It's official...

[Evenstar]

Originally Posted by Airwaves

Evenstar, if you want to paddle from Alton to Green's Basin and back that's fine, but if you are not willing to make your kayak visible to all boaters that are on the lake, and then blame us because we "come close at high speeds" then that's something else entirely! Every boater, including you and your kayak, has a legal responsiblity to boat safely, that also means that you can not endanger other vessels because they can't see you. . . . You want speed limits so you don't get "run down" by high speed boats, yet you refuse to even put a flag on your vessel to make it more visible. You put the responsibility on others when, under the law, each vessel operator is responsible.

The problem is not my lack of visibility, because I am very visible – the problem is that some powerboat owners are traveling at speeds that are greater than their ability to see smaller boats in time to stay out of their 150 foot zone. And this happens regularly enough to create a real danger to people like me, who use smaller boats on the lake. If I can see other kayaks literally a mile away, why do some power boat owners violate my 150 foot zone before they notice me?

Here are the facts:
1.) Visibility has NEVER been a problem for me on Squam Lake – because there is a 40 mph speed limit which apparently keeps powerboat operators from traveling faster than their ability to see. So I’m almost certain that a 45mph speed limit on Winni with have a similar effect (although, personally I think that 40 mph is a better limit).

2.) Those little flags are nothing but gimmicks. They are not large enough to increase visibility significantly. The surface area of one of my bright orange paddle blades is greater then any of those flags – and my moving paddle blade extends higher above the water! Yet when I stated that the most visible part of a kayak is the moving paddles, people here jumped all over me. The problem is most of you haven’t even been in a sea kayak, yet you and others have all sorts of “good” advice for me.

3.) If these flags are so good, where are the endorsements from major kayak and paddling organizations? Go to any sea kayak or paddling website (not the stores that sell these gimmicks) and do a search on “flag” and all you’ll find is info on attaching a flag on your long sea kayak when you transport it on the roof of your car. Paddling.net is the largest paddling site – go there and check for yourself if you don’t believe me. No serious paddler uses these little flags because they are useless – and they do hinder rescue procedures – like rolling and self rescues – especially on windy days.

4.) A sea kayak is long and narrow. My kayak is only 22 inches wide! I control it with thigh braces . . . and by leaning (which is called “putting it on edge”). Paddling a sea kayak is a constant balancing act. A flag that would be large enough and tall enough to actually make a difference in my visibility would make my kayak very unstable – and it would make my kayak practically impossible to steer in even a moderate breeze, since it would make my kayak like a weather-vane. That is the truth. In order to increase my visibility to any meaningful degree, a flag would have to have a significantly larger surface area than my paddle blade and it would have to extend above the water higher than my paddle – such a flag would make my kayak totally unstable in any wind.

I have never paddled a kayak, I have been in my share of canoes and very small rowboats on Lake Winnipesaukee. Common Sense dictates that you don't travel in a vessel like that into traffic! DUH!

A canoe and rowboat are nothing like a sea kayak – so please stop trying to advise me on something that you have absolutely no experience with.

Hell, my family owned a Freedom 21 for years and there is no way in the world I would have seen you in a kayak if you cut in front of us! The maximum hull speed of a Freedom 21 is 4 knots! Betcha that still would have hurt, or worse.

FYI: I do not cut in front of, cut off, or get in the way of other vessels. I give them plenty of clearance and I wait for a clear opening before crossing any channel. I race sailboats, so I’m very aware of the blind spots, but I also know the rules of sailing. It is your responsibility to avoid other vessels – even when they are kayaks. If you can’t keep track of where nearby vessels are at all times, then you need to have someone else on board who can keep watch.

I would have no problem staying out of the way of a boat with a maximum speed of 4 knots, since my maximum paddling speed is over 5 knots. The sailboats I race go a LOT faster than 4 knots.

Originally Posted by Chris Craft

Evenstar: The reason that you feel safer in the ocean then you do in Lake Winni. is because there are less boats per sq acre in the ocean then there are in the lake. Same with Squam.

I don't believe this is true for Squam - I would contend that there are on the average, more boats per acre on Squam than on Winni. The difference is that Squam has a 40 mph speed limit

Originally Posted by COWISLAND NH

Every boater, including you and your kayak, has a legal responsiblity to boat safely, that also means that you can not endanger other vessels because they can't see you.

See my above reply to airwaves about visibility.

Stop trying to blame the dangerous conditions on us paddlers, when it doesn’t take a whole lot of common sense to see that high-speed powerboats are the ones putting us in danger.