander7823]

Originally Posted by thinkxingu

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

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

[TheTimeTraveler]

Originally Posted by rander7823

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!

[Descant]

Originally Posted by rander7823

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

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

[rick35]

Originally Posted by milesbob

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.

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.

[JEEPONLY]

Originally Posted by milesbob

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.

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!