Calling all Loch Lomond motor boat owners

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QBhoy

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Guys
Please read the link. A shocking decision by the ever more intrusive Loch Lomond park authority. As far as I know, all the boat clubs and associations building a case against the behind the scenes long term plan to rid the Loch of motor boats. Please get on board. Local or not !
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.da...ft-furious-national-9774384.amp?client=safari

Must be stopped. Locals will know the politics involved, but there is a much darker and deeper regime at work here !
 
“The health and safety risk of people launching boats from vehicles and trailers without staff on site to supervise them is too high."

Wow.

Just Wow.
 
FlowerPower said:
“The health and safety risk of people launching boats from vehicles and trailers without staff on site to supervise them is too high."

Wow.

Just Wow.
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It makes rather more sense in the full form:

"The beach at Milarrochy Bay is increasingly popular with families and other people, including swimmers and kayakers, and we need to strike a balance between the needs of all these visitors. The health and safety risk of people launching boats from vehicles and trailers without staff on site to supervise them is too high."
 
It's nonesense. You won't see many swimmers in 7-10oC waters. There has never been an incident of any sort where motorised craft and kayaker or swimmer have collided or anything like it.
 
QBhoy said:
It's nonesense. You won't see many swimmers in 7-10oC waters. There has never been an incident of any sort where motorised craft and kayaker or swimmer have collided or anything like it.
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Is that because launches have been supervised by NPA staff, though?
 
Fast motorboats and jets skis are incompatible with a National Park's mandate. The battle was lost once the designation was agreed.

That's why people are justifiably angry that the Norfolk Broads Authority describes itself as a 'National Park' even though there has never been any legal designation as such. As the Broads Authority they have statutory duty to 'maintain navigation for all' as one of their three key functions. But National Parks don't have that duty. I also note with some alarm that the Chichester Harbour Authority also has 'National Park' as one of the tags on its website.

Once somewhere is a national park, then the authorities have no statutory duty to accommodate powers boating, especially if it's noisy or visually intrusive. Any allowance is done on sufferance and ultimately will continually be downgraded until it becomes unviable. There will be lots of different excuses, but the bottom line is powerboating is incompatible with their mission as a National Park. Either get their definition changed or bow to the inevitable.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Is that because launches have been supervised by NPA staff, though?
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On this basis, I'm surprised that I should be allowed to cut my lawn without supervision.
Surely the presence of someone wearing a hi-visibility vest should be required to prevent me from blending my own feet?
 
FlowerPower said:
On this basis, I'm surprised that I should be allowed to cut my lawn without supervision.
Surely the presence of someone wearing a hi-visibility vest should be required to prevent me from blending my own feet?
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If you have already demonstrated better lawn cutting skills than your rhetorical ones, I think the bloke in the hi-viz can be dispensed with.

The NPS seem to be saying that it's a busy area, that they see a need for effective oversight (which could be for the other users rather than the launchers) and that the current low level of launches does not justify he staff time needed. I've never been there, though I have driven past, so I don't know how true this is. Which parts do you take issue with? I'm planning to take my Drascombe up there this spring, and it sounds as if the Lomond Shores launch point will still be available.
 
Before the park authority came in, the beach was free for people to launch from...and without incident. After they came in (on the promise of free slipways and better facilities) they soon cordoned off the area (it's a beach with a car park) and started charging per launch.
They have now been asked for an incident log, to which they have not responded. Risk assessments have been asked for too.
I take issue with the whole thing, to answer the question. The next thing will be that the area around the only other public slip way (on a 23 mile Loch) will become over crowed and an accident will follow. This will be the end of it.
Since the LLPA took lead, the demise of the motor boat has been on the agenda. That and camping bans take focus recently. The arrogance of them to state that "public consultation is not required"....shocking.
 
This sounds like one of the reasons I joined the Royal Yachting Association.
"Join 108,000 existing RYA members, ensuring that legislators, regulators and other authorities understand, and take account of, recreational boating activity."
 
There were originally no charges for either slipway and launching was unsupervised. In recent years, they started charging for use of the Duncan Mills Memorial Slipway at Balloch and introduced a degree of supervision. This caused a lot of controversy and even a legal challenge as the slipway had, I think, been gifted to the public. This being the case, many local boaters chose to switch to Milarrochy Bay to avoid this new impost. The National Park must have rumbled this and started to charge for that slipway too. Being that Duncan Mills is better and more easily accessed, many boaters would have reverted back to Duncan Mills - hence the 'falling numbers of boat launches' from that location. The falling numbers probably don't justify having someone there to collect the charges but they can't abandon charging or everyone will just go back to launching from there. The simple "operational decision" is to close it... forget the fluff about health & safety, it's all about the money.
 
Lioness said:
This sounds like one of the reasons I joined the Royal Yachting Association.
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Sadly the RYA finds itself in a dichotomy in these situations. When the 10mph speed limit was evoked on Windermere, their sailing members and yacht clubs wanted the RYA to work for them in supporting the speed limit and the powerboating members thought the RYA should throw its weight behind their defence of speed.
 
Spot on freeloader...
As mentioned, the promise was made to all that better facilities and improved free access to the Loch would be given.
Not long later, the charging happened.
Then, they started naming bays and waterway channels after themselves. Thankfully this was met with great fury locally. Especially when some toff thought it would be funny to name one bay "giro bay". They actually released a chart with pride, showing their self titled sounds and bays. Arrogant and presumptuous don't only begin to describe them. Publicly funded too !
 
Lenten

The question has been asked already. Loch Lomond association and a jet ski club have asked this.
Also asked for their risk assessment on launching craft.
They will probably find that their incident book is full of their own crafts rediculous incidents.
Most of their boats including an est £400,000+ all singing and dancing twin diesel 30ft cabin rib and at least 3 others, spend more time out the water having repairs, than in. No joke !
 
QBhoy said:
It's nonesense. You won't see many swimmers in 7-10oC waters. There has never been an incident of any sort where motorised craft and kayaker or swimmer have collided or anything like it.
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Sorry I have to call bullshit.:)

Admittedly it was quite a few years ago when I was windsurfing on Loch Lomond. (86 0r 87)& Very popular spot on the east side. Lots of swimmers, wind surfers. and lots of motor boats including water skiers. Sorry I cant remember the name. No park or supervision.

I was swimming frequently because I am not a very good wind surfer:)

I happed to witness a small runabout mobo with Ma Pa and 2 weans slowly approaching the beach it was a fast boat but he was quite sensibly coming in slowly at displacement speed.
Some edgit. In a Ski Boat. Decided to pick up his Skier of just out of my view. I had seen it stopped up a minute or two erlier.
Came flying in at high speed and cut right through the both sides of the families boat. He was completely on top of it. Hit it right between the seats.
I went over along with a couple of other boat.
The edgit was yelling and blaming PA . I was amazed at the damage and extremely pleased to two little kids were not hurt. To this day I cant figure how they were not hurt. The Ski boat was right on top of them.

I don't support a ban on boats or even ski boats.
I personally saw first hand at least one serious accident caused by a total idiot in a motor boat on Loch Lomond.
 
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Uricanejack said:
Sorry I have to call bullshit.:)
I don't support a ban on boats or even ski boats.
I personally saw first hand at least one serious accident caused by a total idiot in a motor boat on Loch Lomond.
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Ok, so far we've got one accident in 40 years with no injuries.
Any advance on that?
 
There have been accidents and unfortunately deaths too.
I'm just not aware of any at Millarochy Bay.
By the sounds of your hazy memory, neither are you uricanejack.
 
Also can't think of any involving collisions with kayaks or swimmers anywhere else on the Loch. The handful of accidents there has been, have involved just boats and usually people falling out them.
 
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