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Name:
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Maverick
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Subject:
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Boating Bill Editorial Comment
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Date:
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4/14/2006 2:18:42 AM
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After numerous hours of thought, I felt compelled to write the below editorial comments regarding the recent boating bill passed by our legislative bodies.
While you might agree with all my thoughts, please read this post in its entirety with an open mind, prior to posting any rebuttals.
This will be my final post regarding this matter, with the exception of possibly rebutting any rebuttals regarding this post.
I KNOW THIS POST IS LONG, BUT PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE POST PRIOR TO REBUTTING MY COIMENTS.
ALABAMA BOATING BILL EDITORIAL COMMENTS
Does the boating bill improve the safety of and reduce the possibility of Alabama Lakes becoming overcrowded?
In my opinion, the boating bill recently passed by our legislative bodies will not accomplish either of these objectives. All this bill has really accomplished is to it classify and stereotype certain groups of Alabama boaters and therefore, limit or ban certain size boats on 3 Alabama lakes. Based upon the future growth of most all of our state lakes due to population and demographic changes, this stopgap legislation will not preserve our recreational waterways, nor will it contain the future threats. The way to preserve our lakes is to enact reasonable and responsible legislation today, with the thought of future generations to come. As I personally believe nobody within Alabama wants our lakes to become as overcrowded and unsafe as certain Georgia lakes.
So how do you then protect Alabama lakes for future generations to come in terms of the larger boats and over crowdedness from these type vessels?
The way to limit the potential over crowdedness from larger boats is to limit the number of wet slips available to a certain length boat based on the overall acreage of each lake. So, rather than enacting a bill, which our legislators have stereotyped as a group of undesirable larger boats, devise a formula based on the total lake acreage to the number of large boats allowed, which is both logical, justifiable and reasonable.
How would you control the speed of the Cigarette type boats on Alabama Lakes?
The problem with speed on Alabama lakes is not related to a specific type or style of boat, i.e. cigarette type boats, as in my opinion, our legislative bodies again have singled out these groups of boaters. There are numerous makes of boats, which can well exceed 60+ mph, and are not just cigarette type boats and many are less than 26’ 11”. Examples are numerous bass boats, PWC’s, ski boats, runabouts and believe it or not even some pontoon boats. The only way to control the speed on Alabama lakes is to enforce a speed limit.
In order to enforce a speed limit the funds are not available to support additional Marine Patrol Officers, so how do you propose to fund this additional expenditure for officers and equipment?
There are numerous public boat ramps around Alabama lakes which are frequented by thousands of boaters per year per ramp, as with certain National Forests within Alabama, which allow dirt bike and ATV riders on their trails, establish a required honor based launch fee at each public boat launch of $5.00 or so per trailer. Each boater would then complete a ramp usage fee envelope and include their fee within a drop box located at each ramp. The boater would also tear off a voucher stub attached to the envelope and place on their dashboard in order to substantiate the fee has been paid. The citation for any boater found to be in violation of the required honor based launch fee would be cited a $100.00 fine. Additional sources of revenue to fund the Marine Patrol might come in the form of increase in fine revenues or increase in annual boater registration fees, etc.
But even with all the above will there still not be extensive shoreline erosion?
The only way to contain shoreline erosion is to limit the size of the wake in relationship to the distance from the shoreline. So say, if you are within say 50 feet of the shoreline (excluding islands), then a boater would be restricted to idle speed only, etc. etc. I can assure you Alabama lake residents which live within sloughs less than 100’ wide would be more than happy to fund no wake buoys, if they were allowed to do such. Furthermore, these smaller no wake sloughs would then become a safer place for children to swim and play within.
Wake height really has nothing to do with the length of a boat, but rather with the draft and girth (or might be called beam) of the boat. A boats wake is based on the amount of water, which must be displaced to move the draft and girth of the boat through the water, therefore having nothing to do with the length of a boat. Also, there are numerous boats, which have deep drafts, and wide girths, which are less than 30’ 6”. Just look at the larger Sea Ray’s, Cobalt’s, etc.
Do the larger type boats not really increase the rate at which the shorelines erode?
Again, if the restriction on the size of a wake in relation to the distance from the shoreline is not enacted, there are numerous vessels, which have not been banned by the boating bill, which can throw off a rather large wake. Several examples of such vessels are: A wake boat at 12-15 MPH with a full ballast, a bass boat doing 50+ MPH then coming to a complete and abrupt stop near your shoreline, then seeing their fishing hole is already occupied and immediately making a sharp turn at full throttle to get to their next spot, or a PWC cruising your shoreline at 20 MPH with three people aboard, believe it or not such a PWC will throw off about a 2’ tall wake.
There was a proposed amendment to the bill to limit the hours of PWC operations, what do you think about such a provision?
Actually, I have no issue with limiting the hours of operation of certain vessels. However, are PWC’s the only issues, they are not, there are other inconsiderate boaters whom will troll up to your pier or shoreline at say 2:00am in order to not disturb the fishing, then when they are through fishing around your property they will crank up their huge engines and SCREAM off into the darkness. So if you are going to limit PWC operating hours, there needs to be consideration given to all intrusive noise levels around the lake during certain hours, not just PWC’s. As once again our legislators’ through this proposed amendment are doing nothing more than classifying a certain boating group, without giving consideration to all potential noise intrusion sources.
In terms of safety on Alabama lakes, is there a real problem?
The issue of safety on Alabama lakes has very little to do with the length of the boat itself, it has to do with the vessel’s captain. And unfortunately, there are always going to be irresponsible boat operators on our lakes, which have therefore, in my opinion, penalized certain classes of responsible boaters. So should this legislation penalize the responsible boaters which now may be banned from 3 Alabama lakes based on the actions of the minority, the answer is no. However, I do concur there needs to be restrictions placed on all Alabama lakes to restrict speeds, thereby hopefully ensuring our lakes are safe for all types of navigation.
Do you live on an Alabama lake?
We have lived on the main channel of Lake Martin near Wind Creek State Park, for over 2 years, frequented Alabama lakes for over 30 years and have seen numerous variations of boats and wakes over the years. Furthermore, we are by no way affected by the boating bill, however, I feel, the need to voice my opinions, as this bill has accomplished nothing more than to classify certain boaters, thereby restricting or banning their boats from 3 Alabama lakes, rather than focusing on the real problem, the irresponsible vessel operators.
Closing Comments
I am greatly in favor of restrictions being placed on all
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