Name:	mariah1 -	Reply
Subject:	Rude Boaters
Date:	5/6/2018 9:28:19 PM

When did common sense and following basic boating laws end on this lake? I was out today and I have never seen in my 30 years such a mess in all my life. Is pass on the right just a suggestion ?

Name:	SB&MG@BlueCreek -	Reply
Subject:	Rude Boaters
Date:	5/6/2018 10:54:19 PM

I totally agree!  Also, boats making huge wakes getting too close to docks.  Waves came over my dock and my grandchildren were on it and swimming beside it. I ran out and yelled like a crazy woman. Seems like too much money and not enough sense.....

Name:	Jester -	Reply
Subject:	Rude Boaters
Date:	5/7/2018 7:47:56 AM

It's just starting and will last all summer. Boats come within 10' of my floating dock and they have to go out of their way to get that close.

Stupid boaters that have no concern for others.

Name:	Old Diver -	Reply
Subject:	Ignorant Boaters
Date:	5/7/2018 8:05:05 AM

  It amazes me how few boaters know that the throttle stops somewhere in the middle. These wave boats are the worst. Huge waves beat up boats and cause terrible erosion and endanger people. These boaters should realize though that under well established Admiralty Law they are responsible for wake damage! Get your cameras.

Name:	spitz -	Reply
Subject:	Rude Boaters
Date:	5/7/2018 9:13:10 AM

Yes the wake boats are irritating but the inconsiderate bass fishermen who urinate in front of our dock and house are the WORST!!!

Name:	Tall Cotton -	Reply
Subject:	Rude Boaters
Date:	5/7/2018 9:22:02 AM

If it makes you feel any better, and I don't imagine it will, this problem exists on every lake. On our lake, Center Hill in Tennessee, there are very few privately owned docks. Therefore we are a houseboat community. People have no idea that we can't stop on a dime if they throw a tuber off in front of us. They don't know, or care, that the glassware in the cabinets will come crashing down when they throw a wake that comes up on out front deck. They don't understand that coming up beside up "plowing" is way worse than going on by on plane. My opinion is that wake boats, especially surfers, should be confined to a specific area of the lake when they are doing their huge wake thing. Common sense has been on its last leg for a long time and is now an endangered species.

Name:	Friday Pint -	Reply
Subject:	Rude Boaters
Date:	5/7/2018 11:21:21 AM

Unfortunately, it's not the boat that causes the problem, it's the person operating it.  There is a place for all boats and recreation on our lake, but there is not a place for everything all the time.  I am probably not the only person on this forum who has a wake boat, but shares the general disdain for unsafe and inconsiderate drivers.  However, my dock has been rocked by every type of boat there is - pontoon, small bowrider, big yacht and yes, wakeboats.  My kids know you idle in a slough.  Small sloughs are not for sports and frankly, many of the sloughs are no wake zones by law and dock proximity.  And by the way, 5 mph with loaded ballast or a big boat is not "idling."  On Summer weekends, my kids are up and ready at sunrise to board, surf and ski big, good water.  Mondays are the best day, but it's tough to beat Sunday at 4:30 p.m. too.  

In the end, I think many of these people have never bothered to look behind them to see what's coming off the back of their boat.  They just don't know any better.  

Name:	GoneFishin -	Reply
Subject:	Suggested Detterent
Date:	5/7/2018 1:10:56 PM

Take pictures of offenders, both boats and peeing fisherman, and post them on the Forum. Just venting on the Forum solves nothing. But, knowing your rudeness might be on "Candid Camera" is probably the best detterent.

Name:	Jester -	Reply
Subject:	Rude Boaters
Date:	5/7/2018 4:46:18 PM

Recently my wife and I decided to go trolling.  We were in the end of a slough and started going across to the other side when a pontoon boat with a man and woman in it came into the end where we were and could very plainly see us cutting across. He did not even think about slowing down or turning around. With lines in the water we had to stop. When we reached the other bank he fell in BEHIND us and could tell we were trolling.  Of course my wife got hung and I had to yell at the idiot to get him off our tail.  He just waved and went on by. Even though I hold wake boats in disdain there are other idiots out there.

Name:	weagle74 -	Reply
Subject:	Rude Boaters
Date:	5/7/2018 5:43:46 PM

Yeah, but ya gotta love how so many of the wake boaters let you listen to their music, even from a mile away! Awesome!  <sarcasm off>

Name:	Wakely -	Reply
Subject:	Rude Boaters
Date:	5/7/2018 6:08:59 PM

1986.

Maybe the exact time can't be pin-pointed like that, but that's the first time one of my neighbors got a boat that was too big AND too fast for this lake. (Either one is tolerable, but the combo is not.) At that time, there were already plenty of rude, inconsiderate, and just plain stupid boaters out there, but limitations on their equipment put limitations on their annoyance and destructive abilities. And the addition of wake boats to their arsenals just makes things worse.

Those boats in the hands of responsible boaters cause few problems. Irresponsible boaters in smaller boats can cause plenty of problems, but are often easy to avoid. But put the two together, and you get what we have today. And you get the long-timers like me longing for the days of 1985, and before.

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	Rude Boaters
Date:	5/7/2018 8:46:26 PM

Because we have the ability to do so, we just avoid going out on the weekends.  Too much boat traffic of all kinds, people pulling tubes, jet skiers.  Sometimes we have the problem of people coming into our slough fast, sending the boats of us who live here banging and bouncing.  I think part of the problem is that people don't take safe boating rules seriously, and some don't care to follow any kind of boat ettiquiette.  It's just about them. And I wonder how many parents are even aware of what their kids are doing on the jet skies and wake boats.  But as long as it is a public lake and as long as there isn't much money for Marine Police, thngs are unlikely to get better.  

Name:	jalcz -	Reply
Subject:	Rude Boaters
Date:	5/8/2018 1:53:43 AM

Yeah, but ya gotta love how so many of the wake boaters let you listen to their music, even from a mile away! Awesome!  <sarcasm off>

It's especially awesome the way that the louder they play it, the worse their taste in music is. Or maybe it's the other way around. Either way, how brain dead do you have to be to think that it's okay to blast your music that loud around other people?

Name:	lucky67 -	Reply
Subject:	Rude Boaters & Burners
Date:	5/8/2018 8:18:21 AM (updated 5/8/2018 8:19:12 AM)

I can watch the crazy boaters //wave runners from my deck--oh no--wait i have to go inside, cant breathe or enjoy a glass of wine on a beautiful evening  due to neighbors burning everything in sight, polluting the air

Name:	Shortbus -	Reply
Subject:	Rude Boaters & Burners
Date:	5/8/2018 5:52:03 PM

One of my buddies whom I spent a lot of quality time on the water with moved to Commiefornia.

He was young.  All he knew was Lake Martin.

Called back about the lake they had at the left coast.

He said everyone had to go counterclockwise.

He said NOBODY waived - like he was personally insulted.

My turn.  Bitch and moan. 

Woo Hoo LAKE MARTIN

Name:	ChrisCraft -	Reply
Subject:	Rude Boaters
Date:	5/8/2018 10:43:20 PM

We've been here since the 60's an have watched humanity ruin the lake in slow motion. Too many people with no

values or ethics. Yet we persevere. Our window of enjoyment has been narrowed to a fraction of it's original. Once people began living at the lake instead of it being a gettaway...began it's demise. Sad but true. No value put on what is truly valuable.

Name:	Moldyoldy -	Reply
Subject:	Rude Boaters
Date:	5/10/2018 6:47:00 PM

I would wholeheartedly support a 40 hp max engine size and 20 mph speed limit on lake martin.

Name:	Wakely -	Reply
Subject:	Rude Boaters
Date:	5/11/2018 1:11:14 AM

I agree with everything you said, ChrisCraft. But it's strange that things went downhill when people started thinking of the lake as a home rather than a getaway. You'd think it would be the opposite.

And WHO marked ChrisCraft's post "innappropriate?" That makes no sense; apparently his words struck too close to home to someone.

Name:	dogleg -	Reply
Subject:	Rude Boaters
Date:	5/11/2018 7:25:40 AM

We’ve had a cabin on Turner Slough since '61. A LOT has changed sine then. Much of it for the worse, not all. To me, the big slide toward Lake Sinclair status began in about 1994 when a slew of hurricanes hit Florida. Many retirees had second thoughts about beach dwellings. Several leading retirement/vacation publications touted Lake Martin as the number one retirement destination in the southeast. Demand and property values soared. McMansions and boats surely bought with the Gulf of Mexico in mind began to supplant the pontoon and fishing boats......when I was young, my grandad would tout the propaganda from Alabama Power/Russel Lands about keeping the Lake pristine, maintaining over 50% undeveloped shoreline, clamping down tightly on multi-family dwellings (condos). ALL of that went out the window at that time. Per 100’ of water frontage, a house or cabin may put two boats on the lake on average. Per the same water frontage, a condo complex may put 10 or 15 boats on the lake, driven, at times, by yahoos with little experience and no investment in this lake. Ride around the Blue Creek/ Stillwater end of our lake and do the math. You can thank APCO and Russel for our woes.

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	Dreaming of the Past
Date:	5/11/2018 4:09:45 PM

I'm one of those people that make their full time home on the lake.  I can certainly understand the feeling of nostalgia that anyone has for the past - the way it used to be.  But time moves on.  One day I was over at Children's Harbor and got to tour the Hank Williams cabin, which is decorated as it might have been when he stayed there. I have to say it made me feel a bit nostalgic for a past I didn't experience.

In fact, when we bought our property, it still had a cabin on it.  But we knew we wanted to be here full time, and the cabin was not going to cut it. A huge pine tree fell on it and made it uninhabitable.   So we built a new house.  I don't think living here full time means that one is not doing their part to be a good steward of the lake.  Would never do anything to knowingly pollute the lake, or be a nuisence for those who come for relaxation.  A three minute boatride from our house there is a lot of undeveloped land with native azaleas, mountain laurel, and other native bushes. When we got here, they had just passed the big boat ban, and most of the boats on the lake were pontoons.  Now there are wake boats and more jet skies.  

Look on the bright side, all those McMansions are paying property taxes and have increased the value of properties that are not McMansions.  People living are supporting local businesses and trades.  While it's okay to be nostalgic for the past, there are other benefits to the present.  

Name:	Moldyoldy -	Reply
Subject:	Dreaming of the Past
Date:	5/11/2018 7:55:05 PM

Im not pointing fingers at anyone, but the single worst thing that happened to lake martin was when it became popular to try to grow lawns that looked like suburban lawns. Not all of this behavior was brought by full timers and condos, but a disproportionate amount of polluting fertilizer and pesticide runoff is contributed by the condos and full timers. Part timers tend to just let natural growth grow along the shore because we are not here full time to try to keep a bahia, bermuda, or st augustine lawn fertilized, weed sprayed, and pesticized.

The best thing apco could do is ban the use of fertilizer, weed killer, and pesticide sprays within 300 feet of the shore.

I know its nice to have a pretty green lawn, but if people would just let natural grasses take over they could still have nice enough lawns. They just wouldnt look like golf courses.

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	Dreaming of the Past
Date:	5/11/2018 10:50:37 PM

I have dogs so I don't use pesticides or fertilizers.  My lawn is green in the summer, but if you look closely you will see the weeds.  I leave a lot of the "natural" plants that come up, especially if they have flowers.  My only war is with vines, but that is hand to hand combat.  Not sure why anyone would be using pesticides and fertilizers knowing that it would pollute the lake.  We planted as many natual plants as we could.  I'm crazy about using natural materials.

Name:	dogleg -	Reply
Subject:	Dreaming of the Past
Date:	5/12/2018 7:09:24 AM

Rather than nostalgia for the past, I see it as recognition of what’s better and what’s worse. After having a two bedroom, one bath cabin for fifty years, we razed and rebuilt a full blown big house, boathouse, grass....but we use no pesticides, herbicides, and only organic fertilizers. We don’t have a dawn to dusk light nor do we otherwise feel the need to and understand the problem with lighting up our water frontage like a used car lot every night whether we’re there or not. We don’t feel the need to musically enrich everyone else in the slough with our fabulous collection of bro country hits and our PA system. We do our water sports that require roughing up the same patch of water over and over in "secret slough" or other places where we’re not banging folks' docks around. We boat with courtesy and safety foremost and teach our kids and grandkids the same. Ain’t we angels?...the point is, it’s not necessarily the accouterments of yahooism, the McMansion, the wake boat, the pwc, the party, that create the problem, its the yahoo operating them. And the more condos, the more yahoos. 

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	Dreaming of the Past
Date:	5/12/2018 10:11:05 AM

Yes!!!

Name:	Moldyoldy -	Reply
Subject:	Dreaming of the Past
Date:	5/12/2018 4:01:16 PM

What is wrong with dusk to dawn lights, dogleg? The previous owners of my place had one installed by apco, but i had it disconnected when i bought the place to save the 10 bucks a month. Did i do something environmentally or socially responsible by mistake?

Name:	dogleg -	Reply
Subject:	Dreaming of the Past
Date:	5/13/2018 12:53:58 PM

It’s certainly beyond my ability to judge anyone for environmental or social gauche behavior, I can’t even recognize my own most of the time. For me, part of the beauty of the lake is the lake at night. Especially on a good low moon, clear night when the relatively, and now more like formerly, dark skies at Lake martin allow you to clearly see the Milky Way etc. So, and again, for me and mine, if you want to look across the lake and see detail instead of bright points of light surrounded by vague fuzziness, or if you want to sit on your dock at night and look at the stars without the glare from a neighbor's light allowing you to do shadow puppets on your pontoon boat, then you see extraneous light as a nuisance and a kind of pollution. So you star gaze late or during the week when folks are less likely to be there with their big lights on.....except for dawn to dusk lights. They are guaranteed to blind 365 days a year and all night each one of them.

I understand there are lakes in the southeast that require dawn to dusk lighting to be of a type that shines straight down but is shielded around the sides. This makes me believe it’s not just a problem particular to me.

Name:	Tarpon -	Reply
Subject:	Dreaming of the Past
Date:	5/13/2018 1:06:22 PM

Been full time on the lake for over 18 years and have seen more and more cases of light pollution as the dreaded "dusk to dawn" lights are installed without the shield to direct the light downward.  Don't understand why the shields are not required when the light is installed.  The owners would get what they want by having a lighted area (usually around their house or driveway) and the neighbors would still be able to enjoy the beautiful nights we have here at the lake.  

Name:	Rooster -	Reply
Subject:	Dreaming of the Past
Date:	5/13/2018 7:06:26 PM

Don’t understand it.  More lights, more bugs.  We keep all off house lights and outside lights off if possible,

Name:	Lifer -	Reply
Subject:	Dreaming of the Past
Date:	5/13/2018 9:17:38 PM

I'm with you Rooster. I've had colored floods (blue) on my dock since the day I installed them. They are rarely on but when they are they are not obnoxious. They draw very few bugs when they are on.

Name:	John C -	Reply
Subject:	Dreaming of the Past
Date:	5/14/2018 10:07:49 AM

Installing motion sensors helps on flood lights, also. To me it gives you the best of both worlds. They pop on when you're in the dark fumbling with the boat trailer, but turn off after you leave the area.  

Name:	itisd -	Reply
Subject:	Dreaming of the Past
Date:	5/14/2018 11:02:19 PM

A weekender  house near me looks like Danelly Field or Atlanta Internation Airport on weekends.  We can't  sit on our dock at night because we  are blinded by the glare. When this family or their  guest arrive they turn on the  16 outdoor lights and leave them on day and night for Thursday night through Sunday night. They have been known to leave and forget to turm them off. Soffit lights on house, yard lights, security light on 40' high pole, security light on the dock,  5 lights on the covered dock. Use to have 4 monster lights in lake but they burned out. I am afraid a plane may land here one night, mistaking this place for Willow Point or Alexander City Airport.

Name:	krtracker -	Reply
Subject:	Rude Boaters
Date:	5/15/2018 8:45:05 PM

think of all the money the marine patrol could make if they enforced the boating laws on wakes. ever see one writting tickets for wakes?

Name:	ChrisCraft -	Reply
Subject:	Dreaming of the Past
Date:	5/19/2018 1:54:01 PM

Don't even get me started on the unessesary light polution we endure. It would make the most liberal reader of this forum cry, I assure you.

Name:	Moldyoldy -	Reply
Subject:	Dreaming of the Past
Date:	5/20/2018 9:40:38 AM

Like all things, moderation is the key. A few average wattage porch lights or solar lights on the end of docks add to the charm of the lake on a quiet southern night. I dont think crime on the lake has risen to the point that anyone needs to light up their property like a soviet gulag