According to the Lake George Park Commission’s Director of Law Enforcement, Lt. Joe Johns, the growing number of kayaks paddling too near the sternwheeler Minne-Ha-Ha last summer forced him to divert patrol boats to an unscheduled detail: escorting the tour boat to its pier.
“We need two captains aboard, one to steer the boat to minimize the danger to the paddlers, another to wave the paddlers out of danger’s way,” Lake George Steamboat Company owner Patricia Dow has said.
“It is a big safety issue,” confirmed Lt. Johns. “We were concerned we could have a fatality.”
The Marine Patrol’s escort “was wonderful because, for once, the captains didn’t have to worry about the swarm of paddlers that come up and surround them,” said Dow.
Johns said by the end of the summer season, the conflict had escalated; the Marine Patrol was providing as many as six escorts a day.
Kayaks and Paddleboards: An Unregulated Activity
According to most observers, the source of the conflict between the small craft and big boats, in all likelihood, lies in the number of Lake George Village resorts that offer their guests kayaks, paddle boards, water toys and other non-motorized craft as amenities, much like cable tv and wi-fi.
The largest concentration of small craft in Lake George Village is to be found among the resorts that line the shore between English Brook and Pine Point.
Johns estimates that at least 130 kayaks and paddleboards are available in Lake George Village for the use of resort guests.
Unlike power boats, which, as of 2025, will require a boating safety certificate to operate, regardless of one’s age, paddlers are not required to pass a New York State boating safety course nor, for that matter, to receive any instruction whatsoever, no matter how casual or informal.
And unlike marinas, resorts are beyond the oversight by the Lake George Park Commission.
Unless a non-motorized watercraft is rented from a marina, its use “is an unregulated activity,” said Dave Wick, the Park Commission’s executive director. “We have no easy way to get a handle on the activity.”
“These paddlers are more or less being told by the resorts, ‘go play in the lake.’ But they’re ignorant of our navigation rules,” said Patricia Dow. “They will cross the bow of the Minne, which is like walking in front of a train, putting themselves and everyone else in danger. That’s an accident waiting to happen. And I don’t think that’s what Lake George really wants.”
New Laws Needed?
The proliferation of small, muscle-powered craft in Lake George Village has disturbed residents and business owners for the past several years.
In 2019, for example, residents of a development bordering the Village complained to the Lake George Park Commission of kayakers and paddlers trespassing upon their beach and lawns.
“On an average weekday, 10 to 15 boats, kayaks and paddle boards drop anchor or float in the shallow waters one hundred feet from our shore, in direct violation of Park Commission regulations that water craft stay at least 200 feet from shore,” said Kitty Rooney.
Kate Breslin said the boaters not only moor too close to shore, “they come ashore with their dogs and use our property as their bathroom.”
Breslin said her family called the resorts that rent kayaks and paddleboards to ask that they educate their guests about Lake George Park regulations and to remind them that unless marked otherwise, property is private and should be respected.
That same summer, Lake George Park Commission staff visited the resorts to encourage them to heighten the visibility of their vessels with stern pennants and blazed paddles, the better to protect their guests from collisions with other boats.
According to Lake George Village officials, boat traffic, non-motorized boat traffic included, intensified during COVID.
“We even considered capping the number of kayaks available for rent from liveries,” said Mayor Ray Perry.
Social media has exacerbated the conflict between tour boats and kayaks, said Patricia Dow.
“The daughter of one of our captains told us that a challenge was issued on TikTok to kayakers and other paddlers to go out and touch the Minne as she passed by,” said Dow.
This past summer, Park Commission officials revisited the resorts and alerted the mangers to the dangers of allowing inexperienced paddlers to use watercraft unsupervised.
But some Lake George Village officials and business owners believe stricter measures may be required, such as adopting a law prohibiting kayakers from straying too far from shore.
2025 Water-Based Recreation Study Will Look at Conflicts
According to Patricia Dow, revising Lake George Village’s 2006 law that prohibited the operation of wave runners or PWCs within its waters, which the Board of Trustees is also considering, would only add to the current congestion and conflict.
“All the motels would want to offer wave runners. And the operators are unlikely to obey the 5 mph speed limit. The boat renters don’t,” Dow told the Trustees at their October 21 meeting. “This would open the waters off Lake George Village to another unregulated situation.”
According to Mayor Perry, the Board and Lake George Park Commission staff have had informal conversations about the possibility of allowing the operators of wave runners to drive back and forth to the main lake without being ticketed as long as they obey the 5 mph speed limit.
“I will talk to the Park Commission and the Village attorney about loosening the PWC prohibition, but for now, we will table it. There is no rush,” said Perry.
According to Dave Wick, Lake George Village’s conflict zone is almost certain to be a topic of the Park Commission’s 2025 Water-based Recreation Study, which will supplant those completed in 2005 and 2015.
Tragedy Averted by Marine Patrol Officer’s Actions
An incident that took place on August 10 is among those cited by people who say resorts are not exercising enough supervision over guests using canoes, kayaks, paddle boards and water toys.
On that day, a Lake George Park Commission Marine Patrol near Diamond Point observed boaters in two kayaks and a canoe “experiencing difficulty.”
According to the incident report filed by the Marine Patrol, “One kayak had overturned and the other kayak had taken on water. Two persons were in the water, including a mother clinging to a PFD. The mother frantically yelled, ‘Save my son!” – a three-year-old child who was in a kayak that was taking on water.”
The Marine Patrol boat pulled alongside the kayak and the officer lifted the child into the patrol boat. As he did, he noticed that the three-year-old’s PFD was loose.
“If he had gone into the water, the PDF probably would have come off,” the officer stated.
The incident report continues, “Next, the patrol boat pulled alongside the mother and brought her into the vessel. The brother who was in the water was trying to get into the canoe with three people aboard.”
The officer, fearing that the canoe would capsize if the individual continued to attempt to climb aboard, told him to wait in the water until he, too, could be rescued.
The mother of the three-year-old boy told the Marine Patrol Officer, “You are my savior.”
“If those in the group had not been wearing PFDs, there would have been a tragedy,” the report stated. The group was escorted back to their motel, which is located in Diamond Point.
