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OSMB meeting in Bend


obski

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The next OSMB meeting is going to be held in Bend on Oct. 14. At the meeting the proposed rules for the Lower Willamette are to be voted on. While this is about the Willamette from Newberg to West Linn, it has implications for future sanctions against boating in general, and wakeboarding in particular. I went to the meeting in Wilsonville last month (for 4 hours) where they took public comment. The vast majority of the comments were against these rules, but who knows how the board will vote. They seem to be getting a lot of pressure from people with political clout.

Here is the Agenda

Here are the Proposed Rules

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The next OSMB meeting is going to be held in Bend on Oct. 14. At the meeting the proposed rules for the Lower Willamette are to be voted on. While this is about the Willamette from Newberg to West Linn, it has implications for future sanctions against boating in general, and wakeboarding in particular. I went to the meeting in Wilsonville last month (for 4 hours) where they took public comment. The vast majority of the comments were against these rules, but who knows how the board will vote. They seem to be getting a lot of pressure from people with political clout.

Here is the Agenda

Here are the Proposed Rules

Good luck ... sends chills down my spine ... didn't read the whole thing but item 3 caught my eye.

• Prohibit the use of wake enhancing devices, including ballast tanks, wedges or

hydrofoils or other mechanical devices, or uneven loading of persons or gear to

artificially operate bow high

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The next OSMB meeting is going to be held in Bend on Oct. 14. At the meeting the proposed rules for the Lower Willamette are to be voted on. While this is about the Willamette from Newberg to West Linn, it has implications for future sanctions against boating in general, and wakeboarding in particular. I went to the meeting in Wilsonville last month (for 4 hours) where they took public comment. The vast majority of the comments were against these rules, but who knows how the board will vote. They seem to be getting a lot of pressure from people with political clout.

Here is the Agenda

Here are the Proposed Rules

Good luck ... sends chills down my spine ... didn't read the whole thing but item 3 caught my eye.

• Prohibit the use of wake enhancing devices, including ballast tanks, wedges or

hydrofoils or other mechanical devices, or uneven loading of persons or gear to

artificially operate bow high

This rule has been looked at in Michigan. I don't know how hi up but have a summer Niebuhr works for the state she said it is in the books to be discussed. Dontknow.gif

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Why are they meeting here? That doesn't bode well in my mind.

While the meeting is open to the public, I don't believe that they are taking any further public comment at this meeting, but rather are going to have the board members vote on the proposed rules.

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Well the board met and I got an e-mail today stating that they had passed 2 rules:

1 - You need to be at least 100 feet from docks when going over 5mph starting 1/1/09

2 - No use of any wake-enhancing devices, including ballast tanks, wedges or hydrofoils or other mechanical devices, or uneven loading of persons or gear, to artificially operate bow-high starting 1/1/10

I don't have a problem with #1, but certainly do with #2. I really feel that this has much more to do with the number of boaters on this stretch of river, which has been fueled by the popularity of wakeboarding, than with wakeboarding itself. Wakeboarding has been signaled out as the scapegoat. I am certain that there will be legal challenges to this rule.

This sets a bad precedent for other parts of the state.

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Well the board met and I got an e-mail today stating that they had passed 2 rules:

1 - You need to be at least 100 feet from docks when going over 5mph starting 1/1/09

2 - No use of any wake-enhancing devices, including ballast tanks, wedges or hydrofoils or other mechanical devices, or uneven loading of persons or gear, to artificially operate bow-high starting 1/1/10

I don't have a problem with #1, but certainly do with #2. I really feel that this has much more to do with the number of boaters on this stretch of river, which has been fueled by the popularity of wakeboarding, than with wakeboarding itself. Wakeboarding has been signaled out as the scapegoat. I am certain that there will be legal challenges to this rule.

This sets a bad precedent for other parts of the state.

That's bad news! I would be really upset if that was my primary riding location! I sure hope this doesn't spread to other lakes and waterways...but I am afraid it will.

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It will be interesting to see how this plays out as the ineveitable legal challenges come. This would certainly put a damper on how I use the boat.

Such a bummer Cry.gif When the laws go into effect are you going to start riding at nearby lakes instead or just not surf? How close are you to Hagg lake?

Good thing you didn't build your new place on the river like you were talking about a while back!

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We will still be able to go wakeboarding, just not with the use of wedge or ballast. I'll just have to go out with more people in the boat to legally weight it down. I'm not sure how enforcible this will be anyway. The sherrif's department was at the public comment meeting and came out against adopting the rules partly because they weren't sure how they could enforce them. At that meeting for public comment, 95% of the comments were against the rules and yet in the statement from the OSMB they stated they were following the great outcrying of the public to have these rules in place. I believe that someone has the ear of the governor who appoints the board. It was stated that the board was also following the recommendation of the governor to adopt these rules. Something is not right in the process.

As it stands right now, wakesurfing would definitely be outlawed for that stretch of river. I decided to not buy the wakesurf board we were demoing all last summer specifically because there was a possibility that this was going to go through.

Maybe I will trade in the VLX and switch back to slalom skiing.

I could go to Hagg, but I have never liked it much and the river is much closer to me.

Edited by obski
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I am thinking that a power wedge would come in handy in this situation as well as having your ballast dump out of the bottom of the hull instead of the side. Any sight of Johnny Law would be a quick flip of a couple of switches and you are good to go by the time he pulls you over.

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I am thinking that a power wedge would come in handy in this situation as well as having your ballast dump out of the bottom of the hull instead of the side. Any sight of Johnny Law would be a quick flip of a couple of switches and you are good to go by the time he pulls you over.

Ken you beat me to it...

The power wedge will be the wake enhancement device to have along with a larger crew size.

It sounds like it is time to find a way to drain the ballast tanks under the water line, out of sight.

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It could have been worse. They were contemplating not allowing 180 degree turns at planing speed. There are plenty of wide spots on that stretch of river so they chose wisely. I love that section of the Willamette. I try to spend a couple of days each year down there just because it's fun to see the mansions on some stretches on the river especially upstream from Hebb Park.

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the whole wake enhancing thing is bs....if they want to control wake enhancement, they shouldn't prohibit it totally, just when boater traffic is high (midday on the weekends)...this is just my opinion

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