Crazy Dave;
SML at least WAS the craziest boater Dodge City circus on the east coast when last I visited and would be the first thing anyone would point to as in need of legal remedy. But as you note it was entirely a mobo problem. I can remember standing on the deck of a lovely waterfront home and being unable to carry on a conversation with a friend because of the noise being generated by the unruffled yahoo boaters and jet skis speeding past the shoreline. The place was a living example of what happens to a scenic waterway when too many clueless boaters show up with the floating version of a muscle-car and let er rip! Then there were those certain operations renting powerboats and jets kids to credit-card captains and unleasing them upon the lake. Bad behaviors and questionable commercial Marina business practices on lakes and coastal rivers are largely to blame for so many boating laws. Some good, and many just a ham-handed attempt to solve a local problem with a law that gets applied inappropriately to all state boaters. Virginia boating law is a great example of the latter. Most of the over-reach was borne of SML. Just saying.
Yep! All true.... but SML has improved a lot in the last 5 years. State law now requires all boaters to have passed a boater safety course including the credit card captains. That has helped a lot. Also, all jet skis must be off the water 30 min. before sundown. I think speed limits on SML would be a good thing but I still see the cigar boats on occasion ripping across the water at 50+mph. RIDICULOUS for a lake with such tight turns and narrow fingers. But I still avoid the lake on a Saturday afternoon. No point in trying to pound through all the wake. It seems to only be crowded starting Friday at 6:00 PM through mid-day Sunday. The rest of the week the lake is almost empty.