By Jean McCormick – May 2024

There are three regulatory markers (buoys) that boaters need to pay close attention to as you make your way around Lake Anna:

1.  No Wake buoys at bridges signal that the boat operator must bring his/her boat or jet ski to a no wake speed going under bridges. No wake is defined, by law, as slowest speed possible to maintain steerage and headway. 

The bridge buoys on Lake Anna have been set to a uniform distance of 75 feet from the bridge. This was a mandate from DWR and will allow law enforcement to regulate boats passing under bridges more safely.

2.   Keep Out buoys alert you to an exclusion zone. On Lake Anna, you must stay out of the area in front of the dam, at the intake zone in front of the North Anna Power Station and the swim area at the State Park. 

3.  Hazard buoys signal something dangerous below the surface of the water. It could be shallow water, rocks, a sandbar, stumps, pipes, remnants of old roads, or structures.

You must pay attention to what these warning markers are telling you.

* Assume hazard buoys are marking an area—not a single point.

*  Never go between a hazard buoy and the shoreline.

*  Sometimes a hazard buoy marks a huge boulder or it might be a bunch of small rocks.

*  The safest approach is to give all marked hazards a wide berth.

THINK SAFETY! BOAT SAFELY!

jean.mccormick@lakeannavirginia.org