Public lake course dropping

[Vernon Reeve]

Here in Montana, we've had lots of issues with our public course. It was on a small lake, away from the shorelines to not affect the fishermen, but they still complained to fish & game. Fish and Game classify it as a Navigation Hazard. They were concerned that someone in a canoe at night might hit one of the buoys and knock the canoe over (ridiculous). So we had to apply for a permit, but in the mean time, to continue using it, we had to buy 800 dollars worth of navigation buoys at either end of the course, with red radar reflecting strips and a blinking light on top to mark the "navigation hazard". Crazy that we had to put something in the water that would actually knock a canoe over, to mark something that would have no affect on a canoe. Government Logic. There is a church camp on that lake also, that would come out and do tubing rides behind their Ski Nautique (which they only used to pull tubers). So we would patiently wait for them to finish before we started skiing again. Eventually, we went and asked them what their schedule was so we could plan accordingly, and even offered free ski lessons to their campers, which they declined. They then called fish and game and complained that we were trying to tell them when they could use their boat. Eventually, because of the church camp and fisherman complaints, the course permit was denied and fish and game pulled the course. One of the complaints was it attracted too many ski boats to that lake. So we tried getting a submersible course approved that only we would use, but that wasn't allowed either. Luckily it was about the same time that the Rosewater private ski lake was completed, so we only lost about a month of course time.

[MDB1056]

@GaryJanzig - have to ask why would you put the course in the middle of the lake? Would seem the worst place for traffic, wind, etc. Would think along a shoreline would be better protection, and less traffic

[ironhorse]

@6balls , I have been checking out the offcourse solution and may end up going that route. It would definitely make set up a lot easier. I'm afraid I would miss having the actual course though, so I have been on the fence.

[Timr71]

@BraceMaker - Thanks. It was sketchy for sure and was definitely too close for comfort. I don't think any of us realized how close it was until it was happening. And they weren't completely soaked. We just wondered how they didn't see 3 comp ski boats sitting at the mouth of the course waiting to pull in and out. But for sure, next time...idle over and see if it can be prevented differently.

[GaryJanzig]

@MDB1056 It was the only spot the State of Pennsylvania would let us put it. The lake is private, but the state still owns the water. The course is used during early morning hours so we also did not want it in people's back yards. It is still pretty sheltered in its location. It is in a spot where the traffic can circle around it. The lake has a counter clockwise traffic pattern. The only bad wind direction is if it is coming out of the north. I ski on another lake where the course is placed in the northwest corner of the lake. It gets more wind that makes it unskiable verses the course on my lake.

[skierjp]

Here is a copy of a Polk County Ordinance in Winter Haven Florida

 

 

[skierjp]

FYI I have never ask anyone to move out of a course so I can ski. Nothing good would ever come from that.

[lpskier]

The sheriff in Polk County is hot shit.

[PatM]

@shierjp It all depends on how you approach the person. Most people are reasonable if asked nicely and don't get upset when they refuse. On my lake all of the fishermen are from off the lake so I believe they like to be on good terms with the residents. Again there are exceptions. I usually let my ski partner do the talking. A true Irish smoosher - buttering up the fishermen before the ask. Plus he's 6-4.

[lpskier]

I’ve had two types of experiences with fisherman: the pre-2000 experience and the post-2000 experience. The former involved yelling and the latter involved saying something along the lines of “We’re going to be skiing in our course. Will it bother you?” Almost universally the former resulted in an argument and equally as universally the latter results in “No problem, we’ll move out of your way.” I still can’t figure out why the one works better than the other…

[BrennanKMN]

I have to ask or 'notify' people what I am about to do probably 30-40% of the time during the height of the boating season. Most people don't know what it is, or just say thanks for the update and keep trolling through. Rarely do I get a grumpy person who is insistent on parking in the way. I find it works better to provide a warning of what I am going to do, rather than ask for their permission.

 

Most often the problem is someone across the lake sees what is happening and wants to watch and they make a huge wave/mess coming over to see. Then we have to stop skiing and wait for them to pass. We also get fisherman that are trolling the lake and troll through where we would be. I just wait for them to get clear and keep skiing, it is their lake too.