Weirs docks pedal boats

[Woodsy]

This what the City Council leased out.... They could have just rented the red circled area....

Woodsy

[fatlazyless]

Originally Posted by Woodsy

This what the City Council leased out.... They could have just rented the red circled area....

Woodsy

What is missing or just does not show in this aerial photo is the swimmer's rope line that separates the swim area from the boating area. The rope line is estimated by me to be 250-yards long, has many floats attached to it and the water depth under the swim rope line is about six to seven feet deep with a very smooth sandy bottom. Just inside the 250-yard swim line is like an excellent place to practice swimming, alone, what with the floating rope line right there in case you have a problem.

The entry/exit Weirs channel buoy markers for the nearby Weirs channel are located well out beyond the swimmer's rope line so this area just beyond the rope line has always been a relatively safe place for sups and kayaks because the motorboats tend to not go there much, at all. The motorboats travel within the channel markers without circling around and stopping just out beyond the swimmer's rope line does not seem to happen.

It seems that pedal boats, sups, and kayaks canoes in use by paddlers and pedalers, just out beyond the swim rope line is a good welcome use because these small vessels are all human powered, without motors.

And maybe someday, the City of Laconia will once again be able to hire lifeguards to occupy the two vacant, unoccupied lifeguard high look-out seats that still exist on the sandy beach. Just because many of the beach visiters on the Weirs sandy beach ... http://www.laconianh.gov/1034/Weirs-...cott-Rock-Park ..... are Hispanic who come from the Lowell and Lawrence area in Massachusetts was not much of a reason for Laconia to discontinue their lifeguards, there. "Lifeguards ...... what lifeguards ..... we don't need no lifeguards at that Weirs Beach ..... everyone over there comes from Lowell and Lawrence ...... while people from Laconia all go to Bond Beach on Lake Opechee" ...... which has lifeguards and swimming lessons and .... www.laconianh.gov/1035/Bond-Beach ..... amenities.

"Ningun Salvavidas en Servico Nadar a Su" is Spanish for "No Lifeguards - SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK"

Adding a pedal, paddle, small vessel rental venue to the Weirs town docks will collect customers from both the beach users, and the people walking along the Lakeside Ave boardwalk area who see the small boats out on the water just beyond the swim rope line and think ..... hey, just look at these little pedal/paddle boats ... out there!

[randalnh]

Great idea! Lets have a bunch of pedal boats and/or paddle boats drifting out into one of the craziest areas on the lake. Should make for some interesting viewing come next summer!

[AC2717]

Weren't those docks supposed to be replaced this coming year before the season to make them wider and longer?

Nothing should be added there until the docks are replaced to actually fit more than one boat. and Personally with the wakes and waves that come into that place, its no place for a pedal boat, but I am all for businesses and ideas.

[camp guy]

The whole concept of pedal boats and SUPs, mixed ages, and it all being (basically) rental, just seems to me like a recipe for serious problems. I can see it now, SUP jousting matches, pedal boat drag racing, all with no safety in mind. There is a reason I don't go to the Weirs, and this is part of it.

[DoTheMath]

They can say they did, but no one really thought this ALL the way through. Aside of running pedal boats in the middle of the busiest place on the lake... And losing good dock space for boats / waverunners... And the city leasing public property to a private entity... I can't imagine going out in a giant duck, or unicorn, or whatever they are supposed to resemble and enjoying it!? You're going to be out there fighting wind and waves from the boat traffic, pedaling your legs off trying to have a "relaxing" time while bobbing up and down like an empty detergent bottle. Weirs on a weekend is like the scene in Caddyshack at the yacht club anyway, now add in this? Sadly, more than an anchor is going to get scratched, someone is going to get hurt.

[Biggd]

I've seen small bowriders get swamped there on busy weekends. These people renting paddle boats don't know what they are in for!

[John Mercier]

That would just bring on a call for more Marine Patrol as boats travelled faster than headway speed.

It is one of those things that non-motorized users are a captured market.
It isn't like they are going to pedal to Meredith Bay for lunch/dinner and shopping... and Wolfeboro... those would be some strong legs.

We use to battle over industrial development... but that isn't expanding in NH.

The commercial battle was largely ignored until the Laconia Downtown lost consumers to Gilford and Belmont (then from Belmont to Tilton).

So this tourism battle is heating up. And everyone wants a captured market.

[Descant]

This will be interesting to watch. From a boating POV, it doesn't strike me a as a great location. Paugus Bay or Meredith where there is protection from the prevailing winds would be better, but adding an attraction to the Weirs may be good.
Is there a City Councilor who owns and operates a boat on Winnipesaukee? How often does s/he go to the Weirs by boat?

[fatlazyless]

Originally Posted by Descant

This will be interesting to watch. From a boating POV, it doesn't strike me a as a great location. Paugus Bay or Meredith where there is protection from the prevailing winds would be better, but adding an attraction to the Weirs may be good.
Is there a City Councilor who owns and operates a boat on Winnipesaukee? How often does s/he go to the Weirs by boat?

What this Weirs Beach town docks business location hopefully has are paying tourist customers, who will rent a pedal/paddle boat for maybe one or two hours. Beach-goers on the sandy Weirs public beach, and people walking/driving along the Lakeside Ave boardwalk area will see the small pedal/paddle boats out there, close to the swim rope line, and possibly want to give it a go, themselves.

Most important item for a rental pedal/paddle Lake Winnipesaukee venue is a waterfront situation that is doable in every way: safety, parking, neighbors, money, local acceptance ..... basically, an impossible situation.

Will a rental pedal/paddle boat business work in that location or will it be a one year wonder like The Dive, a bar and restaurant built on a 60' construction barge, which had a lease with the City for the same Weirs public dock spot in corona virus summer-2021 ....... ???

What do you think? Will it survive and be a positive summer tourist oriented rental pedal/paddle boat business in that location?
...................

The M/S Mount Washington cost $48.50/passenger, year-2022, for a 2.5-hour narrated scenic daytime cruise around the big lake, no food included.

[John Mercier]

When you are looking for something that will lead to a captured market... it is the right thing to do.

Paugus doesn't really have the commercial potential for a captured market to add to them; and Meredith could see them added to the SUP rentals should they become a hit.

When any municipality joins the tourism/second home competition, it has to be ready for this type of thing to add value.

Powerboats because they can traverse the lake in a reasonable amount of time will never have that captured market impact.

The business owners don't really care the means of access to their establishment, just that the establishment stays full to optimum profitability.

[fatlazyless]

Here's a good photograph ...... http://www.nhstateparks.org/visit/st...-historic-site ..... that shows the Weirs channel on the right, the rock jetty, and the Weirs sandy beach.

As everyone knows, pedal/paddle boats usually stay close to shore while the motorboats usually head out to deeper waters, and all Lake Winnipesaukee boaters are totally copacetic.
.............

Lake Winnipesaukee factoid: By the year 1695 all the native American indigenous people had been forcibly run out of their Weirs waterfront settlement. They all left the area and moved to what is now Fryeburg, Maine, so the indian portrayed by the statue atop Endicott Rock got forced out about 327 years ago.

[kjkam]

Any bets after 1 year of operation, they will petition to expand the no wake zone further past the end of the channel, maybe out to the black spar?????

[Dave R]

Originally Posted by kjkam

Any bets after 1 year of operation, they will petition to expand the no wake zone further past the end of the channel, maybe out to the black spar?????

A bigger NWZ there (not all the way to FL1, but maybe another 800 feet north to extend the NWZ past the public docks) actually makes more sense than the absurdly over-sized NWZ in Meredith, IMO.

[mowtorman]

Governor's bridge to Eagle to Marker I to the Pier/Flightcraft.

[Woodsy]

Originally Posted by Dave R

A bigger NWZ there (not all the way to FL1, but maybe another 800 feet north to extend the NWZ past the public docks) actually makes more sense than the absurdly over-sized NWZ in Meredith, IMO.

People will really get steamed if they extend the NWZ... as it is now it can take over 1/2 hour to navigate the 1.5 mile channel on a normal saturday.

Woodsy

[TiltonBB]

Wait until one of the paddle boats goes down the Weirs Channel in the spring and then tries to paddle back against the current.

Even if they are told not to go there, you know they will.

This could get interesting!

[fatlazyless]

Originally Posted by TiltonBB

Wait until one of the paddle boats goes down the Weirs Channel in the spring and then tries to paddle back against the current.

Even if they are told not to go there, you know they will.

This could get interesting!

Excerpt from the Laconia Daily Sun, Dec 6, 2022 ...... 'Pedal boat business will set up ship at the Weirs' ...... by Catherine McLaughlin:

"A small motorized chase vessel will be on the water to ensure all abide by the time limits, stay safely out of the way of incoming dock traffic and able to return to the dock." so's their rental boat safety launch could go tow a rental pedal boat that got in trouble back up the current in the Weirs Channel, or something. After that happens just once, management will probably tell all their renters to stay the heck out of the channel because it has a current and a gazillion angry motor boats in that super crowded parade of NH-boats moving in two directions in the very crowded Weirs channel.

It also says "Weirs Beach Pedal boats will have six five-person pedal boats for adults: two shaped like ducks, two like swans and two like dragons. In the semi-enclosed space inside the footbridge will be an area for kiddie boats."

Renting a pedal boat could maybe be a big popular hit with beach goers there, on the sandy beach, who could pedal their pedal boat just outside the swim rope line. One pedal boat can hold up to five people and I believe it actually has four sets of pedals for four people to pedal it along through the Winnipesaukee-Weirs Beach waters, so it becomes a fun group pedal, water, activity with the fifth seat designed to hold a young child. Beach goers sitting on the nearby sandy beach could be engaged to go rent a pedal boat for one hour after they watch these boats slowly move across the lake, out front of the swim area.

Lots of small boat visibility from the beach and from the Lakeside Ave-boardwalk with the big water view should help this new business find customers and add a welcome new boat experience to the Weirs waterfront as they get pedaled across the beautiful Lake Winnipesaukee waters.

[Dave R]

Originally Posted by Woodsy

People will really get steamed if they extend the NWZ... as it is now it can take over 1/2 hour to navigate the 1.5 mile channel on a normal saturday.

Woodsy

I'm sure. It's a shame they changed the NH headway speed definition from 6 MPH to as slow as you can possibly go. A 5 MPH speed limit would be ideal in there, IMO. Slow enough to keep wakes tiny, but fast enough to maintain decent control and traffic flow. 3MPH (30 minutes for 1.5 miles) is too slow for most boats and it's mentally exhausting to maintain a course at that speed.

We often take a ride on the Annisquam River/Blynman Canal, which is not far (by water, it's a long car ride) from Hampton Beach where we keep our boat. It's a NWZ, for the most part, but people tend to cruise at 6 to 7 MPH so it's easy to maintain control. There are definitely wakes present, but they are not terrible. It's about 4 miles from the start to the end of the NWZ, and there's a drawbridge we typically have to wait for, so it can take an hour to get through, but like the Weirs channel, there's a lot to look at so it's interesting and fun. The NWZ does not seem to extend to the Blynman Bridge (or it's completely ignored). People really rip it up through that bridge opening. There are youtube videos of this that make Weirs channel look like utter tranquility.

[Patofnaud]

That area behind the docks is (now was) perfectly fine for shallow draft boats including my tritoon.

I live behind those docks for a good part of the season as it is near impossible to get a front spot on a busy day, and even if there is a front spot I try to leave those for those who can only park out front.

If they actually did some research PRIOR to making decisions, photos of the docks on weekends would show that there are (now were) always 'toons and jetskis parked back there in the above 'yellow zone".

Prior to adding additional users to the existing docks, make sure you can support the current users...