no wake zone

Snow Pond / Messalonskee Lake Association
Boating
Laws | Boat Launch | Launching & Hauling Tips

The Snow Pond / Messalonskee Lake Association promotes safe boating recreation on the lake. For periods of high activity in the summer, the Association sponsors a patrol boat with a Harbor Master manned by members of the Oakland Police Department. The purpose of this activity is to promote safety and educate boaters on the boating laws. During the summer of 2005, patrols on the lake provided information packets to many boaters and sited only a very few offenders. The presence of the patrol boat encourages safe operation especially in the narrow North end of the lake where traffic density is high due to the transition from the Oakland Boat Ramp to the south end of the lake.

Many areas of our narrow lake are covered by the HEADWAY SPEED rules of the Maine Boating Laws / Rules. This part of the law states:

No person may operate a watercraft at a speed greater than headway speed while within the water safety zone or within a marina or an approved anchorage in coastal or inland waters except while actively fishing. For the purposes of this section, "headway speed" means the minimum speed necessary to maintain steerage and control of the watercraft while the watercraft is moving.

“Water safety zone" means the area of water within 200 feet of any shoreline, whether the shoreline of the mainland or of an island.

A more complete summary of the Maine State Boating Rules are included in the BOATING RULES page of this website.