More elk lake accidents

Check out this link to a letter to the editor in today's Victoria Times-Colonist.
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/todays-paper/More+action+needed+Lake+conflicts/4152057/story.html

These rower caused incidents/accidents at Elk Lake are commonplace. The incident noted in the letter
happened January 07. Another incident on November 27, 2010, had an angler rescue a rower from the
water after he collided with one of the large Transport Canada buoys in the lake. If you know of anyone
involved in an incident on Elk Lake please have them file a report with Saanich Police and Transport
Canada. Conditions/restrictions on rowing to alleviate these accidents will not happen unless we all
document the information and file reports.
 
They are a very daft group and have been almost hit many times with the telling me to watch where i'm going doing 1 mph in my float tube. Imagine driving a power boat backwards with no spotter seems crazy right? But these guys do it all day long. I guess i would think different if I had on head to toe spandex too.
 
I hear ya on this one SS...........
 
I have nearly been hit in my tube multiple times - thankfully no accidents yet..... I wear a whistle on my fishing vest just for those occasions.
I think a simple rearview mirror would help the situation, and the extra weight on their training boats might help them be faster in races. But I think they would fight that, because they are better than the lowly fishermen, and think they were there first....
 
I don't wear a whistle, I take a big bejesus air horn. It works well. The thing that scares me are some of the very near misses I've witnessed when there are open water swimmers in the water practicing for iron men competitions. Plunk a swimmer in the head with a skull and its all over.
Why don't the coaching boats ever tell the rowers when they are getting close to a fisherman???? They just seem to sit on their hands and act mute?
 
I take a big bejesus air horn.
I am going to grab me one
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..... and wait till they are really close...... And help them out of the water after they leap off their boat.
Never really had a prob with the ones with the coaches following.... just the random rowers with the 'pods on...Have come real close multiple times
 
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take a painball gun....holmes*

We were talking about getting one of them for the 10yr old..... not sure I would shoot it at random ppl
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Good to see your still alive holmes*
 
Nice Holmes shooting kids with a paint ball gun.. Real role model you are !!

Hey now....... I wanna shoot my 10 yr old with a paintball gun..... don't misplace the credit....

The ones on Elk are mostly teenagers....Big difference.... They deserve it
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In case you didn't notice... tongue is in cheek
 
No problem Homes man the rowing is a little touchy with me. I am a big supporter of it on Elk Lake. Everybody just needs to get along on that lake, but easier said than done.
 
...I still think the air horn is a great idea...
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If I see one at ramming speed I let out a cough with fair notice.
 
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The rowiing club has been working extremley hard to exclude every other activity other then rowing on the lake. How about the new buoys that sprouted up like mushrooms last summer? Seems a letter from Transport Canada confirmed they are not supposed to be there. The rowing club of a few hundred gets damn hear half the lake. That in my mind is a lot like 88/12 ...

How many fishermen in pontoons have ran into rowers?

Considering the potential danger a boat has hitting somone in a float tube with thier head just a foot above the water, I think that's near a life and death situation.

A rower doing 15 miles an hour backwards poses a real danger. I want to call Boris Glazar of Transport Canada, and tell him I want to turn the helm of my boat around and face backwards so I can make sure my motor trim is perfect at all times while I cruise, and see if he will approve me for that!
 
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Rowing Canada is a big part of wanting to take over the lake. Not the Vic city rowing club. Mine you they go along with it. This has been an on going problem.. You are right there should be no accidents or close calls its not acceptable. When my daughter rowed there, is didn't go out there with the mind set to ram a fisherman. Just remember there are 2 sides to a story. The way things are going, the water skiers will probably be the big loser, with a Hp restriction. Also it is getting close to the London Olympics and Elk Lake is a national training centre, so bring your air horns..
 
I was in my 10' RED fg boat /elec moter flyfishing Elk Lake(Indy 500) aptly nammed bc of the hyway traffic ,out of the corner of my eye spotted an 8 /pers scull speeding towards me I let out a yell but they seemed not to hear i tried to change course but with 2 rods out & an elec. moter it was fruitless. Just as they were about to ram us we let out a yell suprised them as they tried to avoid us flying by the side of the boat with inches to spare still not aware one of the girls graises my head with her raised oar! The worst thing is they didn't bother to stop!
 
I've been almost hit a few times over many years. Had a fish tangled around one of their oars one time, landed teh fish too, but that's another story.

A buddy of mine is an olympic rower, we've had many debates about this. The conclusion is there is certainly enough room for everyone there, fishermen and rowers alike, there just needs to be some rules as to where they row so they're predicatable. They aren't predictable, sometimes down the middle of the lake, sometimes around the edge, sometimes willy nilly all over the place, you just never know. And when the teams are being coached with a coach boat present, the coaches often let them get too close to the fishermen. Why not steer them clear of us? Sheesh. It seems pretty simple to me.

It's frustrating. It seems like I'm always in their way no matter where I fish.

I was there one day years ago and an elderly couple rowed up in their 12 foot tinner at Brookleigh road launch. A big assed dent in the side of their boat and the lady was really shaken up. They had been hit by a team of eights going full bore and then got yelled at. Nice!!
 
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you should see these tards in burrard inlet.... came out from the log boom (rocky point launch) no way i could even see them over the booms,as i was slowing for 5kt rule, pull up to the dock and got yelped at by a rower. i laughed and replyed "wow you gotta lotta draft for an ocean going vessel!" i dont think he even knew what i meant... and no pfd's on? do they wair pfd's on the lake?
 
My Big problem was years ago I used to fish in the back bay of Beaver right in front of the playground very small area right? Every day in my float tube the eight mans would come ripping down there with thereover horsed "safety boat throwing up a huge wake and had on one occasion a oar go over my head and i was told to watch where I was going and too go f$%k my self. the safety boat said it is a rowers lake and there are special rules for them including using larger horse motors that rated and no pdf. Elk is a big lake but they do not need to come in that little back bay with an eight man. they would stop there and discuss rowing right in my path. These were not the teens but 20-30 year old males with a mouth too boot. After he told me to F off I paddled to the beach and drove to there facility, the coward was long gone. Maybe there was a sale at LuLu or something. A small group of them ruins it for all of them. They do not own the lake nor do they stick to the rules. I have gone out of my way to make my point every chance i can get now. They tryed to stop me getting back to the launch one day in my tinny so I pointed it right down the lane between the races a aimed for home. I dont need someone telling me what to do on my day off on a lake while fishing leagally with my kids. Because of that lake i dont float tube any more, to dangerous. Masive lake just needs better rules for all.
 
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