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"Passing to Leeward"

The thoughts of Rob McDowell

y travels along the west shore of Lake Champlain in the guise of Harborwatch cub reporter and ad geek have been interesting and entertaining. So far I’ve bounced from Rouses Point to Port Henry, and west to Clayburg, talking with marina operators, restaurant owners, divers, boat dealers, bait and tackle vendors, sailmakers, and even a pirate. I plan to venture north up the Richelieu river and south to Whitehall, uniting all who use the west shore of Lake Champlain. Unity and use are unavoidably the central themes I’ve observed. Nobody can be involved with the lake in isolation, we all have to coexist, even those who wish all the marinas and boats would disappear, so they could gaze out their picture windows upon an exclusive and pristine view. Fantasy is pleasant, but useless as an effective dialog with folks that have a different take on things. Most people have to access the lake from the few points of public access or through a marina. Once afloat the fishermen have to put up with the sailboats that seem to believe that right of way is evidence of god given superiority, the paddlers bounce about in everybody’s wake, and the jet skiers feel almost universal scorn. The truce between the Canadien boaters, the locals, and the downstate vacationers often seems uneasy, and tempers erupt every Saturday evening at the boat launch. The environmentalists purse their lips and deplore, the chamber of commerce types dream of theme parks and fiscal sugar plums, Billy Bob wants more bass, and can’t we just do something about the lake level and the awful weather?

Guess what? You’re all right! There are too many boats, people, lakefront homes, too much dirty water, not enough fish, the jet skis and cigarette boats are too loud, marinas are too expensive, the runoff from the farms is polluting the lake, the sailors do have an attitude, and we’re all sick of just hearing French on the VHF. If you can’t stand it, do the rest of us that can a favor, go somewhere else. One of the things that has always attracted me to the water is the relative freedom and tolerance versus the shore. A twelve foot outboard excites the soul as does a forty foot sailboat, a sixteen foot canoe, and maybe even the throb of sixteen cylinders, thirty two valves and sixty gallons an hour. We all come to the lake with our dreams and illusions, spend some time, money, get sunburned, feel the motion of the waves, the weight of the wind, and go home slightly changed. It’s that bit of change we’re all after, the precise method is only a diversion. There is no true method to enjoy the lake, only what works for us at the moment. So, I say to the people that want to control and broker everyone else’s access and experience on the lake, “Let go of it, just learn to live and enjoy the lake with the rest of us.”

We all have a mutual responsibility to the lake as well as each other. Access and use create environmental pressure. This is an unfortunate fact of man and the earth. If you really are concerned about the lake’s environmental health the best thing you can do as an individual is to stay away. Certainly do not buy lakefront property, tear up the trees and meadows, build a house, and then tell the rest of us to stay away. If we are going to use the lake and it’s watershed, we need to do it as gently as possible, leaving only a wake, and taking only that bit of change. Lake Champlain is its own world in many ways, and we all play our part, adding to the color and diversity of it. So get out, have a good time, keep it clean, and pass to leeward.

photo by Matt Siber