During the last board meeting I was the lone dissenter when the vote was taken for allowing larger motors on the lake. The larger motors are allowed only to run at idle speed and there are strict penalties for violations as well as a special sticker that must be affixed to indicate the boat is allowed. Do I expect this to be a disaster for our lake? No.
Here are my concerns. Our lake patrol cannot be everywhere on the lake at once and we cannot afford to have two boats patrolling constantly. I live on the lake and see violations of no-wake times, speeding inside the buoys, boats closing too close to one another, and more. When in our small 14’ boat I have frankly been afraid at times and almost swamped by the wake of a too close boat. The large motors will be just one more thing for the patrols to watch. I also fear this may be a first step in opening up to any size motor as long as the speed limit is observed. This is a 200 acre lake and a lot of high powered boats will be an accident waiting to happen. We have also not allowed higher horsepower motors because they churn the bottom more, adding to our lake clarity problems.
Since this resolution has passed I will be pushing for a much more rigid enforcement of lake rules to avoid problems. There have been a lot of stops to warn boaters of violations without tickets issued. I believe after one warning tickets need to be issued for a violating boat. A list can be kept of prior warnings so a policy can be enacted without exceptions. Patrol officers will have a solid rule to follow regarding citations. The boaters obeying the rules will have no objection to this and it will make our lake safer for all as the number of boats increases. This should be fair for all.
Ken Dillenburg