Over the July 4th holiday weekend, I went camping with my family on the shores of Lake Tahoe. We looked forward to a weekend in nature together.
After the drive up from San Francisco with a quick stop along the way to charge our car, we arrived, set up our tents, and enjoyed the crisp, fresh air and the gently warming campfire.
Then there was a loud noise. What was that? A second later, I recognized the sound of a deep throated marine engine on an express cruiser roaring just offshore from our campsite.
That night, we fell asleep not to the sound of birds or crickets or the lapping waves of the lake, but in a futile attempt to ignore the boat engine noise that didn’t stop until after 11PM.
The next morning, the engines woke us at 5:45 AM. Ugh, it’s our vacation!
Later that day, we were at a beach and our kids were playing in the water. A trawler was anchored just outside the sectioned off swim area on the beach. My daughter smelled something really bad and looked up to see the exhaust manifolds belching fumes at her and the people swimming and on inflatable rafts.
At night, we again heard the powerboats late into the night.
As boaters ourselves, we don’t fault the boaters, that’s not the point of this blog post.
Instead, we look forward to the day that boaters have the option to go electric and to not create the noise and fumes of a gas or diesel engine that we have grown accustomed to putting up with. We should not have to put up with this! Electric motors will make boating better not just for boaters, but for everyone who lives on or visits a lake.
So, this blog post is about describing the status quo as we know it today and to express our hope that in as few years as possible, most boats on Lake Tahoe and other lakes across the US will be electric. There is no need for lakes to be loud. There is no need to yell over the engine to someone seven feet away from you on a boat and there is no need for a family who is camping to hear the sounds of boat engines and not the sounds of nature.
As we celebrate our nation’s independence, I am grateful to my ancestors who fought in the American Revolution. I honor them and the great democracy established by our US Constitution. I also look forward to a better America in which our cars, trucks and boats do not pollute our air and waters and we do not have to put up with the noise of boats or cars. We at Green Yachts want a better future for all of our children and we are trying to do our small part by giving American boaters the opportunity go electric on the water.
Leave Comment