Dear Editor:
We have been quite shocked this year at the speed and general carelessness of boaters in Deep Cove.
I have been hit by a boat when swimming with a bright orange swim buoy and bright orange cap - eight staples and five stitches later, the learning experience is that when the sun is in people’s eyes, they may not see you. The people involved with the boat and I are now aware that even with precautions, things can happen.
But this summer we see: speed boats and jet skis blasting off at high speed typically from around the public dock; single scullers rowing without spotters (I don’t believe this is the rowing club), and swimmers without swim buoys, very much in harm’s way.
With or without swim buoys, speeding boats and single scullers are a lethal weapon when coming across a swimmer.
I think we know how this will end – a swimmer or paddle boarder seriously injured and a boater facing criminal and civil charges, with an end result of far more policing of the cove.
Hopefully we can avoid this. Some suggestions: make the speed limit signs far more prominent and repeat the speed limit restrictions on buoys and at docks; call out speeding speedboats and jet skiers; clamp down hard on any single scullers with no spotter; add signs encouraging swimmers who swim outside the swimming zone (I am one) to use a swim buoy and to look out for danger.
Neil Lloyd
Deep Cove
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