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Future of surfing?


drewski300

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Unfortunately, we have a lot of recreation on our lakes and there are literally at least 100 surf boats and hundreds of rental pontoons, kayaks, paddle boards, etc. so normally it wouldn't be a problem but some weekend warrior kayak comes into the bay we are surfing and I get squeezed out. Then I wonder what it means on amount of ballast weight? We have 1100 bags. Would they limit to 500 for example? As someone said, this could be a slippery slope.

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1 hour ago, Eagleboy99 said:

I can't begin to count the number of times dumb bunnies with surfers have passed 50 feet from me and my wife in kayaks.  And we usually are within 100 feet of the shoreline.

I couldn't tell you how many times I have seen people in kayaks try and cross major "thoroughfares."  Do they not see the 35' cruisers going down the lake....not to mention the surf boats.

Edited by Five Cent Worth
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11 minutes ago, Five Cent Worth said:

I couldn't tell you how many times I have seen people in kayaks try and cross major "thoroughfares."  Do they not see the 35' cruisers going down the lake....not to mention the surf boats.

Yeah...that's a tough one for me.  We have the same at my lake and I try and be respectful, but at the same time if you are out in a kayak on a Saturday afternoon in the middle of the lake, you have a death wish.

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2 hours ago, Five Cent Worth said:

I couldn't tell you how many times I have seen people in kayaks try and cross major "thoroughfares."  Do they not see the 35' cruisers going down the lake....not to mention the surf boats.

Point taken - but surfing 50 feet away from a kayak 50 feet from shore is a whole 'nother thing.  We'd never take the kayaks or canoe out on a weeked; heck, even close to shore can be an issue.

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4 hours ago, Five Cent Worth said:

I couldn't tell you how many times I have seen people in kayaks try and cross major "thoroughfares."  Do they not see the 35' cruisers going down the lake....not to mention the surf boats.

I wish kayakers would either wear or be required to wear an orange vest similar to hunters. Bet they don't realize how well they blend in with the water from a distance. I think its just a matter of time before one gets run over on my lake.

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No wake restrictions on the lakes out here but I'm surprised it hasn't happened.  If you hit up Saguaro Lake on any Monday morning in the summer, you'll find floating islands of cat tails and reeds that have been broken away from shore by incessant pounding of giant wakes.  Can't believe the environuts haven't gotten around to that yet.  Ironically, most of these things break off in no-wake zones.

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24 minutes ago, Eagleboy99 said:

Up here the water ptrol is definitely looking for surf boats and bad behaviour.

Do they single out surfers or patrol for all bad behavior?

Edited by vanamp
To keep thread on track
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3 minutes ago, vanamp said:

Do they single out surfers or patrol for all bad behavior?…....... hold on while I go register the domain SurfWavesMatter.com

Ouch on the .com.  :)  Nah, they tend to look for surfers since that is where the  most crappy behaviour/drugs/goofballs live it seems.  Inherent bias I guess.  LOL  Besides, we slalom skiers are  done by 7 AM - before they've even had their coffee and doughnuts.  LOL

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1 hour ago, Eagleboy99 said:

Ouch on the .com.  :)  Nah, they tend to look for surfers since that is where the  most crappy behaviour/drugs/goofballs live it seems.  Inherent bias I guess.  LOL  Besides, we slalom skiers are  done by 7 AM - before they've even had their coffee and doughnuts.  LOL

Not in PA...most bad behavior comes from wave runners, overloaded pontoons, kayakers in the middle of the lake like slow drivers in the fast lane, and go fast boats ripping down the lake like there is no one else on the water!  

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On our lake we have a few new surf boats that have not even surfed yet. Instead they ballast up and have 3-4 of their buddies follow them on their Sea-Doo sparks and ramp their surf wave really close to the boat. 

Not sure if I should be annoyed or thankful that they haven’t been trying to almost run over our own surfer the past few weeks like they did last summer. 

It is this kind of behavior that does not help our case for keeping surfing safe and legal either. 

Edited by SouthsideBoarder
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15 minutes ago, ctvandy23 said:

go fast boats ripping down the lake like there is no one else on the water!

Oh, we got those!  M44s, Cougars, all manner of cigarette boat.  Open headers and all.

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ahopkins22LSV
3 hours ago, vanamp said:

This is all worthless without enforcement and I don't believe they will enforce it.   If they had any interest in enforcing it they would already be writing tickets to all the idiots on the lake.   The people who are surfing 50' from docks and not getting tickets already will continue to do so.  

Rather than single out surfers they just need to enforce reckless boating laws.  Really why do we need anything other then what's already in place:

Subdivision 1.Safe operation.

 

A person may not operate or allow the operation of a watercraft or use a device relating to the use of the watercraft:

(1) in a careless or heedless manner in disregard of the rights or safety of others;

(2) in a reckless or grossly negligent manner that causes personal injury to another or damage to the property of another;

You may think they won’t enforce it... that’s what everyone on lake st Clair here though too. Now that water is near record high, the county, DNR and coast guard are watching it like hawks. Using laser distancing guns and everything. 
 

Different for lake levels where you are I’m sure but it can change like a light switch if they get enough momentum behind it. 
 

That said, I agree with you that there generally needs to be better enforcement of reckless behavior on the water. So many people buy a boat and have no idea what even the most basic laws are. I sold some life jackets and a throwable to a couple today who didn’t even know they were required by law to have a throwable on the boat. I doubt they know you are supposed to travel in a counterclockwise direction or be at least 150’ (I think in MI... maybe I need to brush up too lol! :Doh: ) from any other boat/stationary object while at speed. 

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4 minutes ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

You may think they won’t enforce it... that’s what everyone on lake st Clair here though too. Now that water is near record high, the county, DNR and coast guard are watching it like hawks. Using laser distancing guns and everything. 
 

Different for lake levels where you are I’m sure but it can change like a light switch if they get enough momentum behind it. 
 

That said, I agree with you that there generally needs to be better enforcement of reckless behavior on the water. So many people buy a boat and have no idea what even the most basic laws are. I sold some life jackets and a throwable to a couple today who didn’t even know they were required by law to have a throwable on the boat. I doubt they know you are supposed to travel in a counterclockwise direction or be at least 150’ (I think in MI... maybe I need to brush up too lol! :Doh: ) from any other boat/stationary object while at speed. 

I might not always do the counter clockwise thing... Completely trashes the water. Whoever hatched that law sucks. 

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9 hours ago, Five Cent Worth said:

I couldn't tell you how many times I have seen people in kayaks try and cross major "thoroughfares."  Do they not see the 35' cruisers going down the lake....not to mention the surf boats.

Or 50-60’ cruisers plowing pretending to try and get on plane. They are the worst. 

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ahopkins22LSV
7 hours ago, UWSkier said:

I might not always do the counter clockwise thing... Completely trashes the water. Whoever hatched that law sucks. 

I know, neither do we. It’s not dangerous to run the same line when you are the only boat out there but when it’s jam packed full of boats, it is much better. Our afternoons are so rough you can’t even surf. Trust me you want everyone going in one direction 

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12 hours ago, vanamp said:

This is all worthless without enforcement and I don't believe they will enforce it.   If they had any interest in enforcing it they would already be writing tickets to all the idiots on the lake.   The people who are surfing 50' from docks and not getting tickets already will continue to do so.  

Rather than single out surfers they just need to enforce reckless boating laws.  Really why do we need anything other then what's already in place:

Subdivision 1.Safe operation.

 

A person may not operate or allow the operation of a watercraft or use a device relating to the use of the watercraft:

(1) in a careless or heedless manner in disregard of the rights or safety of others;

(2) in a reckless or grossly negligent manner that causes personal injury to another or damage to the property of another;

They will definitely be handing out tickets here, Minnetonka especially.  And to answer your question, 200 feet is easier to enforce on the spot.  The damage to property is a cumulative effect.

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What's the counter clockwise driving about? *Modified for not thinking*

I'm one of those newbies (3 years now) and I'm not sticking up for those who are but it's not like when you buy a boat they give you any direction on what to do. Fortunately/unfortunately we've been stopped 2 or 3 times a summer for everything under the sun including capacity, throwable, life jackets, you name it. For us, honestly that's how we learned. One time a sheriff pulled us over and was being pretty aggressive about taking our boat to the larger lake and how we will be responsible for any shoreline erosion. I asked him how they could monitor my boats effect vs. ice/wind. Wrong question to ask.... Tough one to prove!

The article I read stated one of the cities was meeting to discuss enforcement. There are at least 2 sheriff and 1 DNR on the chain of lakes all the time. So for us, enforcement will happen.

 

Edited by drewski300
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ahopkins22LSV
13 minutes ago, drewski300 said:

What's the counter clockwise driving about? Is that just because most surfers are on the left side of the boat? We typically drive that way but what happens with someone who surfs on the right side of the boat?

I'm one of those newbies (3 years now) and I'm not sticking up for those who are but it's not like when you buy a boat they give you any direction on what to do. Fortunately/unfortunately we've been stopped 2 or 3 times a summer for everything under the sun including capacity, throwable, life jackets, you name it. For us, honestly that's how we learned. One time a sheriff pulled us over and was being pretty aggressive about taking our boat to the larger lake and how we will be responsible for any shoreline erosion. I asked him how they could monitor my boats effect vs. ice/wind. Wrong question to ask.... Tough one to prove!

The article I read stated one of the cities was meeting to discuss enforcement. There are at least 2 sheriff and 1 DNR on the chain of lakes all the time. So for us, enforcement will happen.

 

I don’t know what the laws are in Minnesota, but in Michigan for all inland lakes the flow of boat traffic is to follow a counterclockwise rotation around the lake. If you cut across you are to yield to anyone following the CCW direction. 

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1 hour ago, drewski300 said:

What's the counter clockwise driving about? *Modified for not thinking*

I'm one of those newbies (3 years now) and I'm not sticking up for those who are but it's not like when you buy a boat they give you any direction on what to do. Fortunately/unfortunately we've been stopped 2 or 3 times a summer for everything under the sun including capacity, throwable, life jackets, you name it. For us, honestly that's how we learned. One time a sheriff pulled us over and was being pretty aggressive about taking our boat to the larger lake and how we will be responsible for any shoreline erosion. I asked him how they could monitor my boats effect vs. ice/wind. Wrong question to ask.... Tough one to prove!

The article I read stated one of the cities was meeting to discuss enforcement. There are at least 2 sheriff and 1 DNR on the chain of lakes all the time. So for us, enforcement will happen.

 

Michigan offers a boater's safety class, doesn't Minnesota?  I took it when I was 12, and now again 2 years ago when my daughter turned 12 just to do it with her and reinforce the importance of safety.

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1 hour ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

I don’t know what the laws are in Minnesota, but in Michigan for all inland lakes the flow of boat traffic is to follow a counterclockwise rotation around the lake. If you cut across you are to yield to anyone following the CCW direction. 

Thankfully MN has nothing like that at a state level

There are a few mostly very small lakes that have that as a specific regulation for the lake;

https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/rlp/regulations/boatwater/local_regs.pdf

Edited by oldjeep
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27 minutes ago, Michigan boarder said:

Michigan offers a boater's safety class, doesn't Minnesota?  I took it when I was 12, and now again 2 years ago when my daughter turned 12 just to do it with her and reinforce the importance of safety.

Yes, but you are only required to take it if you are under 18.  But all the rules are in the watercraft guide that you get everytime you register a boat.  In WI where everyone born in 1990 or later has to take the class.  Never really understood how that is supposed to work with adult non residents, but my adult kids took it just to make sure.

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3 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

Yes, but you are only required to take it if you are under 18.  But all the rules are in the watercraft guide that you get everytime you register a boat.  In WI where everyone born in 1990 or later has to take the class.  Never really understood how that is supposed to work with adult non residents, but my adult kids took it just to make sure.

Who reads those??? LOL I'm guessing like most people, you buy something and figure it out along with way. Now looking back, that probably wasn't the best idea. It would be nice if the dealership offered something like that. They clearly understood we were new to the game. The only thing they helped with was to take us on the lake and show us how to make the biggest wave!

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5 minutes ago, drewski300 said:

Who reads those??? LOL I'm guessing like most people, you buy something and figure it out along with way. Now looking back, that probably wasn't the best idea. It would be nice if the dealership offered something like that. They clearly understood we were new to the game. The only thing they helped with was to take us on the lake and show us how to make the biggest wave!

The manual and course is about rules - nothing really about how you actually drive a boat.

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