The battle against the 10mph speed limit on Windermere is gearing up for another weekend of action as hundreds of boat owners prepare for an annual rally.

The mass protest on Saturday has been organised by the Keep Windermere Alive Association to raise awareness of its campaign against the limit, which will be enforced in 2005.

Organisers say that the by-law will lead to millions of pounds of lost profits for the tourist industry by keeping away water-skiers and power boaters. The KWAA also claims that a safety assessment has proved that the ban is unnecessary and could even be dangerous.

On Saturday, three to four hundred pleasure craft, power and speedboats, will be joined by Gina Campbell, the daughter of speed pioneer Donald Campbell, in a parade around Bowness Bay.

KWAA secretary Kevan Furber said: "The rally will demonstrate that there are three thousand boats with nowhere to go if the ban goes ahead. We will be back in 2005 and pushing the national park authority."

But Mr Furber also distanced the KWAA from remarks by the chairman of the Windermere Action Force, another anti-speed limit protest group.

In a letter to supporters, WAF chairman Tony Kemp made personal comments about Lake District National Park chairman Michael Bentley, re-igniting a dispute from February when WAF launched a poster criticising Mr Bentley.

Mr Furber said: "The personalisation of the campaign to seek a managed solution for all users on Windermere was distasteful, and wholly unacceptable to KWAA."

However, Mr Kemp stood by his comments, saying that he did not believe they were "personal at all" and that somebody "needed to stand up and shout about the speed limit".

He added that he would be asking Mr Bentley to "come and get" him on Saturday, when he would "definitely" break the 10mph limit on Coniston Water.

Mr Kemp said: "The LDNPA bought in a 10mph limit on Coniston but promised it would not ban water skiing and good family fun by a limit on Windermere. But now they have reneged on that promise. The reason why I am skiing on the lake is that we have kept our part of the bargain for over 25 years and enough is enough."

A spokesman for LDNPA said that events at Windermere and Coniston would be observed by the police, and that representatives of the authority would be "collecting evidence" of by-law infringements on the lake.

He said: "We have been in discussion with Cumbria police and, acting on their advice, our main approach to the protest will be to maintain a watching brief."

He added: "As far as the comments made in the letter sent by Tony Kemp, this represents another personal attack on our chairman Mr Bentley. We are seeking legal advice about what action we can take and so we would not wish to comment further on those specific issues."

The rally will begin at 2pm tomorrow (Saturday), at the Glebe, Bowness, with boats congregating at around 1.45pm. They will then process around Bowness Bay before turning around Belle Isle.

n Letters, P12.