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A year after a woman was seriously injured by a propeller during a large Lake Norman boating event, an attempt to put on a smaller but similar “Lake Bash” Saturday did not materialize, authorities said Sunday.
Organizers planned to tie together fewer than 10 boats – a process known as rafting – on Saturday. But after authorities learned of the event and said they would step up patrols on the lake, the gathering fizzled, said CMPD Officer Doug Lambert.
“Once his neighbors started complaining, I guess he just decided not to have it,” Lambert said, referring to Ronnie Stevens, one of the organizers.
Stevens and other organizers could not be reached Sunday.
Rafting fewer than 10 boats is legal, said Lake Norman Marine Commissioner Chairman Ron Shoultz, but he said he notified the lake enforcement units in two departments to be on the lookout for larger numbers of rafted boats, which must have commission approval.
Lake Bash attendees have said they believe the longstanding tradition is clean, honest fun on the lake that got a bad name because of a serious accident. In past years, attendees have obtained the required permits from the commission and partied with little ill effect.
But other lake users – particularly homeowners – have objected to the hundreds of boats tied together, complaining about drunk partygoers, booming music and people urinating off the back of boats or on private property.
Lambert, who’s a part of the marine unit, said Sunday that the numbers have grown steadily since the 1990s. “It was getting completely out of hand,” he said, although he added that the event attracted few large-scale incidents.
Organizers hoped to keep the plans for this weekend’s event secret, but word leaked last week, when a neighbor contacted Shoultz, who notified law enforcement authorities.
Last year, a woman was severely injured by the propeller of a boat driven by an inexperienced boater. The woman’s arm and breasts were amputated, according to a lawsuit she filed.
