Boat-Launch Beefs No Laughing Matter

On warm summer evenings in Coeur d’Alene, locals enjoy hanging out at the Third Street docks, watching tired, crabby - and often drunk - boaters land their vessels.

The peanut gallery waits for the fun to begin when a novice stalls the orderly exodus by jackknifing his trailer. Or when a drunk drops his keys into the water. Or when a boater cuts in line. Delays trigger fights. Hot words fill the air. Horns honk. An occasional fist flies.

In our growing area, crowded waters, docks and beaches have become the norm. So has a parking lot version of road rage. At popular launches, such as the Third Street dock, Long Lake and Hayden Lake’s Honeysuckle Beach, testy boaters increasingly are putting others at risk. And that’s no laughing matter. Boaters who eschew care, patience and common sense invite a gamut of misfortunes, from fender benders to tragedies.

The situation is so bad at Honeysuckle Beach that bicyclist Wendy Werner keeps her helmet strapped tight until she reaches the beach. The twentysomething from Hayden Lake said she’s been clipped in the parking lot by reckless boaters “a bunch of times.” She and other North Idahoans say out-of-state boaters, particularly those from Spokane County, are so anxious to get on the lake that the drive wildly through Honeysuckle’s cramped parking area.

It’s easy, of course, to point the finger at the other guy, especially when he or she is from out of town. But it doesn’t solve the problem. Courtesy does. Boaters can avoid fights by navigating crowded lots carefully. By arriving before the crowds do. By waiting their turn to launch and land their boat. By parking in appropriate spots. By reporting scofflaws. For their part, local police should check launch areas regularly and enforce the rules.

Meanwhile, cities and counties should expand parking, docks and swim areas for their taxpayers - and visitors. Visitors who jam the beautiful lakes, rivers and beaches may annoy the locals. But they also spend money for meals, hotel rooms and souvenirs. That provides jobs. With the region’s resource industries in decline, it’s essential to support tourism.

That doesn’t mean the locals at Third Street should give up their hobby. A boater who loses his pickup and trailer in the water because he forgot to set his emergency brake is worth the wait.