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Woman Who Opposed Boating Speed Limit Dies in Marine Wreck

Monday, June 16, 2008

GILFORD, N.H. — A woman who testified against boating speed limits was killed and two others were injured early Sunday when their boat crashed on New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee.

The state’s Marine Patrol Board Bureau said the wreck killed Stephanie Beaudoin, 34, of Meredith. The driver of the Formula powerboat, Erica Blizzard of Laconia, suffered serious facial injuries. She is the president of the New Hampshire Recreational Boaters Association and has testified in the Legislature against implementing a boating speed limit on the lake.

Officials said the accident happened at 2:30 a.m. Sunday as Blizzard, 34, was driving the 37-foot vessel southeast of Diamond Island in Gilford and struck a rocky shoreline, sustaining significant damage.

“They were having a great time this weekend, doing something for (Blizzard’s) father on Fathers Day,” Stephanie Beaudoin’s father, Edgar Beaudoin, told the Concord Monitor.

Blizzard’s father, Paul Blizzard, owns the Lakeport Landing Marina in Laconia. Dick Hickok, a member of the Recreational Boaters Association's board of directors, said Erica Blizzard was preparing to take over the business as her father moved towards retirement. She had also taken part in campaigns to create a “no wake” zone on a section of Lake Winnipesaukee and was recently active in opposing a speed limit for boaters.

"There's no doubt in my mind the skill was there, the knowledge was there," Hickok told the Concord Monitor. “Having a father who owned a marina, growing up with one, now running it, you almost have boats in your blood."

A third woman, Nicole Shinopules, 34, of Burlington, Mass., was also injured. She was listed in good condition.

The cause of the accident remains under investigation.