Wake Surfing Laws Coming to a Lake Near You

[srock]

https://www.minnpost.com/environment...6VoxDTWpHdaIiI

[fsts2k]

So.. I am for this. I realize I have a wakeboard boat and a ski boat but holy **** these new wake surf boats create monster waves. Then, the worst is that the only time on the lake it is nice enough to ski the wave surfing boats are out, on calm water, at 7AM, hugging the shoreline.

I mean I get it... the fisherman hate the skiers, the skiers hate the wake-boarders, everyone hates the surfers.

Maybe I am getting old but seeing all these new monster Nautiques, Malibus, Mastercrafts early in the morning and kicking up waves that can swamp my 196 really sucks.

Ok, rant over. Regulations suck

[Stevemo14]

I get that these massive waves can be an issue in many ways, but hows it any different than anyone in any boat driving at 8-10 MPH along the shore "Just Checking Things Out"?
This happens to me EVERY weekend. At the Sand Bar, at the campground, at the docks. People are throwing huge rollers no matter what boat they are in just being idiots. The only people i see actually being responsible are the boarders and surfers.

Should we just start a 100% no wake-zone movement?

[srock]

I've always had a direct drive - chased buoys, barefooted, knee boarded and wakeboarded. Last year I purchased a 230 for more family room and I love the boat and wake but it is a 2 trick pony. The family has been knee and wake boarding like crazy and stock wake is awesome. We finally decided to load up all my old ballast bags and create a surf wake. The wave was unbelievable but to be honest I felt kinda stupid doing it and to me it felt much less challenging. I was in the middle of a big mostly uninhabited lake but I could not help to think how destructive and disruptive my wave was. I know a vast majority could give a crap but unless your an *** you should at least understand all sides if you want to preserve your rights. Later that day we got out the jump skis, trick skis, an old disc and a fatty slalom ski and my 13 year old and I rode them all. Good times.

[Fast351]

I live in Minnesota so I'm well aware of this legislative push. On one hand, it's a slippery slope. Ban surfing today, wakeboard boats tomorrow, and all inboards by Tuesday. On the other hand, just like JetSkis, several inconsiderate @$$...s ruin it for everyone. I have no problem with surfing in general. Heck, I had a 211 and surfed it regularly on our lake which is not huge (200 acres). But I was courteous. For one, if the water was smooth, I was skiing anyway, so screwing up the water for others was never an issue. Then I did counterclockwise circles for all our surfing, which was regular foot, which sent the wakes to the center of the lake where they would kind of cancel eachother out. Not to mention I didn't have tower speakers so noise was never an issue.

That said, today we have people surfing out there blaring their explicit lyric rap music so you can clearly hear it everywhere, and swamping the 20' 25HP pontoon boats people are floating on to watch the sunset. It's no wonder legislation like this is making it to the foreground.

I don't have a solution but 200' is too close. Maybe a 9:30am to 1 hour before sunset like Jetskis are limited to. And no audible music over 500' away.

Problem is enforcing it. There are a ton of recreational lakes in Minnesota. We're proud of it, it's on our license plates for Pete's sake. I don't remember the last time I saw the sheriff out here to patrol, and our lake is pretty busy.

[Kmayotte]

Not that the topic is not relevant (it very much is) but people realize this article is from early March, right? There's no breaking news here...

Be diligent, be respectful, educate other wake boat owners about their wake. Follow the wake responsibility code etc.

[hal2814]

From the article, I believe this is the correct answer:

“Even if the Senate approves Weber’s bill, it’s unlikely to gain traction in the DFL-controlled House. State Rep. John Persell, a Bemidji Democrat who chairs the House Environment and Natural Resources Policy Committee, said he couldn’t take the industry study and the 200-foot recommendation “at face value” unless it’s published in a peer-reviewed journal.“

There are people’s livelihoods hanging in the balance of this sort of legislation. We shouldn’t be shooting from the hip when it comes to legislating things like this. We should be armed with verifiable facts and data. If there’s a 200-foot restriction, that’s fine. But there should be a provable reasoning behind it and it should apply to all vessel types creating a similar wake.

[fsts2k]

I get that these massive waves can be an issue in many ways, but hows it any different than anyone in any boat driving at 8-10 MPH along the shore "Just Checking Things Out"?
This happens to me EVERY weekend. At the Sand Bar, at the campground, at the docks. People are throwing huge rollers no matter what boat they are in just being idiots. The only people i see actually being responsible are the boarders and surfers.

Should we just start a 100% no wake-zone movement?

Right now I am 100% in favor of a no wake movement... my 196 creates no wake at 34mph

I kid!

I don’t know the right answer. In 5 years there will be a new hotness, this will have passed, and NautiqueJeff will be restoring 2020 wake surf boats that are neglected because the owners got bored.

My lake is a BIG lake, there are huge cruisers... there are tour boats.. but the biggest wakes these days are the nautique and mastercraft surf boats; ok mostly

that said a law won’t change it. There are not enough Police to enforce it, I actually don’t want them to enforce since that gets to be the worst outcome of all

I just want to bitch like an old man that these boats F-up the lake. Then I wait 10 min and try to find a spot to finally ski

[NautiqueJeff]

Not sure I'll be restoring those so soon. I took on two v-drives this summer, and they're much more of a pain to restore than the direct-drives I had been doing! Plus I haven't had a Ski Nautique to play with this summer since I sold my '99 SNOB in March, and I really miss having a DD to play around with!

[Nautiquehunter]

I live on Lake Lanier Georgia with 700 miles of shoreline you would think there would be room for all . The issue I see is the as the wakes get bigger the brain gets smaller. Remember when we complained about the Wallys pulling tubes and pwc's tearing it up? Now its the surf ships weighing in at 10k plus and heading straight to the ski coves because everybody knows you need glass to surf. I bought a 210 in 08 to surf its now the least used boat I own . Surfing is fine 5-10 % of the time when the water gets churned up or out in the main channel. I find it boring and driving multiple surfers is awful for the driver . Buying a one trick pony for 200k is insane to me . This fad will fade like wakeboarding or it will be banned because of reckless owners and the damage they cause to docks,shoreline and other boats.

[DealsGapCobra]

I love to see people out on the lake enjoying life be it fishing, tubing, skiing, boarding, surfing, etc. As always, it is an issue of being considerate. The video in that article, while dorky, is spot on.

If you are a big wake maker please understand that you do create issues for others. There is a surf boat on our lake that produces a HUGE wave. It’s a thing of beauty really, but I have a make a plan on how to cross it without swamping my SNOB. There really isn’t much they can do to help but I can see where it could cause some real issues for other types of boats or less experienced drivers.


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[Johnny_Rock]

I live on a lake that is approximately 5,500 arcres. Larger than average for MN. Pretty uniform round in shape with no bays or coves that are protected from the wind. When it blows it blows.

I'm looking out the window and it is howling straight in to me from at least two miles across.

Can someone please explain the difference between the waves that are crashing into the shoreline in front of my house right now and the waves from a surf boat? (Where I live, most people must be looking out for each other, because big wake boat waves rarely--if ever--crash into the shore like the ones mother nature has been producing for the past few hours.)

[fsts2k]

I live on a lake that is approximately 5,500 arcres. Larger than average for MN. Pretty uniform round in shape with no bays or coves that are protected from the wind. When it blows it blows.

I'm looking out the window and it is howling straight in to me from at least two miles across.

Can someone please explain the difference between the waves that are crashing into the shoreline in front of my house right now and the waves from a surf boat? (Where I live, most people must be looking out for each other, because big wake boat waves rarely--if ever--crash into the shore like the ones mother nature has been producing for the past few hours.)

I never said they wreck the shoreline... they just wreck my skiing and threaten to swamp my boat. When the wind is blowing whitecaps I don't go out

I will say the wind blows some decent waves but the bigger boats will toss a larger wave than wind here.. .my lake is 8 miles long

[SilentSeven]

I also believe something needs to be done but have no pragmatic solution.

IMO, the oversized surf waves pose a significant safety problem to other boaters. The problem was 'manageable' when there were a) a lot less surf boats and b) the 'mega boats' hadn't really arrived.

In my 20' 206 - a decent sized boat with reasonable freeboard - it takes significant boat skill to keep my passengers safe when running at speed or just putting along at idle My wife or kids won't run the boat when the big surf rigs are out - the waves scare them and we've had incidents with blue water coming in the boat or passengers getting violently tossed.

Sadly, my guess is it's going to take a few fatalities and the associated lawsuits applying the maritime law on boaters being responsible for their own wake for something to happen. :/

[SilentSeven]

I get that these massive waves can be an issue in many ways, but hows it any different than anyone in any boat driving at 8-10 MPH along the shore "Just Checking Things Out"?

I disagree. There is no way my 206 on a half plane produces a wake even a third of the size of one of the big surf boats.

A fully loaded G23 - a boat that's all of 18" longer than my 206 - can weigh out at close to 11k lbs - hull, ballast, passengers, fuel - and sports a hull, mechanical mechanism and engine engineered to lay an oversized wake. Fully loaded, my 206 weighs no more than 4,600 and has no wake enhancing hull characteristics. There is no reasonable comparison between the two.