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Interesting Letter to Editor in Hartwell Lake News


dkscism

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On 6/25/2019 at 4:20 PM, 95echelon said:

Sacked out G23's are coming up to my fire pit on occasion, so who knows what a 25LSV or an Ri257 would do fully weighted.

Casually throwing shade at the G!   :rofl:

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I've been trying to stay out of this, but my mother has lived on a protected inlet (what we call a bayou) for 52 years.  When we moved there in 1967, most boats were 16' to 18' long and had small wakes.  A few cabin boats, but not many, and they generally always idled in the bayous.  By 1980, the big boats owned by individuals were 25' long "offshore" rigs with twin V6 outboards.  A little bigger wake, but those guys would go by at 40 MPH headed to or from a fishing trip.  About 25 years ago we added limestone riprap to her shoreline to stop the erosion that had accelerated through the years.  The boats now are mostly bigger, with the small ones around 20' or so.  Much bigger wakes also, since they are no longer using the boats for water skiing and don't care about wake size.

I have seen a lot of wind, thunderstorms, and hurricanes.  I have seen a lot of big and small boat wakes.  The thing about the storms is that even though they do their work over many hours, the bad ones only happen a few times a year, and a hurricane hits once every 5 or 10 years.  The damage is generally minimal from any given storm.

When I sit on her dock and watch on a busy day these days, the boats are all huge and the drivers are much less considerate than in the past (and many more of them also).  I see much more damage on a yearly basis than I ever did before.  Since I'm the guy who has done all of the repairs for the last 40 years, I know the difference.  It makes me sick now to go there on a busy weekend because I can actually watch the wave damage happening, and I know what it means to my back and my wallet.

The point of all of this?  You wake guys are wrong about the damage you cause.  You can lie to yourselves about it and make excuses, but you can't lie to me or any other guy who has lived in his house for a long time.

 

P.S.  One day a guy came through in his 50' offshore boat at about 20 knots, drawing what you guys would call a perfect surf wave behind him.  My boat was tied to the dock and got beat up a little as the wave passed, but I watched the wave roll along the shore, moving the 50# riprap rocks as it went by.  I jumped in my boat and chased him down, then explained that he is responsible for the damage he causes.  He gave me a bunch of lip about natural waves, but he knew that his was much bigger.  I suggested to him that if I ever see him moving above idle speed I would send him a bill for the repairs to my boat and the riprap wall.  He gave me more lip, but I never saw him do that again.

I suppose I should have taken my shirt off in true Afun style, but that event was still another ten years or so in the future, so who knew that's how you really get the guy's attention?

 

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2 hours ago, Eagleboy99 said:

https://ca.vlex.com/vid/chamberland-v-fleming-681103333  Can you say "contributory negligence"?  We need more cases (well, not the death part) like this to get the ignorant to behave.

I take that as a pretty poor example.  I'm not a judge, but I have seen a lot of people who are "unfamiliar with canoes" that can't keep the boat upright on flat water.  The deceased refused a life jacket, but could not swim.  I can't for the life of me figure out how anyone else is at fault in his death.  He very likely would have drowned without the boat ever coming by, if only he were out long enough.

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The law is an... uh donkey's butt. There are many more examples in case law of contributory negligence.  This one just goes to show how the law might interpret actions. 

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22 hours ago, justgary said:

, the boats are all huge and the drivers are much less considerate than in the past (and many more of them also).  

My wife and I have said this for years.  

“The lack of respect for other people and their property is the problem with a lot of this nation” 

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12 minutes ago, Sparky450 said:

“The lack of respect for other people and their property is the problem with a lot of this nation” 

This exactly why I hope for 6 bucks a gallon gas on the lake.  Lowers the IQ (that is Idiot Quotient)

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13 minutes ago, Eagleboy99 said:

for 6 bucks a gallon gas

Please NO!!  

We are already $4.99 at the marina. If you guys go to $6. We will be $8-$9.

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Unfortunately, the lake is just a microcosm of society.   And as smart and considerate as I think I am, I'm sure somebody is on some other forum complaining about something I did today.  Although I think I generally avoid pure negligence in most things, unlike some I see.   

Our local lake is packed this summer as most area lakes are closed due to flooding so ours is getting swarmed.  The parking stalls are double deep, for trailers, but people often double park when they are with a group in their cars.  We came out today and someone had double parked behind a truck, and the driver was there trying to get the truck out.   They didn't know the car that parked behind them.   It just baffles me that people would do something like that.  

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On 6/28/2019 at 8:29 AM, BigCreek said:

Ballast assisted, wake generating boats are not new

Yeah, they are.  What has exacerbated the issue is ignorant owner/drivers.

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10 hours ago, Eagleboy99 said:

Yeah, they are.  What has exacerbated the issue is ignorant owner/drivers.

Yeah, I guess if you are talking in the history of buoyancy, they are new. They are a couple decades old now. My guess is that when she bought her dream house on the lake (probably last winter, when there were no boats on the water, thereby allowing her to stand on her dock without being bruised by falling off of her dock) there were plenty in existence. 

Also, if you ignore all the kids that are out driving daddy's boat, my experience has been that the worst boat captains are in the least expensive boats. Keep an eye on that guy in the Bayliner. He's definitely going to cut between you and the dock/shoreline/etc. when he comes thru.

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4 hours ago, BigCreek said:

Yeah, I guess if you are talking in the history of buoyancy, they are new. They are a couple decades old now. My guess is that when she bought her dream house on the lake (probably last winter, when there were no boats on the water, thereby allowing her to stand on her dock without being bruised by falling off of her dock) there were plenty in existence. 

Also, if you ignore all the kids that are out driving daddy's boat, my experience has been that the worst boat captains are in the least expensive boats. Keep an eye on that guy in the Bayliner. He's definitely going to cut between you and the dock/shoreline/etc. when he comes thru.

If we are slipping into responsibility, on our lake it's grandma and grandpa tossing the keys to anyone between the ages of 16-60 without a second thought. Doesn't matter what age in the spectrum if you don't know the basic rules of distance and right of way you are going to cause a bad time for someone at the least. The issue I have is that 10 years ago these were pontoons with 40hp outboards. Now they are tritoons with 250-300hp (there is a twin 350 on our lake that does 65MPH) that easily run above waterski speed. Having a rider of any kind in tow seems to attract them a hundred feet or so behind you, running straight behind a rider because you are giving them "smooth water". They have bowrise that I have to believe is illegal at most speeds under 30, and if anyone is sitting up front the driver can't see for a half mile in front of them.

It seems like now that the economy is good everyone and their mother has mortgaged a tri toon or a wake boat.There are fewer and fewer people just cruising and enjoying a sunset on the side of the lake anymore. Everyone wants to rip through the sunset, subs and HLCD's blaring nelly, and LED's blinking into the night.

I long for the days when jet skis were considered annoying and dangerous.

 

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