Speed Limit Alert!!!

To All NJ boaters and anyone that vacations in NEW JERSEY, We need your help on January 8th in Trenton, NJ for a meeting where they are pushing to pass a SPEED LIMIT on NJ's waterways. Here is a LINK for articles and letters in regards to this matter. http://pages.zdnet.com/sharkeymarine/sharkey/id30.html

 

Are modern high performance boats really unsafe when driven under 30 mph?

I don't think your point of view is well served when your lobbying representatives testify that these boats have obstructed vision and manuverability at speeds under 30 mph that endanger other boaters.

 

It is a known fact that when the larger vee-hulls get on plane visibility is lost for a moment.

That is why they are either on plane or they are not.

 

I think sharkey might have a point - most non-ddc/non-stepped high performance boats go 'bow up' at some speed range between 15 and 30 mph while getting on plane. Now those people could go slower, but will they? Probablly not if they're trying to get out of the low-speed zone for a cruise or to let their boats rip. Thus they'll probably push it to the 30 mph limit and have their noses flying up in the air. Many will be on plane ~25, but others will be barely on plane or getting on plane, thus either worrying about being ticketed for speeding all the time or with their bows up in the air causing a more dangerous situation than the law fixed. If there is a limit, it shoudld probably be higher than 30... maybe 35-40.

 

P.S. My boat also handles like a top at 20-25 whereas I can turn on a dime at 35.

Is the law because of safety only, or also a nuisance factor dealing with noise + speed + perception by others enjoying fishing from their rowboat or looking out at the water from their cottage?

 

At first the small group said it was all about safety, but when asked about their statistics for their reasoning for this speed limit, they had none. They just assumed they would of had enough support from the non-powerboaters for this to sneek through. When looking at the stats the governnment has, the registrations for boat are at an all time high, where as the number of accidents have dropped dramatically.

So. WHERE IS THE PROBLEM??? There is none. We already have laws on the books for operating a boat at safe speed. There is no need to blanket the entire state with a 30 mph speed limit.

 

On the bow rise issue. Consider it like a "BLIND SPOT" while driving a car. They all have one, one way or another. Backing up or going forward, you cannot see everything 100% all the time. Forcing certain boats to do that kind of speed will create a blind spot for most of the time....

 

Hi Sharkey...

I used to travel around at higher speeds - on shore mostly, in private automobiles... Gave it up. Now I live in a car-free suburb, and travel around (onshore) by foot and by bike and at urban traffic speeds, mostly by electric vehicle (subways and trolleys). On the water, well, I'm a sailor - six to ten knots is pretty normal, and I live on the shores of a harbour that has a six knot speed limit.

I can't help you, if your desire is offshore fishing grounds and long trips on the water at high speeds burning hydrocarbons into the air and the waters...

I'm just not sure any more that high speed travel is such a positive thing for quality of life (especially by gas or diseasal engine.) How much of your fuel comes from the Middle East? I'm a Canadian, with US relatives and friends, and for all our sakes I do not wish to put any more $$$ into foreign hands which may be supporting extremist ideologies...

Having said this, I am sure not in favour of any more rules and regulations about *anything*. So I would hope that no speed limits are legislated. But I would also hope that folks think about their lifestyles. Personally, I find slower is better.

Fair winds, following seas, and peace on earth

Lock
living life in the slow lanes...

 

Lockhughes, It's sounds like you have the life... But for me, it was just the opposite. I started out in a 10 ft Hobie sailboat, worked my way up to crewing a 68ft Erwin Sailboat to the Virgin Islands. After that, I was blown into powerboats and have been there ever since. I enjoy both types of boating. But what this commission of 5 or 6 people are trying to do to all of us is just plain wrong. Our own Marine Police even stated that our current laws are working just fine. What's the point of doing this? Special Interests of those 5 or 6 people.... That's the point.

 

Check out the latest: SPEED UPDATES

 

Meeting is in Trenton today @ 10:00am. Information & directions are on my site...... Speed Updates

 

Toronto Island tree huggers seem to be in love with themselves and thier own lifestyle..... Fact is ..... a diesel powered ferry has to keep operating all year round to get them to their island, feces, give it a rest will yahh? a bridge or a tunnel is inevitable then it's either condoe's , a casinoe, and/or a brothel some boats don't work well at low speeds, it's
kinda like an airplane, too slow and it's game over too fast and who knows what's go'in on . the harbor's frozenand so are the east and west gaps :?:

 

Toronto Islands?

Hehehe... Howdy Cap'n John. We haven't introduced.
(Sorry, Sharkey... getting OT here.)

Yeah, I've lived on the Islands maybe 6-7yrs now. But my father was Navy - I've been moving all my life, so I consider myself as passing through here, just FYI.

Lets just say I live by the harbour, a long-time sailor, and I'm tired of slicks on the water, smells in the air, noise and vibration?
If that makes me a "tree hugger", well, whatever

Actually, as we're quoting facts about the Toronto Islands, here's a bunch:
http://www.torontoisland.org/tica/index.html
But just a couple of the highlights:
- An Island family of four is likely to pay in excess of $3,500 each
a year in ferry fees.
- Ward's Island is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Toronto
and began as a fishing community in the 1830s.

whatever

huh?

well, yeah

well, yeah...

Cap'n John - just to get back to "tree hugging" for a moment, I am interested actually in using electrics to get across the harbour... Turns out, with a properly designed craft, good batteries and a battery management system and charger, crossing one mile of sheltered harbour all day at six knots is quite do-able with batteries rather than diseasals...

You're right, the ferry's smell bad.

It doesn't have to be this way

Cheers Cap'n. Hope we have an early spring and you have an early launch for 2003!

Lock
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/QCYCTender/

PS... lets not muck up Sharkey's perfectly good tread by getting OT with feces about the Islands? You may take this to the Open Discussion Forum if you wish. I'm outta here.

 

High vs Low speed + what's a "diseasals"?

Seems as though we're all interested in safe boating however, when a power boat is operated at displacement speed, the bow tends to ride quite high giving poor visability ahead and poor control, but when running on a plane the craft levels off and gives exellent control and visability...it does'nt have to be "VERY FAST", just on a plane.
As for Sharkey, whats a quote: "diseasals" huh? And for someone from New Jersey you sure have a strong opinion of Toronto Harbour. Are you sure you know where you live?:?:

 

Only planing hulls ride bow high in displacement mode. A boat designed to run at displacement or semi-displacement mode runs at proper trim when the speed is slow. I think that speed limits make sense. There are many boaters endangering the rest of us with their lack of respect and common sense.