Speeding boats irk residents as wakes damage shoreline
‘It’s like the Queensway out there some days,’ says novice kayaker
In Ottawa’s early days, rivers were the region’s highways. Now, stretches of the once-peaceful Rideau River are superhighways for fast and powerful watercraft, damaging the shoreline and irking waterfront residents.
And two floods caused by heavy rainfall in the past month have made shore conditions worse in narrow stretches of the river.
“It’s like the perfect storm,” says Nancy McEachern, who lives on Aston Road between Manotick and Kars, where the river narrows to about 80 metres wide. In a waterway that tight, boat wakes can create the same effect as a bunch of kids sloshing around in a bathtub.
“Erosion is so bad that I’ve lost a foot or two of shoreline,” says McEachern.
On weekends there are often two or three boats travelling in each direction and speeding up as they jockey to pass each other, says Peter Allen, who also lives on the river. Boat traffic includes massive cabin cruisers, powerboats towing water-skiers and tubes, wakeboard boats and cigarette boats, the highpowered craft used in offshore racing. Buzzing around, between the larger craft, are personal watercraft.
All this fast traffic causes an interplay of wakes. “Waves create harmonic like any other frequencies. It compounds the effects. The damage goes exponential,” says Allen, who points out that the river is an UNESCO world heritage site, but boat traffic creating wakes makes it hard for those who want to see the river by canoe or kayak.
“We have a canoe, but we don’t dare use it unless it’s early in the morning,” says his wife, Gail.
“It’s like the Queensway out there some days,” says Mary Hill, who just took up kayaking, but avoids weekends and other primetimes on the water.
“This year has been a cocktail for disaster,” admits Const. Ralph Millaire of the Ottawa police marine unit, who says his office has been inundated with complaints about speeding boaters and wakes. Under the 2001 Canada Shipping Act, boaters are responsible for their own wakes.
One of Ottawa’s five police boats is designated to patrol the Rideau River. Due to the flooding, some no-wake zone markers are missing or have been damaged.
The speed limit is 10 km an hour in the no-wake zones. But where the river is more than 100 metres across, there are no speed limits, Millaire says.
He urges residents to be patient. Police have been touring the Rideau River with staff from Parks Canada to assess the damage and signs will be repaired or replaced soon, he says.
This won’t help Allen and his neighbours, who are not in a nowake zone. They would like the zone to be extended to cover their stretch of river — or improved awareness of boating etiquette. Some residents have resorted to standing on their docks and waving their arms to slow down boaters. The Allens have used an air horn. Some slow down, but others just give them the finger, says Gail.
But no-wake zones don’t necessarily slow down boaters, says Dan Dunbar, owner of Kelly’s Landing, a waterfront restaurant near Manotick. “I’m situated in a no-wake zone. But 90 per cent of boaters don’t know it or ignore it.”
Parks Canada has recently increased communications to boaters about speed and wakes via social media and information bulletins, says spokeswoman Valerie de Winter. Lock staff have also been relaying these messages to boaters as they travel through the system.
Shoreline damage can occur when the system is at normal navigation levels, despite protective measures property owners have put in place. When the water is high, shoreline not typically exposed to water — let alone boats’ wakes — can be eroded easily. This is what has happened over the last few weeks, says Patrick Larson, a spokesman for the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority.
There’s little the conservation authority can do about getting boaters to slow down, he says.
“The conservation authority has done as much as it can, which is to post signs at our boat launches on the river urging boaters to travel on the water at lower speeds and to watch their wake. We do not have the personnel or mandate to deal with boaters’ behaviour on the water.”