Hot In News - No Wakesurf Zone denied on Smith Mountain Lake, VA

[GMLIII]

Great news for Smith Mountain Lake, VA

No-wakesurfing zone denied by DWR (smithmountainlake.com)

[Gtsum2]

That is great news...glad to see some common sense prevail (instead of singling out wakesurfing, if it that bad in that area, make it a no wake zone for all boats).

[Badfoot]

That is good news! Thanks for posting the article.

[GMLIII]

Gtsum2 Since I posted this article link, The DWR (Department of Wildlife Resources in Virginia) made a post response after they denied the No Wakesurf Zone request. As you suggested, the DWR told the Buoys LLC (the group formed which submitted the No Wakesurf Zone application) to submit a request for a NO WAKE ZONE and they will review it. We will see where this goes or how it develops.

[SilentSeven]

Scanned the article...looks to me like the proposal was more rejected on technical issues (buoy marking, selective application, etc) than on the merits of wake damage. I found this section interesting

...motorboats including those designed or modified to create extra-large wakes, could continue to operate without deviation so long as they were not specifically engaged in wake surfing activity. Therefore, the act of wake surfing, in and of itself, does not present any challenges which are unique from a public safety perspective and are not encompassed in other related activities which would remain permitted. As such, the prohibition of wake surfing would not have a significant impact with regard to public safety

Seems to leave the door open to target boats with wake enhancing measures. But then the DWR seems to acknowledge enforcement difficulty by setting a lower bar

...DWR also suggested a no-wake zone for the area instead of the no-wakesurfing zone.

If I was one of the petitioning homeowners I would take the hint and change the request to a no-wake zone as GMLIII notes above. A no-wake zone would likely draw more public reaction and comment than the more narrow 'no-wake surf zone'. This whole cat and mouse game likely doesn't occur without wake enhanced boats....will be interesting to follow.

[GMLIII]

SilentSeven The "Hole" in this situation as it was presented is that any type of boat whether cabin cruiser, wake boat, ski boat or runabout can produce any size wake through a No Wakesurf Zone as long as there is no one wakesurfing behind the boat without any type of violation or citation. I'm not saying this is good idea but that is how the entire No Wakesurf Zone was presented to DWR by the petitioning homeowners.

[SilentSeven]

The DWR discussion highlights how challenging developing a fair and enforceable regulation will be. I wonder how well this Oregon attempt at regulation worked this summer?

https://www.statesmanjournal.com/sto...%20rules%20say.

[GMLIII]

Follow up since TCLA was denied the first no wakesurfing zone at SML by the Department of Wildlife Resources. Maybe a model used by other states moving forward?

https://smithmountainlake.com/news/l...LjOweceHL3DYcQ