Mind Your Wake

Cottagers derive a great deal of enjoyment from a host of boating activities. Those of us with our pleasure craft licences studied specific rules of the water geared to safe & responsible boating so most of us are familiar with general boat safety & etiquette. However, we may not be as familiar with the impact of boat wake.

Impact of Boat Wake:

The larger the wake, the greater the potential for undesirable side effects:

*Loons, & other birds that nest along the shore, choose locations that are protected from waves generated by the prevailing winds. However, boat wake, which can come from any direction, can & does drown the nests & the young, particularly in May & June. * Inexperienced swimmers & young children are not usually in the water when winddriven waves are high. However, they can be toppled by the size & energy of boat wake.

* Boat wake & prop wash can churn up sediments in shallow water which releases dormant nutrients that promote weed growth & algal blooms. * Boat wake can cause erosion. * Boat wake can cause docks & moored boats to rock severely & pull mooring hardware.

How You can be Wake Wise

1. Be aware of the size of your wake during displacement, transition & planing speeds. 2. Position your passengers through-out the boat in order to reduce the time spent in transition speed. 3. Look behind you to see & understand the impact of your wake on shorelines, docks or other structures. Adjust your speed & direction to minimize the impact. 4. Respect the shoreline zone. Reduce your speed to less than 10 km/h within 30 metres of any shore including the narrow channels between islands. 5. Water-ski, tube, & wake-board well away from all shorelines. Try to make use of the entire length of the lake. 6. Consider the size of the wake produced when purchasing a new boat.

Re-Printed in part from Pike Lake Community Association, 2013. Found on the FOCA website. Full article here.

A good video on the impacts of Boat Wake here: bewakeaware.com