The Lake Is Dead.

landlockedpirate said:
I can think of a couple of ways to ban this, reduce the speed limit further or ban engines all together.

If they reduce the speed limit to 6mph you would just need to put more weight in the boat and I'm sure it would still work.

If you banned engines altogether the economy of the area would totally fall apart, no lake steamers, no working boats in the steam museum, no 'put put's' in Bowness etc.
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Because they set the "rules" wrong.

They set a SPEED limit, when what was needed was a noise limit, and a limit on the amount of wake you could make.

On the canals, basically you should not make a wake that can damage the banks. Simple.

So if there was something similar on the lake, a noise and wake limit, then you would not get idiot boats that conform to a speed limit but make a lot of noise and a lot of wake.

And it would allow enterprise to make a faster boat if it could do so quietly and without making much of a wake.
 
landlockedpirate said:
He is being careful, the boats now rigged for boat surfing. Massive water ballest in the stern and over a metre high wake at 11mph, its not environmentally friendly and Seajet will hate it, but its completely legal.
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Just shows what a selfish moronic prat your mate is ... what happens when his stern wave hits some kids in a small rowing boat ...
PP
 
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Seajet said:
True story;

I was on a BAe trial in Scotland, a friend and and I dropped off in Bowness on the way back South, at what seemed a big decent hotel; we were given the crappiest rooms we'd ever seen and met each other walking out in snotty mode to reception, after which we got decent rooms...

Then we tried the nightclub, where the bouncer took exception to my ' snotty southern accent ' ( in fact I have a soft southern / west country accent I'm told ) and asked for my watch to get in !

He got a short sharp reply...

I got the impression ' customer services' all over the Lake District could do with a good sorting out and attitude readjustment.
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The problem with customer service in the lakes is that most people working in such jobs are not local but come for the season so don't care about what may happen the following year ... I do find many places in the lakes over priced particularly accommodation ..

PP
 
The clue was when he said "big decent hotel".
It would be most unusual for a big hotel here to be decent.

Most good hotels are below the "need bus tours to remain economically viable" size.
 
Lakesailor said:
The clue was when he said "big decent hotel".
It would be most unusual for a big hotel here to be decent.

Most good hotels are below the "need bus tours to remain economically viable" size.
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The place I was on about is beside the lake, at Bowness; the display at reception looks lovely, but it tapers off sharply once one gets in !

:rolleyes:
 
Lakesailor said:
Yesterday we drove up the side of Windermere from Newby Bridge to home. We saw 2 yachts. 1 in the South basin and 1 in the North basin. It was a warm and fairly sunny day with a gentle breeze.

Today it's very sunny and a decent breeze (6mph, gusting to 12mph).
I've just counted about 8 yachts in the North basin.

I know it's weekday but when we moved here, and put a boat on the lake, whenever we went out there were yachts (and powerboats, and jetskis) all over.
Now if there are 40 boats out in the North basin on a weekend it's busy.

This on a 10 mile x 1 mile lake with almost 2000 moorings and marina berths.

The lake is dead.
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Is there some sort of connection between you arriving and the lake emptying?:o Or is it just coincidence?
Or perhaps the original lake occupiers have got fed up with the same bit of water and scarpered elsewhere.
 
Whiskey Bravo said:
Is there some sort of connection between you arriving and the lake emptying?:o Or is it just coincidence?
Or perhaps the original lake occupiers have got fed up with the same bit of water and scarpered elsewhere.
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I get the idea lakesailor arrived just after the glaciers carved out the valley, though he's yet to try a decent Oliver Lee designed boat. :)
 
Lakesailor said:
The clue was when he said "big decent hotel".
It would be most unusual for a big hotel here to be decent.

Most good hotels are below the "need bus tours to remain economically viable" size.
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I would agree fully with that and have stayed in a few really nice small hotels but in general I find them way over priced compared to similar establishments in other nice parts of the country ... the only time I found that they were offering reasonable rates was during the foot and mouth crisis a good few years ago ..

PP
 
Paul H said:
Hello everybody.
..... snip .....

In my mind towed water sports, such as wakeboarding, are a healthy, family centred, inclusive activity which has a very positive contribution to the local economy and helps make Lake Windermere a Vibrant visitor attraction.

...... snip .....

While I did not start this please sign this e petition:- http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/3835
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Wakeboarding in itself does not add to the local economy, it is the prats that wakeboard that do that.

By wakeboarding your towing vessel has to produce excessive amounts of large wake which is dangerous to other people using the water and the large wake cause excessive amounts of damage to the shoreline when it hits ...

In my experience a lot of the people who indulge in selfish activity like wakeboarding are people who are a liability to other water user and themselves as they generally have little or no real boating or seamanship skills ... these idiots treat there boats as if they are cars mainly because they are steered by a wheel of a similar size to the one in their car and are started by a key again just like their car ...

It is these type of water-borne idiots who are going to ensure that our sport becomes highly regulated ... help along by them occasionally mangling their family or other people with the propeller of their boat because they are to arrogant to use a kill cord as happened a few weeks ago ...

Oh and as only 365 people have so far signed the petition I don't think that is going to get very far ... I mean the average man in the street earning less than £20,000 per year is not going to sign a petition to allow well off prats earning substantially more than he does to play motorboats on Windermere ...

PP
 
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pisspoor said:
Wakeboarding in itself does not add to the local economy, it is the prats that wakeboard that do that.

By wakeboarding your towing vessel has to produce excessive amounts of large wake which is dangerous to other people using the water and the large wake cause excessive amounts of damage to the shoreline when it hits ...

In my experience a lot of the people who indulge in selfish activity like wakeboarding are people who are a liability to other water user and themselves as they generally have little or no real boating or seamanship skills ... these idiots treat there boats as if they are cars mainly because they are steered by a wheel of a similar size to the one in their car and are started by a key again just like their car ...

It is these type of water-borne idiots who are going to ensure that our sport becomes highly regulated ... help along by them occasionally mangling their family or other people with the propeller of their boat because they are to arrogant to use a kill cord as happened a few weeks ago ...

Oh and as only 365 people have so far signed the petition I don't think that is going to get very far ... I mean the average man in the street earning less than £20,000 per year is not going to sign a petition to allow well off prats earning substantially more than he does to play motorboats on Windermere ...

PP
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+ 100 %, based on personal experience including seeing young girls having serious lumps chopped from their legs by speedboat propellors and only just surviving...
 
Well there were a few out in the north lake yesterday as far as I could see (not well admittedly, I forgot me specs) we were by far the littlest at 21' apart from a speedy fireball, a couple of the larger gin palaces (one flying a white ensign, so presumably HRH out for a spin, the other doing 20kn+ 50 yards from us - thanks for the topside washdown) and a handful of the big cruiser yachts. Oh & a few speedboats around Lowwood of course. South very busy though with the racing fleets where the wind was better. A lovely day, if a bit coolish. Only us on the water from our clutch of moorings though.
 
Its not so bad, just the odd Kn*b head now and again, otherwise very pretty & peaceful - and usually empty especially on weekdays.
Back in the early 80's it was chaotic, after a young girl in a stationery boat was tragically killed by a skier (boat on one side, skier on the other) we went to Coniston for the next 15 years.

Seajet - PM sent.
 
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Very pleasant yesterday although we were overtaken by a rowing boat round the back of Belle Isle as we sailed into a hole. Got him once in clear air and as I suggested that I knew he couldn't keep it up, the rather attractive young thing sat in the stern looked rather wistful and I fancy, gave an almost imperceptible nod.
 
pisspoor said:
Just shows what a selfish moronic prat your mate is ... what happens when his stern wave hits some kids in a small rowing boat ...
PP
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The whole point of this thread is that there are NO small kids out in rowing boats, the lake is empty. In fact having spent a great deal of time on Windermere since I was 6 years old I can say there has NEVER been kids out in rowing boats, rubber dinghys or sailing boats in the formally unristricted parts of the lake. Your lack of understanding of the lake is only matched by your lack of understanding of kids, have you ever watched kids in dinghys ? They go looking for wakes and waves, its called having fun.

The only time I see activity outside the resticted areas are from one of the watersports centres, when the kids are well chaperoned, trained and wearing full safety kit. But again, capsizing was some of the best fun I had when learning to sail.

He is not a selfish prat, he is simply working within the rules imposed by a hopelessly out of touch authority.
 
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Seajet said:
Berks in speeboats are usually selfish lowly skilled egotistical prats in the extreme, I've seen people very badly injured by propellors and was lucky to escape this myself, on Windermere before the speed limit was introduced.

.
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An excellent, well balanced and informative statesment. :eek:

I could reply with an equally unbiased view about sailors by saying they are all tight arsed, tree hugging, bearded bores with adanoid problems and ego's only matched by the size of their flappy things.

But I wont because sailors are not like that and unlike you, I only make statements about specific issues rather than sweeping general comments that are neither helpful or accurate.

Yes there are prats on speedboats, as well as jetskis, ribs and cruisers, but for everyone of them, there is a prat who prefers to get their power from the wind rather than the earth.

As for inuries, these happen in all forms of sport and pastime. How may people end up in A&E because they can even duck under a boom, or release a rope under load ? If a person is doing something wrong, the individual should be held to account, not the entire pastime.
 
landlockedpirate,

I was basing my comments on personal experience.

I did indeed sail my dinghy on Windermere solo when 8 years old ( long before the speed limits, 1970 ) and very nearly got cheesewired by a speedboat and water-skier, luckily for me the skier dropped the line and went onto rocks, meanwhile I had dived for the bottom boards.

On the same holiday - camping at Low Wray - I saw a young girl carried ashore with a big gash in her leg bleeding profusely, courtesy of a speedboat propellor.

My dinghy was nearly swamped several times by careless berks in Moonraker style mobo's, and by the sound of it this still goes on.

I reckon most seagoing mobo's are much more skilled nowadays but the jury is still out on the majority of speedboats, these things appeal to the average Halfords punter not seamen; nasty accidents I and chums have seen tend to confirm this.
 
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