"The white swan was killed instantly and they have an armour of feathers that we don't have."
Dr Dennison said he believed if a controller of a boat took his eye off a craft heading towards the shore and it hit a stick or suchlike in the water it could cartwheel to land.
"If it hit a child it could quite easily kill; probably it could kill an adult."
Dr Dennison said Mrs Patterson has been told the swan's death was needless and white swans are precious birds.
" To buy they cost about $500, if you can get them at all."
He said Ducks Unlimited had brought the original white swans to Henley lake from Crystal Springs in Christchurch then about three years ago some bred in Wairarapa had been added.
"Then a few wild ones flew in. At one stage we had 21 white swans on the lake, the second biggest free-flying flock in the country," Dr Dennison said.
He described white swans as being "marvellous birds."
"They are huge, about half as heavy again as a black swan.
"They can't just appear in an instant and they swim like a Spanish galleon so I believe any competent model boat user would have to have seen the swan if he was keeping an eye on what he was doing," Dr Dennison said.
Apart from the potential danger involved in models using the lake, Dr Dennison said many people found the noise objectionable, especially on Sundays.
"They get a few people along who watch them but the majority of people using the lake for recreation are just expected to put up with it."
Dr Dennison said little plastic netting barriers put up to divert lake users from the area used by the boats would not be protection again a craft catapulting to shore.
"It needs to be a lot safer.
"The whole set-up needs to be reviewed. That's what we are asking the mayor to do," he said.
Club captain of the Wairarapa Model Power Boat Club Ray Ticehurst told the Times-Age last week the swan's death was "a straight-out accident" similar to someone running across the road in front of a speeding car.
His club is one of two model powerboat clubs using the lake in the weekends. He said their club members have kill switches on their remotes, so if they lose control, the boats can be instantly turned off.
"They don't want a boat careering off, out of control," Mr Ticehurst said.
Dean Hall, a member of the Tararua District Model Power Boat Club, agreed but said if the sealed unit on the boat gets wet, the kill command won't work.
"If anyone has a runaway power boat, nothing is 100 per cent fail-safe," Mr Hall said.
"There's always going to be a risk, there's a risk in any sport."
He said the clubs have spotters to watch out for wildlife, and signs up to warn people walking on the lakeside.
Under the rules and guidelines of the NZ Model Power Boat Association, kill switches and fail-safes are listed as "highly recommended".
The rules also recommend the public are five metres away from the water's edge during racing and visitors and spectators "are there at their own risk".
