A proposal to narrow and move the Roys Bay waterski lane closer to the Wanaka Lakes Swimmers Club buoy line has been labelled "dangerous", "insane" and "lopsided" by the Wanaka Waterski Club.
Other watersports groups are also up in arms over a Queenstown Lakes District Council review of ski lanes around the district, which also includes narrowing two Glendhu Bay ski lanes to 60m.
Watersport enthusiasts said the changes would increase the potential for accidents between swimmers, rowers and skiers, and were planning to write submissions by the council’s feedback deadline of October 23.
Some agreed the Roys Bay ski lane should be narrowed from 190m to 60m, but wanted it to stay where it was; while others wanted to remove the Roys Bay lane completely.
The Wanaka Waterskiers Club demanded to know "who is driving this".
"There will be a serious accident one day if the powers that be think that they [the lanes] should be shortened to a 60m-wide strip," waterski club members Dean Morrison, Gerald Hathaway and Carrie Wallis said.
"Locals and holiday makers deserve the right to park up on the main beach front with their boats and ski from it.
"To shorten it to 60m just seems insane.
"A much safer option would be to make it 200m with a properly buoyed off barrier out in the lake to stop swimmers entering the ski lane."
Wanaka Lake Swimmers Club members Neil Mains and Stuart Young said the lane could be narrowed but "no ski boats should be given any invitation to move further west ... There’s now enough busyness with rowers without increasing the hazard to swimmers".
The Wanaka Lake Swimmers committee and the Wanaka Watersports Facility Trust considered the issue at separate meetings on Thursday night and would be drafting submissions.
