Regulations regarding direction of boat travel on a lake-gctid402562

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This is probably state specific, though it could be interesting to know what laws are in other areas too. This weekend we lent our PWC to a friend (also a boater and fairly familiar with the law) and she was stopped for not following the proper direction of travel (no ticket). She was traveling fairly close to the shore on the main body of the lake with her port to shore. The cops said she had to keep to starboard. This makes sense in a channel, but the main body of our lake is many miles long and a couple miles wide. It would mean miles of extra travel if you left a cove and wanted to go to the marina or another cove nearby but were facing the "wrong" direction.

I was not able to find anything in the game & fish regulation book about this other than it says that the general travel direction on lakes should be counter-clockwise. And actually that is what she was doing. I suspect it was just an excuse to stop a PWC and make her take an alcohol test. The cops here are fairly well known for both incompetence and making up laws on the spot in order to stop people.

Any other AZ boaters know the law on this?

The last time I wrote to the Sheriff's department about a law that seemed to be improperly used on our lake, they didn't bother to reply. Anyone have suggestions on other ways to get a clarification on this directly from a responsible agency?

[Four_Pyrates Guru Find all posts View Profile Close Four_Pyrates]

Two miles wide? Dumbest thing I ever heard. Sounds like the papers/dui stop didn't pan out.

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SwampNut wrote:
?.. other than it says that the general travel direction on lakes should be counter-clockwise.

Wait. What?! Is this boating on open water or roller disco? Does this goofy rule hold true in other states?

[joe440 Seasoned Member Find all posts View Profile Close joe440]

We have a popular lake here (Cultas Lake) that has a couterclockwise direction of travel . Too many boats not enough water, only way to maintain some sort of safety.

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A lot of touristy lakes which are busy have things like this, also day/night speed limits, bans from water sports in "lanes of travel", etc. I think they are all local regs and not handled by the state.

[Guest Cleaning the Bilge Find all posts View Profile Close Guest]

The small lakes in the Los Angeles area have lake specific rules like that. They even have jetski specific days and boat specific days. Usually when you pay the park entry fee they hand you the parking pass with the lake rules.

And yes, it probably was a stop to check for sobriety. Blame that on all the other retards out there that ruined it for everyone else so now we all have to be babysat.

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Not to mention my favorite - electric/sail boat only periods.

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Boating regs in Colorado are enforced by state parks folks mostly. We only have a specific direction of travel for when performing water sports. There are day and night speed limits though.

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The correct question to ask is: is she blonde and good looking ? That may well answer all other questions.

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Wait. What?! Is this boating on open water or roller disco? Does this goofy rule hold true in other states?

The circular traffic rule generally applies on very small lakes, and yes, it certainly applies in AZ, CA, and NV. Those are the states I've done a lot of boating in and studied the regs. It starts to become highly illogical on large non-round lakes. Our shoreline is rough and complicated, and it's a big lake.

The correct question to ask is: is she blonde and good looking ? That may well answer all other questions.

LOL. That's exactly what my friend said when she asked, "Why would they stop me?" He says, "Their called boobs, you have a lot of 'em."

I'm sending a letter to the sheriff even though the last one didn't get an answer. If this one doesn't also, I will follow up to the county commissioner and to the state AG. I now have two different laws that the cops seem to have simply made up on our lake.

A friend who is a land cop said: "If we don't want to deal with dumb deputies in our stations, we get them sent to your lake!" Sheesh.

Here's approximately her path, and it's a perfectly normal one that hundreds of boats take every day when they head to the marina at the Southeast end of the lake.

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Sounds like we need pics of the subject to continue our legal assessment...

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ishiboo wrote:
Sounds like we need pics of the subject to continue our legal assessment...

Wrong guy to kid about showing hot chic pics! He'll post stuff that will have this thread shut down so fast ...

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we got stopped by a police officer standing on the side of the bank (st johns river) for pushing water at idle speed (4mph) no ticket but he went thru telling us that he stopped us because we were pushing the water (ie to fast)...

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Davem2421 wrote:
we got stopped by a police officer standing on the side of the bank (st johns river) for pushing water at idle speed (4mph) no ticket but he went thru telling us that he stopped us because we were pushing the water (ie to fast)...

You must have moobs.

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Any state that I've lived in (upper mid west) the law on the water was this in a nut shell ,you travel as if you were on a two lane road meaning starboard to shore. this law would make sense to keep things from getting crazy on smaller water ways but I would think on larger water ways without much congestion it shouldn't apply as long as you maintain the rule that when you meet an on coming boat you pass port to port. It amazes my how many people don't do either :bang-then the law of defensive driving kicks in just my 2 cents