Wakeboat and Wake Surfing Restrictions

[HangOutdoors]

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Unfortunately what will happen if these types of things pass, a lot of inland lakes around here will be no Wake boating/surfing lakes. The ones that would be big enough and deep enough will be impossible to get on and will be full of Wake Boats, one of which we go to all the time and will probably have a hard time getting onto.

Michigan DNR eyes inland lake restrictions on wakesurfing boats - mlive.com

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Such is the nature of things..

I’d say the biggest issue is the loud music that of course draws attention to the boats in the first place, and in my opinion by and large their music sucks, and no one wats to listen to the messed up music, no other boats on my local lakes hae music blaring.

The next is the total disregard of said wake boaters when it comes to others using the lake, but people suck by and large so that is no surprise. For example, there are a group of fishing boats sitting over a structure or in a place, I’ve seen wake boaters cruising all around them rocking and rolling the fishing boats while blasting their music when there are ample other areas to do their thing, same thing happened when I was kid out with my Dad, the whole lake would be open, I’m taking a lake that was 35 miles long and 7 miles wide, but the water skiers would come and circle around where we were at, man my Dad used to get so pissed. There is one area of my favorite lake I like to call the straight or Hormuz LOL! The wake boats and the pontoon boats towing people are all in this narrow area and come pretty close to each other on a regular basis. Sadly, this is the 2% rule, E.G. 2% of the people mess it up for the rest. I’ve been witness to many wake boaters and skiers that do their best to stay away from people who are fishing or just out for a float keeping their music down or none at all.

Then you have the Karens and Kens of today that just want to sit on the shore and look at the lake, and they think that is the way the lake should be used for the little bit of time that they actually look at it, I’ve dealt with that type of person my whole recreating life as well.

Another very big problem is hidden water that transports the villagers (microscopic larvae-each adult mussel can produce 1M larvae a year) of invasive species like Quagga and Zebra mussels. That problem has come to my closest lake which I wrote a post about some time back. I lay a lot of this problem at the feet of the regulatory agencies, now they have gone to exit inspections instead of pre launch inspections. In my area this problem was known and not that far away but yet nothing was really done until it was too late, these zebra mussels are never going away, and the jewel of the black hills will never be the same. The education and compliance were cursory at best but now will have to be more draconian. There should have been requirements to complete a training before you can get your registration, Utah and Arizona have these programs on the river / lake system of the Colorado river which is now infested by Quagga mussels, and there should have been facilities in place wherein folks could have taken their boats to decontaminate them. So now, there is a 10 day “dry time” which will become a 30 day dry time as soon as the weather cools a bit more. This dry time is supposed to be a pre requisite before getting on other lakes in the area unless a decon is done. (Im so glad I tightened up my boat and no water comes out now) The caveat here is that if you show up at another lake inside the dry time period the inspectors will inspect your boat very thoroughly and if they find water they have a decon unit mounted on a trailer and they will decon your boat.

I’m going to wager that it is far too late and that all the lakes have these mussels in them already.

Shoreline erosion and wakes hitting docks are another concern. The wake thing against the docks could be taken care of pretty easily by expanding the no wake zones, of course then the regular boats are going to scream… and if these types of regs go through the non boater types will pounce and make hey with that.

The best way to stave off ridiculous regulations is for self regulation.

 

[HangOutdoors]

Self regulation for certain types boaters i believe is out of reach.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Self regulation for certain types boaters i believe is out of reach.

Totally agree.

 

[ripler]

That's why I boat on a river, there are no rules, downside is there are no rules.
That being said, I'm more than courteous when we wake surf, we don't surf around marinas or boats that are tied up.

 

[suke]

Fortunately no talk of that yet here in NC.

 

[zipper]

It is being discussed in Vermont now.

https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/opponents-of-wake-boats-seek-new-rules-roiling-lake-communities/Content?oid=36315567

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Reading parts of that article makes me want to vomit. The ludicrous claims without scientific basis is the norm for those calling for locking out certain types of boats, and you can bet your ass it will not stop with wakeboats. I was involved in the land use issue for almost 30 years and this looks all too familiar. My advice, never give a mouse a cookie, because he is going to want a glass of milk.

A couple of items were heartening, the fact that some of the reasonable people want to police themselves or work it out without involving the state as is the way of Vermontonians is most refreshing, and the disclosure at the end that the authors partner has property on one of the lakes deemed okay for these boats.

Over all I thought the article was pretty well balanced, unlike the claims of those wanting to ban them on certain lakes for reasons of public safety.

Rodney’s claim of a wedding being heard across the lake like the sound system on his wake boat is not helping his cause, unless there is wedding there every weekend. The sound issue is simple, keep the sound limited to 96DB measured at 15” from the speakers, that will put it in congruence with other sound emissions on public land, that of course impacts the lake house owners as well…but you can’t have it both ways.

 

[kgower]

Seems to be a growing trend that i think is here to stay..
The ever increasing display of "its all about me" has manifested itself in many areas of society today.
Sad!

 

[NewBoater]

Fishermen on bass boats have been complaint for years about the waves surf boats make. It’s even worse on the turn to pick up a rider. Most don’t make a wide enough turn. I would say it’s something more like this than music volume. But what do I know lol

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

@FSH 210 Sport I don't think sound is no where close to an issue. Lots and lots of boats have high powered stereos. The issue is tsunami's produced by these boats. It makes the water miserable to be on, and destroys everything on the shore.

Wake boat owners and Jet Ski owners are both in the same category in my mind (and it's not a good one).

 

[Tex72]

There are guilty culprits across the board.

I’ve seen bass boats flying through coves in the middle of the day while people are skiing and surfing, and not paying attention to those in the water.

I’ve seen fishermen post up in mid day, where/when all the water sports happen. There are many areas on the other side of the lake, where it’s stumpy and vegetated that are much better for fishing, but they’ll post up right where everyone surfs/skis on a regular basis.

I’ve seen pleasure boaters drive through low water/beach areas, where boats are anchored up, and they throw a wake through the gatherings

I’ve seen pontoon boats pulling tubes in heavy traffic areas, slinging their kids around on the tube.

I’ve also seen plenty of respectful/smart boaters in those genres/categories.

Bottom line: You can’t regulate stupid. There’s no point in picking out a single group of boaters… especially if their purpose built boat can cost upwards of $300,000.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I can deal with waves, although I don’t like them as it really messes up my trolling, but I can deal with that. Everyone has to share the lake, I get that. If I want solitude I’m going to have to drive a few hours to Oahe then I can get out to where I don’t see anybody.

For me, having to listen to someone else‘s f‘upped music, that’s a total violation. One, and only one wake boat on my closest lake plays the kind of music I like, but I don’t need to hear Boston from a half mile away.

There’s a web page called Wayne’s Words and deals exclusively with Lake Powell. LP has a fair amount of narrow canyons and there is a pretty hot feud going on with the wake boaters and fisherman there. The house boats also make pretty good sized wakes. There is so much traffic in those canyons that the water is confused, and not little confused.

Nothing good is going to come of the lawyers and govt getting involved.. but that is inevitable. @Tex72 you are correct, i put it a different way, you cannot legislate morality.

 

[Tex72]

Something not mentioned:

Wake boats, wakesurf boards, wakeboards, etc. are big business…and considering the heavy cost of some of these rigs, I can’t imagine the manufacturers, dealerships, storefronts, & distributors will roll over and let regulations put a huge dent in their respective businesses w/o a fight…along with voters who just dropped six figures on their wake boat, that they can’t use on their local lake.

There’s a reason so many boats have towers on them now days.

 

[Bluewater272]

Bottom line: You can’t regulate stupid. There’s no point in picking out a single group of boaters… especially if their purpose built boat can cost upwards of $300,000.

Not sure what the price of the boat has to do with anything? There are of course a-holes on every kind of boat, but some have far more impact than others. Some douche on a ski running 100' off your dock? Annoying, but whatever. A wakeboat doing the same thing, or in shallow water? Property and bed damage.

I don't know what a solution would look like. Banning them is a little ridiculous, making more rules likely won't work because they aren't following the ones that exist, so that leaves what, more law enforcement? It's a shame people can't just operate responsibly.

 

[HangOutdoors]

It will be some rules then it will lead up to banning sooner rather later. It is inevitable.

 

[Tex72]

Not sure what the price of the boat has to do with anything?

The point I intended to make: Telling someone who just dropped a mortgage on a wakeboat, that they can’t use it, is an over reach.

 

[meaningreen]

Where is the line in the sand, are they going to police the boat or the activity. I have a tower but no ballast my son wakeboards but I don't blast music or a large wave. What if I want to just cruise or anchor? I'm surrounded by Corp of Engineer Lakes, I don't really have anywhere to go if they adopt the policy.

 

[suke]

Something not mentioned:

Wake boats, wakesurf boards, wakeboards, etc. are big business…and considering the heavy cost of some of these rigs, I can’t imagine the manufacturers, dealerships, storefronts, & distributors will roll over and let regulations put a huge dent in their respective businesses w/o a fight…along with voters who just dropped six figures on their wake boat, that they can’t use on their local lake.

There’s a reason so many boats have towers on them now days.

Not to mention a lot of these ultra rich, influential, and powerful people have these toys. Last thing a politician wants to hear is his dickbag kid can't go out and blast mumble rap 10' from a dock with all ballast full just cruising around in the boat he just paid 200k for.

 

[Tex72]

I’m not defending bad behavior from wake boaters. I actually don’t see all this on our lake, but I get it. I’d be pissed if some JA dropped a wake on my docked boat.

Our family loves to surf. I don’t have a fancy wake boat, but I don’t want to be told I can’t do what I want with my boat. It’s 1/2 the reason I bought it…so we could surf.