Results!!!!! No Wake

[Moultonborolifeguard]

Originally Posted by MJP

Most people who have permanent docks have winter circulators. These are simply machines that keep the water moving, do no harm to the environment, and keep ice from forming around these docks in winter. Even these are no match for Mother Nature, however. Even the most sturdily built dock with multiple circulators cannot battle against ice floes. A few years back one of my neighbors, who has a very sturdy dock and circulators, stood there and watched a big chuck of ice during ice-out take away 1/2 his u-dock in seconds. That was over $5,000 in damage in a blink of an eye. There is simply nothing anyone can do when nature takes its course. So, I wish people would stop trying to blame shore owners and scold them for not having sturdy docks.

As for floods and waves... Like ice, we can't control or predict flooding. No one ever saw this perhaps-once-in-a-lifetime type of situation coming, not even the weathermen. We do the best we can with the money we have to keep our docks from letting go and causing public danger. No one could predict the kinds of beatings our docks would take last fall and now again this spring. But, the thing is, there are NO MACHINES that can stop wave action, and this CAN BE CONTROLLED by people, so it should have been.

So, please stop criticizing us and realize we are as much concerned about public safety and danger to wildlife as we are about our own property damage, maybe even more. A dock can be rebuilt, but a child getting hurt while tubing (yes, they did it in the fruit salad of debris right in front of our house on Sunday) or a loon nest with eggs destroyed just so someone can get an adrenaline rush, is unthinkable.

Hope this is the last time I have to reiterate this...

Your actually wrong about the docks with the circulators. My dock doesn't have any circulator near it during the winter. It uses a machine to stop wave action. Its called a break water. It just gets iced up completely every year. In the last 7 years we've had one 2x6 break because of the ice, and we are on the broads. Also I would maintain that peoples children have a lot better chance of getting hurt tubing from falling off going to fast, hitting bouys or other objects during normal conditions than debris caused by the high water. If your really worried about the danger than maybe we should just ban all water activities all together according to you just to be safe. Also those PWCs that were bothing you so much put out little to no wake. They almost certainly put out less wake than a bigger boat out at 600 feet. I would know I own and use one. I virtually garuntee, that you hate them when they are over 150' from shore during any normal summer if they are in front of your house. Instead of haivng the government spend more of my tax money trying to control people via MP why don't you just relax. The water level is plummeting rapidly now and in a few days with a little wind the water will be much lower and much less debris free. O well to bad looks like there'll be no NWZ this summer.

[Weirs guy]

Originally Posted by Moultonborolifeguard

Instead of haivng the government spend more of my tax money trying to control people via MP why don't you just relax.

We can't relax if individuals such as yourself are swamping our beaches with your selfish actions. I mean, come on, why is it so hard to slow down for a few days or weeks if it helps everyone enjoy themselves? I really don't care if you boat or don't, your attitude is the problem, along with a lot of others here. I sided with the go fast crowd on HB162, but this weekends actions have started to change my mind.

You expect us to put up with all the inconvenience but can’t be bothered to do anything yourselves. We could build walls, sandbag, or the like. But you could slow down FOR A WEEKEND! I’m not some tree hugger, or environmental nazi, just a guy who wants to live and let live. But I’m also not going to let somebody else’s good time ruin mine.

So the next time one of you decides to go blowing past my beach ignoring the 600' NWZ ask yourself this question, if I’m “too lazy” to build a wall or put up sandbags, am I too lazy to pull all the debris out of the water I’ve found on my beach? Bet that slows you down. If not then stop by and we can discuss it in person, I've been flagging down people all week to no avail and maybe we can share our points of view.

[Woodsy]

Folks..

Its getting a bit contentious here, and there is no need for it. Everybody needs to look at the BIG picture, not just thier particular slice of it.

The reality of the situation is that Lake Winnipesaukee is THE biggest economic engine for NH. There has to be a balance between the interests of the waterfront property owners, businesses, and the general public. Unfortunately you cannot please everyone. Revenues are down due to a lackluster winter tourist season especially around Lake Winnipesaukee and we all have to pay for the flood damage down in southern NH. The $$$ have to come from somewhere. The powers that be decided that it was not in the best interests of the state (general public) to mess with the economic engine that is Lake Winnipesaukee, a compromise was reached and thus we have a 600' NWZ.

I think the 600' NWZ was a fair compromise... had this event occured later in the season when boat traffic is much heavier, say after the kids were out of school, I have no doubt that it would have been a lake-wide NWZ.

I do sympathize with the property owners whose property is seeing some erosion and whose docks are getting bashed a bit because of the high water & boat traffic. You guys & gals are getting thrown under the bus, no doubt about it. However, you are a very small but vocal percentage of the general population, with many of you citizens of other states. The $$$ have to come from somewhere to make up the revenue shortfall. Would you like to see an increase in your property tax to cover this shortfall? If the tax was temporary, say it only went up another $1 per thousand for 1 year? I doubt anyone will would seriously entertain that idea. So where is the money supposed to come from to make up the shortfall and pay for the flooding? Does someone have any better ideas?

Tourism drives the NH Economy. You start messing around with that and pretty soon some dock damage & shoreline erosion will be the least of your problems.

The Dam Operators in Lakeport are draining the lake as quickly as possible. In a week or so all will be close to normal.

Woodsy

PS: For the record I saw very few performance boats out this weekend. It seemed to be moslty fish boats and runabouts. I did see a few big cruisers. At Braun Bay on saturday it was all cruisers & runabouts with only 5-6 performance boats. The docking at the NASWA was similar.

[codeman671]

Originally Posted by Woodsy

PS: For the record I saw very few performance boats out this weekend. It seemed to be moslty fish boats and runabouts. I did see a few big cruisers. At Braun Bay on saturday it was all cruisers & runabouts with only 5-6 performance boats. The docking at the NASWA was similar.

I second that. Most of the boats that I saw were cruisers or family runabouts. There was considerably less performance boats in the areas that I traveled. For the most part I saw better compliance from the performance boats.

[Moultonborolifeguard]

Originally Posted by Weirs guy

We can't relax if individuals such as yourself are swamping our beaches with your selfish actions. I mean, come on, why is it so hard to slow down for a few days or weeks if it helps everyone enjoy themselves? I really don't care if you boat or don't, your attitude is the problem, along with a lot of others here. I sided with the go fast crowd on HB162, but this weekends actions have started to change my mind.

You expect us to put up with all the inconvenience but can’t be bothered to do anything yourselves. We could build walls, sandbag, or the like. But you could slow down FOR A WEEKEND! I’m not some tree hugger, or environmental nazi, just a guy who wants to live and let live. But I’m also not going to let somebody else’s good time ruin mine.

So the next time one of you decides to go blowing past my beach ignoring the 600' NWZ ask yourself this question, if I’m “too lazy” to build a wall or put up sandbags, am I too lazy to pull all the debris out of the water I’ve found on my beach? Bet that slows you down. If not then stop by and we can discuss it in person, I've been flagging down people all week to no avail and maybe we can share our points of view.

Actually this summer I haven't been boating much at all yet, and certainly haven't broken any rules or swamped anyones property. I was arguing more against the attitude presented by some of the people here. I have no problem staying far away from shore or going slower. I can understand people don't want their property wrecked. I do have a problem with people who basiclly want a NWZ as an excuse for not having boat traffic in front of their house as seems to be evident in a number of people here.

[ossipeeboater]

Originally Posted by Weirs guy

We can't relax if individuals such as yourself are swamping our beaches with your selfish actions. I mean, come on, why is it so hard to slow down for a few days or weeks if it helps everyone enjoy themselves? I really don't care if you boat or don't, your attitude is the problem, along with a lot of others here. I sided with the go fast crowd on HB162, but this weekends actions have started to change my mind.

You expect us to put up with all the inconvenience but can’t be bothered to do anything yourselves. We could build walls, sandbag, or the like. But you could slow down FOR A WEEKEND! I’m not some tree hugger, or environmental nazi, just a guy who wants to live and let live. But I’m also not going to let somebody else’s good time ruin mine.

So the next time one of you decides to go blowing past my beach ignoring the 600' NWZ ask yourself this question, if I’m “too lazy” to build a wall or put up sandbags, am I too lazy to pull all the debris out of the water I’ve found on my beach? Bet that slows you down. If not then stop by and we can discuss it in person, I've been flagging down people all week to no avail and maybe we can share our points of view.

the issues out there this weekend weren't caused by go fast boats they were caused by inconsiderate people. I live in a no wake zone and truthfully would rather have the boats come through at 70 that 3-4 mph over no wake speed putting up the biggest wake they could. That was the issue with HB162 it addressed somethng that wasn't the cause of the issues on the lake. I boat winni 10-12 days per year and am on Ossipee about 45 days a year and in the last 6 years I've been out there I haven't had 1 issue with boats going too fast but have multiple issues per day with people vioalting the NMW and the 150 foot rules.

[Weirs guy]

ossipeeboater, let me try and be more specific. I’m not a boater so I’ll stay away from using terms that I don’t understand. My issue this week has been with "boats" (motorized means of transportation traveling on water) that were well within 600' of my beach making waves/wakes/tsunami's that caused water to wash over my little beach, my kids, wife and me. My words were “go fast crowd”, not “go fast boats”.

I was opposed to hb162 because I personally detest any law that takes away from personal freedoms. However, if this weeks behavior is the norm that some of the hb162 supporters deal with, then I can see there reasoning for supporting the bill. If I were a boater I would be concerned that behavior like this past weekends could lead to another speed limit bill.

HOWEVER, I’m not trying to restart the speed limit debate by any means. I think Dave R hit the nail on the head in another topic when he said that your observations from this weekend depended on where you live. I’ve never had issues with wakes when the lake is at normal levels, other people do. It would be great if we could cut the lake up into “regions” with different requirements (this half is a NWZ, that quarter has a speed limit, this sections wide open racetrack), but that’s not practical for every square inch of the lake.

So I’m back to a potato and paint ball guns.

[Mee-n-Mac]

Originally Posted by Weirs guy

{snip}
So I’m back to a potato and paint ball guns.

How about "The Beast" from these guys ...
http://www.waterballoonlaunchers.com/

[Weirs guy]

Now we're talking!

[twins]

I hate to interrupt such a spirited exchange of ideas (and keep this thread alive!), But I purchased one of the twin islands (Gem Island) in Melvin Bay over the winter and have been concerned about the status of the dock. We were planning on leaving from Florida to go to the island for the summer right when the rains hit but have delayed our trip as I'm sure our dock was under a foot of water.

We're hoping to leave at the end of next week, and would like to know if there is a dock to tie our boat to.

If anyone is out on the lake and in the area, could you take a look and let us know, I would appreciate it.

[Islander2]

twins,

Which one is Gem, the one closer to Melvin Village, or the one further away? Will see what the weather conditions are when I arrive later today, and could take a cruise by, if the rain lets up.

[twins]

It is the furthest from Melvin Bay, the northwestern twin. Thanks.

[codeman671]

Originally Posted by Moultonborolifeguard

Your actually wrong about the docks with the circulators. My dock doesn't have any circulator near it during the winter. It uses a machine to stop wave action. Its called a break water.

Breakwaters are only used in certain instances, depending on the direction you are facing and the distance of open, unobstructed water. Many docks on the lake use circulators, I would dare say that there are more permanent docks on the lake without breakwaters than with. For instance where we are located there are only a few breakwaters on the side of Mark facing Governer's but most of the island has permament docks using circulators.

Some even use circulators with breakwaters. Breakwaters these days are getting harder and harder to permit through DES.