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Loon Sees Pontoon Boat Up-Close-and-Personal...

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WHL
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Post  News Hawk Fri Aug 09, 2013 2:12 am

Only one boat in front of my place, but it was "tubing" close to the area being fished by a lone Loon. So what were the chances I'd be able to take a video of a potential collision with one Loon?
 
(Not much).
 
When I figure out how to put my video on YouTube—maybe later today—you'll see for yourself how a surfacing Loon has no chance against a boat. (And a slow pontoon boat has better visibility than the ever-present hazard of weekenders in speedboats).
 
I waited around to see if he'd been injured, and it took twenty minutes before he made a full show of himself.
 
pale

ETA:

'Still waiting after two hours for Google to load the video.

bounce 

When you finally get to see it, use your cursor to click shortly "backward" of a loud shutter noise about ¾ through the full length of the video. I've asked for a "still-shot", but haven't found where to view it for enlarging purposes. The shutter noise is where the Loon appeared to be unscathed—but the video camera continued-on anyway.
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Post  WHL Fri Aug 09, 2013 7:44 am

Did you actually see the boat hit it? Usually the loons dive first.
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Post  News Hawk Fri Aug 09, 2013 8:00 am

WHL wrote:Did you actually see the boat hit it?  Usually the loons dive first.
I was surprised that my first attempt (with one boat and one loon) would be such a close call!
 
(Still loading, but moving).
 
bounce

______________________________

Stopped loading—"error" message...

No 
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Post  News Hawk Fri Aug 09, 2013 10:30 am

I seem to have captured it successfully as a AVI. file.
 
cheers 
 
Here's a still, with the Loon "in Center Circle":
 
Loon Sees Pontoon Boat Up-Close-and-Personal... Attachment
 
You may have to enlarge your screen. (CTRL plus Scroll")
 
In the video, when I figure out how to post it, you'll see the Loon pop to the surface just as the boat goes by. The camera does a little shake with the click to end the video; however, the video goes on to show the Loon, which appears—just below the curved tree—in much of the video.

At about Noon, it'll be available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRZEliChKAw&feature=youtu.be
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Post  WHL Fri Aug 09, 2013 12:09 pm

I could see it on YouTube. I could see the boat run but not the loon.
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Post  fshnski Fri Aug 09, 2013 12:22 pm

I could barely see the boat.
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Post  Amy B Fri Aug 09, 2013 1:03 pm

Here's another perspective from today's Laconia Daily Sun. It seems to me that a state wide speed limit for our lakes is a good idea. Squam has a 40/20 limit which seems appropriate for many of the smaller lakes. My experience on Winnipesaukee tells me 30 MPH at night is still too fast.

We need to implement & enforce a permanent lake speed limit

Published Date Thursday, 08 August 2013 09:44
To The Daily Sun,
If there are already laws for boating, ranging from age limits, to lights and horns, to alcohol consumption, all designed with safety in mind, why has excessive speed been ignored this long? Over the last 10 years we have seen an increase in boating accidents and deaths on New Hampshire lakes involving high performance ocean-going boats made for one thing, speed! The excessive size and speed of these crafts has made animals, birds, and other boaters limit their use of the lakes to only certain areas, and has helped to destroy the natural shoreline and setting that wildlife depend on, while increasing water pollution.
The great outdoors here in New Hampshire provides us with four seasons of fun, beauty and enjoyment, but what we all need to remember is that this great outdoors is also home to our furry, feathery and finned little friends. If it is legal in New Hampshire to kill a coyote if it poses a threat to your safe enjoyment of the outdoors, then why have we overlooked the fact that high performance speed boats pose a threat to other boaters and wildlife enjoying the same outdoors? People in canoes, kayaks and sail boats present little if any threat to other boaters, as well as causing a minimal amount of disruption to the animals, birds and fish that consider "The Lakes Region" their home. When one group of people bullies other people and creatures into limiting their use and enjoyment of the public water ways, major changes need to occur.
The New Hampshire Marine Patrol is struggling as it is to keep up with increased numbers of boaters, all wanting to use limited spaces at the same time. The accidents that they have been responding to in recent years, many resulting in death, were unheard of prior to allowing ocean going speed boats to cruise inland waters. When a boat is big enough, powerful enough and potentially deadly enough to completely run over a 20-foot boat out for an evening cruise, and kill one of its passengers, or run straight into an island at 50 miles per hour in the middle of the night, killing one of its occupants, that boat does not belong in a confined area such as a lake, but rather on the ocean.
We have many laws in place already to prevent further destruction or erosion of the shorelines surrounding our lakes, but these laws only apply to septic systems, piers and decks, and the distance a boat needs to be from any shoreline before making headway speed. A rocket shaped boat, weighing more than 15,000 pounds, with a 1,400 horse-power engine, can throw a wake large enough to swamp smaller crafts, and travel uninterrupted for more than a mile before hitting shoreline. When this shoreline erodes and washes into the lake, it brings contaminates such as chemicals and animal feces with it, causing E. coli and other bacteria to enter the water. For the thousands of families that spend at least half of each year on the hundreds of islands that dot New Hampshire's lakes, the lake outside is the only water supply to their homes, using only a hose and shallow well pump.
The animals, birds, and other wildlife that have had their homes disrupted cannot speak for themselves about a problem that we, the caretakers of this Earth, have let happen. It is up to us to open our eyes and see what is happening to the wildlife around us, the dangers that boating now presents, and the impact that we have on the natural shorelines everywhere. It is impossible for the operator of a boat racing at 65 miles per hour, on a lake that is only 26 miles long, as Winnipesaukee is, to fully appreciate the impact on wildlife, danger to other boaters, and destruction to natural shorelines he has caused in the less than thirty minutes it takes to run the length of the lake. We need to implement and enforce a permanent speed limit on New Hampshire lakes, and dispatch the high performance racing boats back to the ocean where there are more uninterrupted open areas that lakes do not provide.
Cameron L. Gamble
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Post  News Hawk Fri Aug 09, 2013 6:30 pm

Amy B wrote:Here's another perspective from today's Laconia Daily Sun. It seems to me that a state wide speed limit for our lakes is a good idea. Squam has a 40/20 limit which seems appropriate for many of the smaller lakes. My experience on Winnipesaukee tells me 30 MPH at night is still too fast.
 
For that LaDaSun LTE, thank you, new member, AmyB. I agree with your assessment of speed on NH lakes. It would seem, especially on weekends, that visitors want to endanger themselves and others, and make unnecessary noise while doing it.
 
Even those opposed to the existing daytime speed limit see the great wisdom of a lower night limit.
 
Your avatar reminds me of seeing an avi. (like my video above) with several "speeding" cats in a long row. Have you seen "Hovercat"?
 
Loon Sees Pontoon Boat Up-Close-and-Personal... Fhf
 
Loon Sees Pontoon Boat Up-Close-and-Personal... Images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRCyOdr7Rr2ntXOaj0I47TwXX5QqWvLa_wnYcNFUkVlG004oaxY
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Post  WHL Fri Aug 09, 2013 6:42 pm

I agree, there are times at night when it is not "reasonable and prudent" to go 30 miles and hour. The lake is so different at night. Still, when you need to cross the middle of the broads at night, it takes quite a while at 30MPH.
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Post  News Hawk Fri Aug 09, 2013 6:50 pm

fshnski wrote:I could barely see the boat.
Watch the video.

The newly-surfaced Loon can be seen moving to the right across the scene, approaching a curved shoreline tree. Only when it's bracketed between the boat and the skier does the Loon appear to be less visible. (Perhaps preparing to dive in response to the danger—after breathing or hyperventilating).
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Post  Donzel Fri Aug 09, 2013 6:56 pm

News Hawk wrote:
fshnski wrote:I could barely see the boat.
Watch the video.

The newly-surfaced Loon can be seen moving to the right across the scene, approaching a curved shoreline tree. Only when it's bracketed between the boat and the skier does the Loon appear to be less visible.  (Perhaps preparing to dive in response to the danger—after breathing or hyperventilating).
Why didn't the Loon fly out of the area to avoid being hit? The boater has just as much right on the Lake as the loon does.

Doesn't he?


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Post  WHL Fri Aug 09, 2013 7:01 pm

I watched it again and I still can't see the loon.
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Post  fshnski Fri Aug 09, 2013 9:58 pm

NH must have the eyes of a "hawk"!
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Post  News Hawk Sat Aug 10, 2013 2:50 am

While my eyesight is excellent day and night, it could just be this (better) monitor.

I clicked the YouTube box that asked what size to run the video—that size being the largest. 'Didn't happen.

There'll be other occasions—maybe this weekend, when visitors criss-cross each others' wakes at much higher speeds than this one pontoon boat. But judging by the total lack of vocalizations yesterday, there may not be any Loons remaining here—that is—after the four Loons flew in following the obnoxious Poker Run.

Donzel wrote:Why didn't the Loon fly out of the area to avoid being hit?  The boater has just as much right on the Lake as the loon does. Doesn't he?
For one thing, Loons have been here for about one million years, and still don't know about "Dive" flags.

Suspect 

Granted, the boater can't "miss" something that's submerged and out of sight*—plus, he paid large money to tow the tube.
*like the telephone pole seen off Carry Beach.

But Loons are "locally-endangered" in New Hampshire; besides, without any wind, this Loon would've required a ¼-mile "run" to get airborne. That fact—for a bird "designed" to be a heavy diving bird—is what doomed the seventeen Loons trapped on the ice a few years ago. (The lake froze-over one very cold night, leaving no open water to take off).

pale 

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Post  News Hawk Sat Aug 10, 2013 2:57 am

WHL wrote:I agree, there are times at night when it is not "reasonable and prudent" to go 30 miles and hour.  The lake is so different at night.  Still, when you need to cross the middle of the broads at night, it takes quite a while at 30MPH.
It's dark—we're talking only a few miles—and you'd some would prefer to "save" a few minutes?
 
Suspect 
 
It didn't work for Stephanie or Jack.
 
Sad
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Post  WHL Sat Aug 10, 2013 7:28 am

But they were drunk. There is a HUGE difference.
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Post  sumrluvr Sat Aug 10, 2013 11:34 am

Amy B wrote:Here's another perspective from today's Laconia Daily Sun. It seems to me that a state wide speed limit for our lakes is a good idea. Squam has a 40/20 limit which seems appropriate for many of the smaller lakes. My experience on Winnipesaukee tells me 30 MPH at night is still too fast.

We need to implement & enforce a permanent lake speed limit

Published Date Thursday, 08 August 2013 09:44
To The Daily Sun,
If there are already laws for boating, ranging from age limits, to lights and horns, to alcohol consumption, all designed with safety in mind, why has excessive speed been ignored this long? Over the last 10 years we have seen an increase in boating accidents and deaths on New Hampshire lakes involving high performance ocean-going boats made for one thing, speed! The excessive size and speed of these crafts has made animals, birds, and other boaters limit their use of the lakes to only certain areas, and has helped to destroy the natural shoreline and setting that wildlife depend on, while increasing water pollution.
The great outdoors here in New Hampshire provides us with four seasons of fun, beauty and enjoyment, but what we all need to remember is that this great outdoors is also home to our furry, feathery and finned little friends. If it is legal in New Hampshire to kill a coyote if it poses a threat to your safe enjoyment of the outdoors, then why have we overlooked the fact that high performance speed boats pose a threat to other boaters and wildlife enjoying the same outdoors? People in canoes, kayaks and sail boats present little if any threat to other boaters, as well as causing a minimal amount of disruption to the animals, birds and fish that consider "The Lakes Region" their home. When one group of people bullies other people and creatures into limiting their use and enjoyment of the public water ways, major changes need to occur.
The New Hampshire Marine Patrol is struggling as it is to keep up with increased numbers of boaters, all wanting to use limited spaces at the same time. The accidents that they have been responding to in recent years, many resulting in death, were unheard of prior to allowing ocean going speed boats to cruise inland waters. When a boat is big enough, powerful enough and potentially deadly enough to completely run over a 20-foot boat out for an evening cruise, and kill one of its passengers, or run straight into an island at 50 miles per hour in the middle of the night, killing one of its occupants, that boat does not belong in a confined area such as a lake, but rather on the ocean.
We have many laws in place already to prevent further destruction or erosion of the shorelines surrounding our lakes, but these laws only apply to septic systems, piers and decks, and the distance a boat needs to be from any shoreline before making headway speed. A rocket shaped boat, weighing more than 15,000 pounds, with a 1,400 horse-power engine, can throw a wake large enough to swamp smaller crafts, and travel uninterrupted for more than a mile before hitting shoreline. When this shoreline erodes and washes into the lake, it brings contaminates such as chemicals and animal feces with it, causing E. coli and other bacteria to enter the water. For the thousands of families that spend at least half of each year on the hundreds of islands that dot New Hampshire's lakes, the lake outside is the only water supply to their homes, using only a hose and shallow well pump.
The animals, birds, and other wildlife that have had their homes disrupted cannot speak for themselves about a problem that we, the caretakers of this Earth, have let happen. It is up to us to open our eyes and see what is happening to the wildlife around us, the dangers that boating now presents, and the impact that we have on the natural shorelines everywhere. It is impossible for the operator of a boat racing at 65 miles per hour, on a lake that is only 26 miles long, as Winnipesaukee is, to fully appreciate the impact on wildlife, danger to other boaters, and destruction to natural shorelines he has caused in the less than thirty minutes it takes to run the length of the lake. We need to implement and enforce a permanent speed limit on New Hampshire lakes, and dispatch the high performance racing boats back to the ocean where there are more uninterrupted open areas that lakes do not provide.
Cameron L. Gamble
Meredith
Well since it is written in print in the opinion section this must be taken as fact. I think we should ban all engines. We need to go back to the days of the native American's. I mean there would be no way a kayak or canoe could ever disrupt a loons nest or other wildlife.
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Post  Donzel Sat Aug 10, 2013 11:51 am

sumrluvr wrote:Well since it is written in print in the opinion section this must be taken as fact. I think we should ban all engines. We need to go back to the days of the native American's. I mean there would be no way a kayak or canoe could ever disrupt a loons nest or other wildlife.
I agree, and to make up for the revenue that the state will lose, all Kayaks and Canoes will need the following to boat on any body of water in NH:

1. Registration will be required.
2. Boating certificate to show competency to be on the water.
3. Each Kayak and Canoe will be taxed according to size.
4. Yearly inspection.
5. Age limits that will be the same as a power boat.

I'm sure there is more that will be needed to make up for the revenue lost.

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Post  fshnski Sat Aug 10, 2013 11:53 am

If you don't like being on the lake on a crazy weekend, boat during the week. If you think it's too fast to drive 30 mph at night go slower. It's a big lake. I have been out there in just about every condition imaginable and from sharing Winni with just a handful of boats to hundreds and hundreds of all types and sizes. I never had a problem separating myself from the crowds. If you know the lake well enough you can leave the boaters that enjoy being together and find a quieter more private spot to enjoy in your own way.

I think canoe, kayaks and the like should have to be registered and pay a fee.
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Post  News Hawk Sat Aug 10, 2013 12:47 pm

WHL wrote:But they were drunk.  There is a HUGE difference.
One ran off to hide his Ocean-Racer in his Dad's boathouse—at night—and kept out of sight himself.

Sound drunk to you?
________________

There's "drunk" and there's "blind drunk".

________________

One hit an island!

affraid 
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Post  WHL Sat Aug 10, 2013 1:26 pm

Yep. Sounds drunk to me.

And while we are banning all engines, let's ban all people too. No swimming in the lake. We might disturb something if we swim in the lake. And forget kayaks, canoes, and sailboats-- not allowed.
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Post  News Hawk Sat Aug 10, 2013 4:46 pm

WHL wrote:Yep.   Sounds drunk to me.  

And while we are banning all engines, let's ban all people too.  No swimming in the lake.  We might disturb something if we swim in the lake.  And forget kayaks, canoes, and sailboats-- not allowed.
 
None of that will remove the drunken boat operator problem. Watch any of the Braun Bay videos (that YouTube hasn't banned) and you'll see the beverage of choice everywhere. Combined with getting beat up by the sun, "fun", travel and water activities, it's a heady brew.
 
I'd like NOT to share Winnipesaukee with that weekender reckless species—and fortunately, haven't yetI don't think.
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Post  WHL Sat Aug 10, 2013 5:18 pm

I agree, it won't solve the drunken boat operator problem. And THAT is my point, the bad accidents have all involved drunks , yet some (including you NH), say speed is the problem. I don't happen to agree with you about the speed. I think speed is the very least problem on the lake.
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Post  News Hawk Sat Aug 10, 2013 6:28 pm

With speed, comes size and weight. A 21-boat should be enough, but a 36-foot boat at 4½-tons killed a passenger. According to FATP's Webmaster, the "drunk's" description of speed was taken at face value by NHMP's (then) Lt. Dunleavey. Surprised 
 
That was wrong!
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Post  fshnski Sat Aug 10, 2013 6:42 pm

I have seen many stupid acts in the 30 years I have boated on Winni. I never let them bother me so much that they ruined my day.
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