Water-skiers claim Loch Lomond speed limit will kill sport

Published on Wednesday 21 September 2005 02:02

PROPOSALS to impose a 7mph speed limit over much of Loch Lomond would sound the death-knell for competitive water-skiing north of the Border, according to Scottish members of the British team.

Sam Haslam and Emma Mitchell, who have won at international events, together with the head of the body governing water-skiing in Scotland, have attacked proposals to extend the speed limit area.

They claim it will prevent new talent emerging in the sport and fear that it is only a stepping stone towards an outright 7mph speed restriction across the whole of the loch.

The Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority (NPA) unveiled plans to extend the slow limit across the central area of the loch in June and is in a consultation process, which concludes on 28 October. Responses will then be considered by the NPA and a decision is expected by the end of this year. If it elects to go ahead with the restriction, it will be introduced in April next year.

A 7mph speed limit exists only within 150m of the shoreline of the loch and its islands to ensure safe passage of vessels when leaving moorings.

In responses to the initial public consultation question on imposing additional speed zoning, 54 per cent of respondents said it was not needed or the current area covered was fine as it is. Only 12 per cent said it was necessary.

Haslam, 19, who won the junior European jump champion in 2003, came fifth in the under-21 European jump championships last year and fifth overall in the world championships this year, said: "We are already a minority sport and the imposition of this speed limit will be a very big problem as it will impact on a lot of recreational water-skiers in Scotland.

"I began skiing on the loch when I was just eight and it was a crucial period of my involvement with the sport, nurturing my enthusiasm through the local water-ski club.

"I spent years training with the Loch Lomond Water Ski Club, if this goes forward it will be the nail in the coffin for water-skiing and nurturing young talent in the sport."

Although the restriction is proposed only for approximately a third of the loch in the central island area, it is here that conditions are ideally suited to water-skiing. The seven larger central islands serve as a windbreak and on their lee side the water is often much calmer and flatter than more southerly or northerly areas, which can be choppy, unstable and dangerous, skiers claim.