Death at Lake of the Ozarks

[Badboat1]

I went to LOTO first time last year and that lake is a bitch to deal with.My prayers are for the family of the woman that was killed in this tragic happining.
BB1

[Sea Esta]

Here is what was in the paper as the backlash is starting about the size of boats on the Lake....
Traffic going up, boats going down
Water Patrol flooded with calls for boat-size regulation. Job for the state legislature, agency spokesman says
By Joyce L. Miller
LAKE OF THE OZARKS - The swamping of a number of boats by huge wakes on Lake of the Ozarks has unleashed a flood of frantic calls from boaters who want to know what can be done.
That, according to the Water Patrol, is a job for the state legislature.
Any move to limit boat size on the lake would have to come from the Missouri General Assembly, according to Water Patrol Sgt. Paul Kennedy.
Larger, deeper boats are increasingly popular on the lake and create dramatic wakes at some speeds. The increase in boat traffic in general also generates more and larger wakes in some parts of the lake.
Kennedy says the Water Patrol is responding to as many as 20 calls a day from people asking the Water Patrol to take some type of action to regulate the size of boats on the lake.
"We understand people are concerned but we are the enforcement agency on the water. That type of regulation would have to be handled legislatively," Kennedy said Thursday. "We certainly feel for them and we understand that for many smaller boat owners, they don't feel they can take smaller boats out on Lake of the Ozarks on weekends anymore. They want to know what we are going to do."
Kennedy says the issue has been on everyone's mind since the recent Fourth of July holiday when a record number of boaters hit the lake.
Diver and boat-recovery specialist Tim McNitt says that in the last seven days he has raised six swamped boats. Terry Hart, who also owns a recovery company and often works with McNitt, said he is also raising more and bigger boats.
"Most of the time when people hear about a boat swamping, they think of a small fishing boat or something, but we are seeing larger boats over 25 feet," McNitt said. "And, we get a lot of boats that swamp in dock wells just from the constant pounding of the water."
For some boat owners, like Cathi Rhodes who lives at the 46-mile marker, weekend rides on the lake are becoming a thing of the past. She says someone needs to start drawing the line somewhere on the size of boats.
"I have had this dream for more than 25 years to live here and now here I am but can't enjoy the lake on weekends," Rhodes said. "We have a nice boat over 26-feet (long) but stay close to home on weekends."
The head of the Missouri Water Patrol says his agency is looking at solutions to ease the congestion and rough water on the Grand Glaize Arm of Lake of the Ozarks.
Colonel Jerry Adam's comments came on the heels of what was described by Water Patrol officers as a "brutal" Fourth of July holiday.
Boat traffic hit record numbers lakewide over the three-day holiday with the Grand Glaize Arm becoming particularly congested as thousands of boaters traveled to and from Party Cove.
There were a number of incidents in the Glaize Arm including the sinking of one boat which resulted in a woman's drowning.
Although the no-wake zone from the mouth of the Grand Glaize Arm to about the 1.7-mile marker near the Moorings Yacht Club and the safety corridor for smaller boats that extends to Temple's Resort at the 2-mile marker helped, Water Patrol officials say the roughest water and the biggest wakes were in a stretch from the 2-mile marker to Anderson Hollow Cove at the 4-mile marker. Anderson Hollow Cove is the location of Party Cove.
"We have discussed some additional safety-measure issues and will be taking a closer look," Adams said. "Obviously the wakes are getting bigger. Especially in that area where the larger boats are coming off plane as they come out of the no-wake zone."

[Seadog]

I have to wonder what variables make LOTO any different than Grand. We have much the same type of wakes here, but does not seem to cause near the problems. It will be interesting to see what is done.

[spectras only]

The lakes here are also rough when windy [ minus boats on the lake] and because of it a lot of boat owners have hoists. My friend has a lakeside residence and he's been holding back with the installation of one.His neighbor has a lift and takes the boat out when not using it for a few hours.Last summer my friend's boat sunk by the storm that created 6' waves.These storms can happen in there in the matter of minutes.At one time I didn't even have time to pull into the marina with my 20 footer on skaha lake and rode the storm out rather than risking of beating the hull trying to dock it.Spectras are built like a brick and can take the pounding ,just had to manage to keep it afloat with the relatively low freeboard. I love my 24 footer anyday on those nasty waters wink

[Thunderbutt]

I live on LOTO and I watch these 42 foot + boats skirt the 100 foot buoys @ 1500 rpm and push 6 foot+ swells into the docks and laugh there ass of while the docks and boats,rock&roll. Another thing here, there isn't any direction control, these boats go anyway they want to, they even tailgate just like they do on the highways. thats how you get these wakes coming in different directions. I asked one of the water patrol about that and he said it was too hard to control. I think they're too busy looking for boaters who are drinking. Very few people know the rules of boating. I live close to Sea Esta which was called the quiet side, not any more the big boats got tired of fighting there own wakes so now they come to the quiet side. Even though this lake has 1100 miles of shore line it is too small for these large boats. It is too narrow, in most places it is like a wide river.

[spectras only]

posted by Thunderbutt:
Even though this lake has 1100 miles of shore line it is too small for these large boats. It is too narrow, in most places it is like a wide river. , Jim , LOTO is similar to Shuswap [ only 50 miles from the OK lakes, 1200miles shore line,narrow and branching off all directions] which is much calmer than the okanagan lakes. There are more smaller boats on shuswap and lots of 40+ rental barges with waterslides .LOTO looks beautiful and one day I'd like to go there .Are you going to Brent's regatta ?

[Infomaniac]

I will stick to the drag boat freindly lakes around here.
Gripe about the lake lice wakes.

[Thunderbutt]

spectras only:
posted by Thunderbutt:
Even though this lake has 1100 miles of shore line it is too small for these large boats. It is too narrow, in most places it is like a wide river. , Jim , LOTO is similar to Shuswap [ only 50 miles from the OK lakes, 1200miles shore line,narrow and branching off all directions] which is much calmer than the okanagan lakes. There are more smaller boats on shuswap and lots of 40+ rental barges with waterslides .LOTO looks beautiful and one day I'd like to go there .Are you going to Brent's regatta ? Atti, They should have had a boat size restriction years ago, now it is too late, too much money. We use the lake during the week,Thunderbutt takes the wakes pretty good considering its only 20.83 feet long, once in awhile we get wet. We use the pontoon boat on week-ins. If you ever come to LOTO let me know we have a guest house you can use. I wanted to go to the Spectra regatta, but I don't think we'll make it, my Wife hasn't been feeling so good. I did tell Brent if he talked you into going I'd be there. Are you going?

[spectras only]

Jim , thanks for the offer . May take you up on that in the future.I'd like to go to the spectra regatta too ,but have too many commitments for this year . Hope your wife will feel better , so maybe next year will be the time for a get together wink
[ July 12, 2003, 08:13 PM: Message edited by: spectras only ]

[Winfab]

Sea Esta and Thunderbutt, Any more regulations rumblings talk at LOTO now that a few weeks have past since the 4th of July weekend drowning? We haven't been out for a couple weeks and wondered. Are you on the Niangua? We're at 8.5 MM, by the Twin Islands if you ever frequent that part of the lake.