Kelowna

They are loud, fast and unnecessary.

That’s the opinion of a group of residents living along Kelowna’s lakeshore in regards to so-called cigarette boats --- speed boats with their exhaust systems moved to the outside in order to increase the speed of the boat. It also substantially increases the noise of the boat and many residents have had enough.

An online petition has been launched to gather signatures to submit to various levels of government in the hopes of increasing restrictions on the noisy boats.

Phil Thomas (his real name is not being used for safety reasons) says the petition went online last Friday evening and has collected more than 700 signatures in under a week. “Some of the very large boats are so bad if you are sitting on your balcony or patio and they go by on the other side of the lake, you’ll have to stop your conversation because you can’t hear. It’s that loud,” says Thomas.

He says the boats run up and down the lake at all hours of the night and can be heard as far away as the Landmark building.

“It’s an issue for a huge number of people. The website basically says we are asking the fine be drastically increased and at a second offence, the boat be impounded and not allowed back in the water until the exhaust is permanently fixed.”

Thomas says putting the exhaust on the outside of the boat doesn’t make much a difference in terms of speed.

“As I understand it, it only adds about a 5% increase, so if people weren’t allowed to do it, it isn’t going to have any appreciable effect on the enjoyment of the boat.”

He says some boaters have been ticketed, but it doesn’t act as a deterrent.

“The fine is just $115. A lot of those boats spend that much on gas in an hour so it’s not a significant fine as far they are concerned. The RCMP do their best, but they don’t have the resources to enforce properly.”

Thomas says they are hoping to take the petition to the September meeting of Union of British Columbia Municipalities.

Link: Petition website Link: Discuss this topic in our discussion forums.