In the Spirit of Compromise....

[jrc]

Originally Posted by Bear Islander

In the first place - The entire lake should be safe enough for children in a canoe! If it isn't then we need to take whatever step are necessary to make it so....

I agree with BI. With obvious exceptions:

This is a two way street, as long as we have large vessels (up to Mt Washington scale) we must contend with the fact that all vessels must follow some rules of the water. Large vessels cannot stop or turn very fast. If a canoe paddles out in front of the Mt Washinton at 150 feet there will be a problem.

Canoes are not very stable. If you paddle your canoe in a busy area or during high winds, you should be safe from collision but waves and wakes are another matter. No law can fix the wind, and short of banning all boats no law can make a canoe stable.

Finally, just because the lake is safe for children to canoe, it doesn't mean that the lake has to be safe for children in a canoe, when they are not there. For example, on the road school zones are 20 mph when children are present, it doesn't mean that every road is 20 mph all the time. If I see a canoe near my path I slow down, I don't slow down because someday someone might want to canoe.