Re: [Paddlewise] Assistance Request

In Seattle kayaks and canoes, sailboats, powerboats (of all sizes including
ocean-going ships from NOAA) and even floatplanes share the waters of Lake
Union. Generally it's done pretty well. The powerboaters don't tend to go
full speed (the big ones have no room for that) and the sailboaters can't go
much faster than a kayak. The floatplanes, of course, are doing around 75
when they go by on the step.

Between Lake Union and Lake Washington there is a canal that is not as long
as the Chicago River but has cement walls and a speed limit for powerboats
that guarentees that even the smaller ones will be generating a big wake.
And the wakes, of course, bounce all over the place.

I think that the USCG (which regulates this piece of water) thinks that a
7kt speed limit reduces wake size but, at least for some boats that are
built to plane, it actually makes them much bigger. The problem isn't speed
but boat design. A displacement hulled sailboat makes almost no wake at 7kts
but a 15-foot runabout can make a wake that will shake you up for a while.

Is there a solution? Some areas have "SLOW TO NO WAKE" signs but apparently
many boaters seldom manage to look behind them. Or they have a much
different idea of what "no wake" is than I do.

At the south end of Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho an Indian Tribe is
responsible for patrolling the waterway that leads from the lake up (or maye
it's "down") the Saint Maries River. These guys actually stop boaters and
hand them citations for exceeding the "no wake" rules. Of course, it means
having people out there; at least on days where there is likely to be heavy
use.

Perhaps that's why the USCG doesn't want to get into this. It takes manpower
to actually patrol a waterway and every boater who is given a citation is a
boater that could be antagonistic towards the USCG in the future.


Craig Jungers
Royal City, WA

On 11/14/06, James <jimtibensky_at_fastmail.fm> wrote:
>
> Some of the paddling groups in Chicago are uniting to deal with issues
> that affect us all.  The one I am asking you  to help me (us) with is
> access.
>
> Specifically, do any of you paddle in urban areas with lots of motoized
> boats?  The Chicago River is a truly nice place to paddle in the Loop
> but it is rather narrow and there are, in good weather, lots of big
> boats zipping around.  Even if they observe the speed limits, the tour
> boats and barges make sizeable wakes that bounce of the sheer walls of
> the river.  The Coast Guard is really reluctant to weigh in on the side
> of increased access for us non-powered boaters.  right now we have no
> launch points within a few miles of the Loop.
>
> Milwaukee and New York City have been mentioned as examples where power
> and non-power craft co-exist well.  If you are in a city where that is
> true, we would like to hear your story - if negotiations were undertaken
> with the power structure of your area, what compromises and
> accomodations were made, what you know that might be useful to us.
>
> Thanks, in advance, for your help.
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