By Mary Fairchild
West Okoboji Lake is located to the south and west of the City of Okoboji and northwest of the City of Arnolds Park in northwest Iowa. Last week I was able to paddle some of my favorite areas of the lake where we frequently vacation with my husband's family.
Vacation Okoboji Magazine 2011 claims that Arnold's Park's wooden coaster, located near Pillsbury Point State Park, is in its element today (pictured). Owner Wesley Arnold's granddaughter, Caroline Anderson Moyer, who lives in St. Charles, Illinois, just visited last year. She was never allowed to ride the roller coaster because her parents thought it was too dangerous--at that time, kids would try to stand on the seats during parts of the ride...
I rode the roller coaster for my first time in the summer of '83 when I was kidnapped from my wedding reception by the groomsmen and put on it in my wedding dress... I'm not kidding. It was our anniversary this past weekend and we were able to visit with two of the groomsmen who both remember "the adventure."
In 1946, Arrow Development was started by four men who previously worked together at Hendy Iron Works--Bill Hardiman, Angus Anderson (of Arnold's Park), Karl Bacon, and Ed Morgan. All four men were instrumental in the start up and development of Arrow along with designing/building the rides for Disneyland when it opened in 1955.
The lake is a glacial pothole with curved, boulder-strewn shores surrounded by clusters of knobby hills, smaller lakes and bogs, and abundant sand and gravel deposits.
It is one of only three lakes in the world that are considered to be a blue water lake. The other two are Lake Geneva in Switzerland and Canada's Lake Loiuse. These lakes are fed by cool, fresh, subterranean springs.
After non-motorized boat users complained in droves, the registration fees in Alaska were eventually dropped from the law. In 2000, in Arizona the annual registration fee was also dropped due in part to high administration costs that were exceeding the revenues that were being collected and an ineffective ability to return services to the public.
When it comes to paddle boats, not only is there is a higher rate of turnover which makes for more paperwork, but many paddlers tend to own more than a single canoe or kayak and when it comes to registration, this makes what their share of what they pay in boating fees disproportionate compared to the owners of single, more expensive powerboats.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars go into creating bike trails without requiring bicycles to be registered like cars and in the same way it makes sense that paddle boats ought to be separated from motor boats. All power-boats are registered just like cars for a good reason. The money is used to support investments in channel marking and provides for law enforcement in heavily used oceans and lakes.
American Whitewater reports that registration fees have rarely been used to benefit paddlesports, but tend to be diverted for motor-boat launch sites and programs that benefit fishermen, but unlike hunters and fishermen, paddlers take nothing from the environment. Registration laws also increase the opperating costs for church organizations, university programs, and comercial angling outfitters and whitewater outfitters.
Since Illinois requires all boats to be registered in the state, if you are coming from another state that does not require kayaks to be registered, as most do not, you will have to purchase a license in your state or from Illinois. The initial fee for registration in Illinois currently is $13.00 for 3 years (for each boat). Renewal is then $6 (for 3 years).
Out-of-state boaters can stay up to 60 days in Illinois if they are registered in their state but since only a few states currently require canoe and kayak owners to register or pay special taxes on their boats, this creates an inconvenience to out-of-state paddlers visiting that have not been required to register their boats.
