Boating Safety Consultations

A speed restriction was established in 2002 (VORR, Part 3, #241) from Paugan Dam to Rapides-Farmer Dam: 10 km/h within 30 m of shore and 55 km/h beyond 30 m.

History: high speed motor boats have been recognized as a problem on the narrow river since shortly after the logs stopped running. Friends of the Gatineau was founded in 1991 and immediately started a many-year effort advocating for speed limits. Finally, in 2000, Chelsea and Cantley jointly petitioned the Québec government, leading to the current speed limits being established for the 2002 season. Friends of the Gatineau River pressed for a much lower speed limit but was unsuccessful in the face of opposition from local boaters.

Criminal Code Offences

• It is a criminal offence (Section 249 1b) to operate any type of pleasure craft in a fashion that is dangerous to the public. Thus, it is illegal if an operator operates dangerously close to other vessels, or operates at dangerously high speeds, or disturbs swimmers with the vessel’s wake, or fails to slow the vessel when visibility is reduced.
• It is a criminal offence to consume drugs or alcohol while operating any type of vessel (Section 253 a), or to operate a vessel while in any way impaired by drugs or alcohol (Section 253 b).

Other regulations require pleasure craft operators to: 

• Stay well clear of swimmers, paddle craft, wildlife, and waterfront properties
• Adjust speed to reduce noise whenever possible so as not to be an irritant to other users or to waterfront residents.
• Adjust speed so that your wash and wake will not disturb others, erode shorelines, disturb wildlife, or damage property.
• Follow the Collision Regulations requirements regarding maintaining a safe speed depending on visibility and water conditions.
• Know and comply with all boating restrictions (engine power limits, speed limits, etc.) in effect where you are operating.
• Use courtesy and common sense so as not to create a hazard, a threat, a stress, or an irritant to others or to the environment.

Source: Pleasure Craft Operators Card Study Guide

VORR enables seven restrictions (VORR, Appendix 4):

1. All vessels prohibited
2. No power-driven vessels (includes electrical propulsion)
3. No power driven vessels (electrical propulsion allowed)
4. Engine power limit
5. Speed restriction
6. No power driven vessels towing a person (skis, wakeboard, etc.)
7. Permit is required to hold a sporting or recreational event

Additionally, these restrictions can:

• Apply at all times
• Apply to certain times of the day, week, month or year
• Target a particular type of craft

 

Research shows that most boats are in “displacement mode” below 10 km/h, where the boat is level in the water, creating wake waves that are no more damaging than naturally-occurring wind waves. Speeding up, even to just 15 km/h, most boats enter “transition (or plowing) mode,” creating the largest, most damaging wakes. For some boats, a further speed increase allows the hull to enter “planing mode”, where the boat levels, less hull area contacts the water, and the wake produced is less damaging than the transition mode, but still significantly more damaging than displacement mode.

That’s why 10 km/h (or the slightly lower limits of 5 mph or 5 knots in other countries) is the universal standard, except in very narrow channels where 5 km/h is sometimes used. In Quebec alone, over 60 water bodies have a speed limit of 10 km/h extending 100 m or more from shore.

Research shows that boats within 150 m of the shoreline can produce waves large enough to result in significant shoreline erosion, and this guidance from the U.S Coast Guard also recommends slowing down to minimize wake within 150 m of a small boat or the shoreline.

That’s why over 60 water bodies in Quebec have 10 km/h speed limits extending from 100 m or more from shore.

VORR Schedule 6 lists all the water bodies in Canada that have been granted speed restrictions.

59 small Quebec lakes have limits of 10 km/h that extend 100 m or greater from shore. In most cases, the limits were sought because of dense recreational usage. Some limits extend up to 200 m from shore. The breakdown:

• 16 lakes have a 10 km/h limit for the entire lake
• 37 lakes have a 10 km/h limit within 100 m of shore
• 6 lakes have a 10 km/h limit extending greater than 100 m from shore, including: Lac Maskinongé at 150 m, Bassin de Chambly at 125 m, Lac Aylmer at 200 m,  Lac Nairne at 200 m, Lac Brome at 150 m

13 narrow rivers (typically 25-60 m wide) have 5 km/h speed limits.

Dense recreational shorelines on some large rivers have 10 km/h limits extending 300-600 m from shore, including: Des Deux Montagnes, 10 km/h within 600 m of the shore of the waterfront village of Saint-Placide; St. Lawrence River near the entrance to the Lachine canal: 10 km/h within 300 m of shore.

No other river in Quebec has the Gatineau’s combination of: narrow width, calm waters, extent of waterfront residential development, and intensive use for swimming, paddling, floating, and dinghy sailing. The physical and usage characteristics of the Gatineau are closer to those found on the many small lakes listed above.

 

VORR regulations (section 16) prescribe who can enforce the restrictions. In the case of the Gatineau River, two main options for enforcement exist:

1. The local police force (MRC Police or Sûreté du Québec)
2. Specially-designated parties, as has been implemented in 24 places in Quebec, mostly in the Eastern Townships. The MRC must apply to Transport Canada for this designation.

 

Speed ranges required by towing activity (reference):

• Children water skiing: 21-26 km/h
• Tubing 13-40 km/h
• Adult Trick Skiing 18-34 km/h
• Adult Slalom Skiing 30-55 km/h
• Adult Kneeboarding 26-31 km/h
• Wakeboarding 26-30 km/h