Community Friendly Boating

We hope that you will join us in promoting community-friendly boating practices to protect the health and enjoyment of Sunset Lake for the entire lake community.

Sunset Lake is very small (151 acres) so using a power boat or PWC (personal water craft) can be a challenge without negatively impacting other lake users, especially when multiple boats/PWCs and other people are out enjoying the lake at the same time. It is important to understand the effect of power boat/PWC wakes on the following:

• Swimmers & non-powered craft: boat/PWC wakes can not only negatively effect the enjoyment for swimmers and small craft but can also be dangerous for them, submerging swimmers or capsizing small paddle craft.
• Lakeshore and property of lakefront residents: Large wakes can damage docks, docked boats/PWCs, shorefront retaining walls, and erode shorefront land not protected by retaining walls. This can all lead to diminished property values.
• The health of Sunset Lake: In addition to eroding shorefront, which negatively affects the health of the lake by washing contaminants into the lake, large wakes or "wash" from power boat motors/PWCs can also uproot beneficial native aquatic plants and stir up sediment and benthic mats from the lake bottom, decreasing the clarity of the lake and increasing the chance of toxic cyanobacteria algae blooms.
• Preservation of Wildlife: The propeller wash from boats/PWCs can disturb fish habitat and large wakes hitting the shore can impact shore land wildlife habitats such as loon nests. While Sunset Lake does not currently have a mating pair of Loons, large wakes may prevent our single resident loon from finding a mate from visiting loons or disturb the loon nest once it does find a mate.

While there has been an increase in the number of wake boats on the lake and technology has allowed these boats to make larger wakes for wakesurfing, it is important to understand that almost ALL boats can make disruptive and damaging wakes as explained in our Anatomy of a Wake blog post. It is not just limited to wake or wave boats that are designed to make larger wakes, so it is up to all of us using power boats/PWCs to be aware of the effect of our wakes.

We also know that some large wakes will reach shore and mother nature can produce large waves, so you can check out our Protecting Your Watercraft from Waves and Wakes blog post for ideas on how to better protect your boat when docked.

We want to make sure that everyone is aware of the current law governing boat/PWC wakes, but we also hope that our community can work together to ensure that everyone can enjoy our precious lake and that we keep the lake healthy and maintain our property values.

The above zone map for Sunset Lake has been developed from current NH law, wake studies, and 2023/2024 legislative discussions. See our Wake Legislation on U.S. Lakes blog post for more details.

Please join us in promoting the following community-friendly boating practices within these zones to protect the health and enjoyment of Sunset Lake for the entire lake community:

• Always follow the boating laws. The 2 primary laws relating to navigation are:
  • 150’ Safe Passage Law: Boats/PWCs should travel at headway speed (slow enough to make almost no wake) within 150' of any other object (shore, docks, rafts, moorings, other boats/PWCs, swimmers, etc.). It is important to note that this law applies to any object anywhere on the lake, not just the shore, which seems a common misconception. See 150' Safe Passage Law below on this page for more details.
  • Sunset Lake Counterclockwise Direction Law: All powered motor boats/PWCs traveling in excess of headway speed must travel counterclockwise around Sunset Lake.
• When “putting around the lake” at headway speed, stay towards the outer perimeter of the lake. This helps to free up the rest of the lake for those traveling above headway speed for pleasure or water sports.
• When anchoring your boat/PWC or rafting with other boats, try to do so in the middle of the green “Wakesports Zone”. This also helps to free up the rest of the lake for pleasure and watersports without interference.
• When performing wake sports such as wakeboarding or wakesurfing, the first preference is to use the green Wakesports Zone which is 500’ from shore and 20’ deep for which, according to studies, best supports lake health. If the green zone is occupied by anchored/rafting boats, try to stick to the yellow Large Wake Zone which is in deeper water and 300’ from shore which gives more room for wakes to dissipate before reaching shore.
• For any boat/PWC travelling at “transition speed” when your boat is making the largest wake (the speed between no wake and the boat planing/leveling out), stay in the yellow Large Wake Zone so your wake dissipates before reaching shore and your motor is not disturbing the lake bottom. See the blog post Anatomy of a Wake about boat speed vs. wake size for more information.

NH Law requires a 150' safe passage distance commonly referred to as the "no wake law" where boats/PWCs should travel at headway speed (slow enough to make almost no wake) within 150' of any other object (shore, docks, rafts, moorings, other boats/PWCs, swimmers, etc.). This video from NH Boater Education gives a good overview of the law. The red line on the map above shows the 150' distance from the shore, docks, rafts, and roped swimming areas on Sunset Lake. Keep in mind, that when making a wake, you must be inside the red area AND you must also maintain at least 150' distance to any other boats/PWCs, paddlers, swimmers, etc. that are within the red area. The best way to judge 150' is to think about 1/2 the length of a football field or roughly the length of 2 water ski ropes.

The official wording of the Safe Passage Law is:

RSA 270-D-VI(a): To provide full visibility and control and to prevent their wake from being thrown into or causing excessive rocking to other boats, barges, water skiers, aquaplanes or other boats, rafts or floats, all vessels shall maintain headway speed when within150 feet from:

   (1) Rafts, floats, swimmers.

   (2) Permitted swimming areas.

   (3) Shore.

   (4) Docks.

   (5) Mooring fields.

   (6) Other vessels.

Headway speed is defined as the slowest speed at which it is still possible to maintain steering or six miles per hour. Boats/PWCs going this speed make a very small wake.

Visit these resources for additional boating information:

• Anatomy of a Wake
• Wake Legislation on U.S. Lakes
• Protecting Your Watercraft from Waves and Wakes
• Sunset Lake Boating Information