Reflections on the Summer of 2024
Patrolling the Pond. September 2, 2024
By Mike Miller, Member, Board of Directors Lake Lotawana Association, Sergeant at Arms
It’s late Sunday night, Labor Day Weekend. Where did summer go? I imagine stepping out onto the deck in the morning and being nudged in the face by the faint scent of charred hardwood leftover from the campfire down the cove last night. It’s a reminder of things to come; Cool mornings, shorter days, mist on the still water, and one of my favorite months on the water: September. The busy weekends of summer turn into lazy, long-shadowed snapshots of the days of fall. We’re at the kickoff of the transition from season to season. Baseball is ending its final month of the 162-game regular season that is baseball, and the Chiefs are just about ready to play their season opener. Hopefully we’ll see some October baseball this year. The memories of another summer are etched in my mind. They are new and fresh to add to those from years past. Time moves forward.
I doubt the first thing most of you will do after Labor Day is log into the lakelotawana.net website to do some leisurely reading of the Lake Lotawana Rules and Regulations! Probably not your “go to” reading material for fall. That said, the end of summer, or really the end of anything, brings an opportunity reflect and learn from our experiences. Every year I learn something about the lake. This year I probably learned more than any other year just by writing this column. The best way to learn something is to teach it. And while this may not exactly fit the bill of teaching, it does necessitate a careful review of the Rules and Regulations to make sure I get it right so you can get it right too. So far, I have had only one small correction. Pretty amazing for someone who’s attention to detail is far short of where I would like it to be and is exactly where I need it to be most of the time. Here is what I learned this year:
- It takes an incredible effort by a large group of mostly volunteers to make it all work here. Yes, our staff is excellent too. I appreciate how they are always friendly and helpful. But the amount of volunteer effort it takes to run this operation is amazing. Thank you to everyone that makes Lake Lotawana work! And thanks to the Staff that does their BEST every day to make our community the best.
- Baader-Meinhof phenomenon is real. Think of when you buy a car or are looking at say, a green Volvo. All of the sudden you start seeing that car or the green Volvo everywhere. As I learned more about the rules and regulations I started seeing more rules violations! The most common thing I observed this summer was PWC riders getting way to close to slower watercraft (including mine). (See Section N, 3b, page 20), Lake Lotawana HOA Rules and Regulations, 3 points).
- There are a lot of helpful and neighborly people on the water. Yes, I know most of you know this and it’s one of the reasons you love the Lake. This year I saw a lot of people helping others out of sticky situations (out of gas, drifting, etc.). I saw someone yesterday towing a pontoon that had stalled away from a seawall on the main channel. That is what community is all about. The Water Patrol can’t be everywhere all the time. Some of the best examples of this have been shared in this publication. We can all learn from those examples.
- There are so many great stories about the Lake floating around out there. I loved reading Mary Voitenko’s story in honor of Don Thomson in the last Lake Lotawana News. Thank you Mary for sharing those memories of a local hero. What a wonderful tribute to Don and great way to document the people and history that are Lake Lotawana. I know there are more stories out there like this and there are new stories made each summer. Some of you may have copies of, “Lake Lotawana, The Promised Land,” by Francis Genevieve Stalling (1986). They are currently out of print. I am looking into seeing how we can get it back into print. Stay tuned!
A final reflection on the summer of 2024. Thanks to the new water patrol for keeping things safe this summer. There is always room to improve and I know that is one of Jack’s goals. Also, the best water safety is when everyone knows and understands the rules. Everyone plays a role in a safe lake experience.
Rules Reminder. Fall brings repairs to docks, seawalls, and other work on the Parkway. I recommend reviewing SECTION IV of the Rules and Regulations before starting any work. Most work on the Parkway requires a Permit. I also recommend a call to the office before you start any work to see what permits you need to have in place. Better to check first than have worked stopped or corrected.
I hope you all had an enjoyable and memorable summer with your friends and families. Fall brings even more time to create memories on the Lake. A new tradition to add this year might be LotaSmoke coming in October (11-13)! I’m looking forward to it!
Until next time…
See you on the Pond!
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for interesting topics, send an Email to me at [email protected]. You can see and download a copy of the Rules and Regulations at https://lakelotawana.net/rules-and-regulations/
This Week’s Safer Seven Rules Quiz:
Answer the following questions as TRUE or FALSE. The answers are below. See how much you know!
- The maximum speed limit for any watercraft on Lake Lotawana is 40mph. True or False?
- The speed limit on the lake after sunset is 10mph or less with minimal wake. True or False?
- Slow, No-Wake speed is defined as the slowest speed at which a Watercraft will move through the water, while being able to maintain course and create minimal wake. True or False?
- Plowing, Three-People on a Tube, and going the wrong direction were the most common violations on the water according to Jack Jobe, Lake Lotawana Water Safety Patrol. True or False?
- You take your kids tubing after dinner on September 21st. You can tow them until 30 minutes after sunset. True or False?
- Your grandson is 12-years old, and you’ve taught him how to drive a boat. You told him for his birthday he can take your fishing boat, a 14 ft Tracker with a 50-horsepower engine. He says he can’t drive the boat alone because it is too big. You think he is just a little scared. Has he read the rules correctly? True or False?
- Your 15-years old teen is taking drivers education. She is begging to take your Wave runner for a ride around the lake. With courage, you lean into the rulebook and let her know that she is too young to drive the wave runner. Those are the rules. True or False?
Answers
- (Section K, Part 2, p.16 Lake Lotawana Rules and Regulations) Maximum speed limit on the main body of the Lake, between the hours of one-half hour after sunset to sunrise, is 10mph or less.
- You can tow skiers and tubers until 30 minutes after sunset from May 15 until September 15th. BTW no towing BEFORE sunrise anytime. Before or after those dates towing ENDS at sunset (6 pts.) (Section N, Part 3a., p. 20).
- (See Section E, Part 2a for age limits on horsepower.) He will be 13 and can only drive up to a 20HP motor.
- (See Section M, Part 1c, p.18). No person under the age of 16 is allowed to operate a PWC on the Lake.