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Owner Insists Recklessness, Not Fast Boats, Creates the Danger

September 05, 2007 - Naples -- Ed Ferland has enjoyed boating on Sebago and Long lakes for years. When he traded in his 19 foot bowridewr for a 32 foot Formula high-performance boat, it was for the sleek vessel's smooth ride, not its top speed of 66 mph.

"These guys are the best boaters on the lake," he said, gesturing to a line of performance boats moored at Naples Marina. "It's not their first boat. You don't get to this point of boating without having experience and common sense."

But Alan Rosen-Ducat, a local safety activist, says the boats are too powerful and too loud for a narrow lake, and that they force other boaters to seek shelter.

The collision between a performance boat and a small boat that killed two people on Long Lake three weeks ago has rekindled a simmering resentment of high-performance boats and the potential safety hazards they pose. Some people say the boats are designed for the ocean and ought to be banned from lakes.

Owners say the problem is not the boats themselves, but the small minority of irresponsible and discourteous boaters who give performance boats a bad reputation.

In the August 11 crash, a 32 foot Sunsation with 870 hp and a 14 foot Glasspar with 115 hp outboard collided at 9 p.m. The Maine Warden Service says the two people in the larger boat were thrown into the water and the boat slammed into shore, coming to rest 134 feet into the woods. The couple in the small boat were killed.

The Warden Service continues to investigate the crash, and prosecutors are considering whether to bring criminal charges.

The crash becomes the latest flashpoint in the debate over how best to keep Maine lakes enjoyable for the most people without infringing on the others' rights to use the lakes.

Rosen-Ducat believes that large boats have no place on Long Lake or nearby Brandy Pond.

"You basically have this one group that makes up 15 boats that is taking over the lake for all intents and purposes," said Rosen-Ducat, who heads the Lake Region Safe Lakes Association and created an Internet blog to discuss safety issues related to the crash. "No one feels comfortable canoeing in the middle of the lake or kayaking in the middle of the lake. Some people don't even feel safe swimming along the shoreline."

The boats involved in the crash passed in front of Rosen-Ducat's house just before the collision. He says he saw the large boat slow to headway speed and the small boat pass it. The larger boat was well lit and the smaller boat had lights, though not standard navigation lights, he said.

The boats passed from sight and he could hear the larger boat resume speed. Then he heard what sounded like the large boat's engine coming apart -- which he now believes was the collision. The engine sound return to normal, then made another loud noise as it hit shore, he said.

The Cumberland County Sheriff's radio log quoted a deputy saying there was no issue with drinking and driving, but the agency later said that comment was from a separate unrelated call. The warden service gathered blood tests from the crash survivors but has not released results.

Rosen-Ducat says the boats are fine for the larger Sebago Lake or the ocean, where they can easily operate a mile from shore or away from traffic.

"When these guys take them out onto the lake, they run the whole lake full speed. I've seen every one of them run the lake full speed numerous times on a weekend," he said.

Performance boats are not the only safety hazard on the lake, he said. Irresponsible operators of smaller boats and personal watercraft also share responsibility. But the larger boats seem to have more of an impact because of their size, speed and noise, he said.

"Do you have to go faster than 50 mph on the water? Do you have to operate a boat that operates at the same sound level as a jet plane? I would say no."

The controversy is reminiscent of the debate over whether to ban personal watercraft from certain lakes. State authorities ultimately banned the popular watercraft on many of the states of remote lakes to preserve their tranquility, but they have become a fixture on lakes in southern Maine.

Fans of the performance boats say they don't routinely run them at high speed or operate them unsafely, and that trying to ban loud power boats from Maine's most popular lakes is heavy-handed. Boating fatalities are extremely rare, and seizing on the recent tragedy to ban loud boats doesn't make sense, Ferland said.

"11 miles long is a good-sized lake in New England," he said, referring to the length of Long Lake. Going from end to end into a north wind was an uncomfortable challenge in his former boat. His high-performance boat is smooth and responsive, like driving a car on the highway, he said.

Most of the performance boaters are like him: middle-aged, experienced boaters who are responsible, not reckless, he said. He does think boaters should be required to pass a test, as is done in neighboring New Hampshire, he said.

It doesn't take more than one or two annoying boaters to have a major impact on a lake, says Dan Allen, owner of Causeway Marina.

"You could have 100 small boats go by your house and not notice it. It only takes that one jerk in a big, fast, loud boat to call their attention to it," he said.

Allen said people like to point fingers at young boaters as troublemakers, but he believes a few owners of large, loud boats provoke most of the controversy.

People on all sides of the issue say increased enforcement would help, but the Warden Service -- which enforces fishing, hunting and safety regulations for all the states waterways and woodlands -- is already stretched thin and can't practically run nighttime speed traps on the state's lakes.

Bob Wahlstrom, who lives in Brownfield and does boat accident reconstruction, says state laws requiring "prudent speed" are not precise enough.

"The state law says you can't go too fast. There's nothing saying what too fast is," he said. "Anything over 50 mph is too fast. One boat will climb right over another at that speed."

He believes many boaters are oblivious to the hazards posed by going fast, and the split-second reactions needed to avoid disaster. Most of the dozen crashes he's covered involve high-speed boating at night and drinking.

The state should incorporate the Nautical Rules of the Road, which would reduce the number of boats operating in unsafe speeds, he said.

New Hampshire legislators are considering speed limits on that states waterways of 25 mph at night and 45 mph during the day.

Performance boat owners say they don't anticipate losing their right to boat on Long Lake, and even safety advocates say changing boating laws is unlikely.

"It's almost impossible to change boating regulations in the state," Rosen-Ducat said. "Obviously. It takes two people dying just to get people to talk about it."

This article first appeared in the Portland Press Herald, September 1, 2007.

Lakes: Long Lake
Regions: Sebago


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