Observations from My Deck, Fireworks Saturday

Lake Safety Committee
By: Bruce C. Bower

I was again shocked at the unbelievable number of dangerous violations that I saw in only a couple of hours in one day.

So, here are some of the new and unique antics of our neighbors:

Drive your jet ski very fast in a very tight circle about six times to get up momentum, then floor it so you can stand the ski up on end, as in an aquatic wheelie. Two kids and an adult on a two person ski, but have about a ten year old steering, then a four or five year old , lastly the “adult”. The “adult” is the one in charge, the teacher, the protector. How about a boatload of people on a pontoon boat with two youngsters sitting outside the playpen on the bow? Consider that if you fall into the water, you have more than a 50-50 chance of going between the toons and meeting up with Mr. Propeller. These are all new unbelievably reckless and stupid acts to me. I am always amazed.

Now for the repeat acts of recklessness, but without the creative first time uniqueness: Speeding after dark, way after dark. No wake speed after 8:00 PM on fireworks night, but ignore that and fly. Driving with the dock lights on, blinding everyone coming in the other direction. Of course, the usual speeding way inside the 75 foot no wake zone. People following too close to other boats, especially boats towing kids. Jet skis going between cruising boats and the shoreline, way too close to shore. Jet skis obviously going way over 50 MPH.

Now the disappointment of my fireworks night was observing the unbelievable number of boats, at anchor, with their running lights on. Some had the anchor light on and others didn’t. It seems easy to me that whilst moving you put on your red, green and white lights. While standing still, only the white should be on, and NOT your dock lights the other white one.

Here’s a new topic that I was asked to speak about. A brand new shiny boat was seen trying to anchor near the dam. They were not successful on several attempts to set the anchor off the stern (the back). First you never anchor off the stern for you can get swamped from a wave. You tie your anchor to the bow (the front). You should have done your investigating to find out what type of anchor to use, how long the line (rope) should be for the depth of the water, and how much chain you should use between the anchor and the line (rope) to weigh down the line (rope). A plan that may work would be to take a boating class, either on-line or in person, read a book or ring up ODNR and see what they have to offer. Maybe even pull something up on your Google machine. Do you detect any cynicism here? Depending on the year there are between 800 and 1100 boat tags sold each season. None of these watercraft are equipped with:  brakes, bumpers, roll-bars, air bags or turn signals. That is a lot of very fast and potentially unsafe vehicles that have truly only one safety feature, YOUR common sense, personal responsibility, and knowledge of boating.

Once again this article is basically the same as the last July report. This is a tough thing to have to say about our Community. So, are we making any progress and what can we do about it?  As always, call me with your thoughts or if you want to holler back on 216.906.2301.

Think SAFETY

Bower out.