Let's see, 1 boat with a well maintained motor a few times a year vs 100s (or thousands) of boats with many poorly maintained motors per year. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

A better comparison would be:
a cop car, or ambulance racing to an emegency scene - should they be forced to follow the speed limit and come to a complete stop, ect...

Have you ever been on a trail that does not allow motorized vehicles or horses? I sure enjoy those trails sometimes. And I am able to enjoy them because they occassionally use horses\mules and motorized vehicles to haul in supplies to fix bridges, ect...

It's not a double standard - it's working smart and efficiently.

But don't get me started on the motor boats used in Green Lake by the crew team coaches. That's a whole other story