Controlling your Wakes

[KOIV]

My parents and I have a lake house on Tenmile Lake on the Southern Oregon Coast. The homeowners have a problem with just a few of the wakeboard boats. They do tear docks, break waters and the shoreline up. There are plenty of areas on the lake w/o houses that most try and stay in but therer is always one bad apple. I would be really careful. Like others have said, those old farts, fisherman etc have a voice and they will do something. That same group has been successful at getting an extremely low decibel rating for the sand dunes in the same area. The guys with the loud pipes on their quads are paying the price. I also agree with the music thing. I have a great stereo on my boat (speakers are all internal and no tower) but as you are coming into a gas dock or near homes, turn it down! It does really offend people. Do your boarding and surfing away from populated areas and for god's sake don't board around a slalom course! We see that all the time. One way I have heard people are fighting the wakeboard boats is that they are asking the police if they are over capacity when they have the fat sacks filled up with water and the max number of people in the boat. The coast guard has a rating plate for total weight and I think a lot of these boats that have retro-fit fat sacks are over their weight capacity. this may not be an isuue with the newer boats but it sure makes sense on the older boats. Watch it.

[Willy]

Yeah, this is why I brought this topic up too.... I just sold my '96 Mastercraft, and I am taking delivery of my '07 VLX on Thursday.... I am planning on getting a wakesurfer too and taking it up... do you really need smooth water for Wakesurfing, or could you still do it out further in the open water? I try to be as responsible and courteous as possible, but you really can't just ban wakeboarding in the smooth coves... I was wondering what other people's thoughts were.... Also my old place actually had a slip where I could tie the boat up in a criss cross and no matter how rough it got, it would not bang the dock.... but now I just have a spot at a dock and I do not think that the homeowners association is going to allow me to put whips on the dock.... So, I am kind of an Oxymoron since I do not want others to come and throw big rollers and beat up my new Bu and yet I am going to ride to another spot and do just exactly that if others do not have a good system to keep their boats from being beat up......

Can somebody answer this question??? I was wondering the same thing? I live in a town with a river that feeds out to the St.Clair river that is only short ride to Lake Huron. We have Alway's skied in the river because it is usually smooth and does not get alot of traffic. Now I have a wake boat and really do not wantto put up monster wakes there and ruin the skiing. Sooooo, I am hoping we can surf out in Lake Huron, However it is one of the great lakes and gets pretty busy and rough on the weekends. Please tell me that medium roughness really does not effect surfing.

[smedman]

and I am taking delivery of my '07 VLX on Thursday.... I am planning on getting a wakesurfer too and taking it up... do you really need smooth water for Wakesurfing, or could you still do it out further in the open water? ...

Can somebody answer this question??? Please tell me that medium roughness really does not effect surfing.

The quick answer:

A little chop is not too bad for wakesurfing.

However, depends on what you are trying to do. If you are just cruising on a larger size board 5ft+ and carving a little -- won't be that big of a deal. That is the case for us most of the time -- there is generally a little chop here and there... But if you are riding a performance model and trying spins and airs, you probably want the smoother water...

Have fun!

[EBrown]

i board on a inlet from a bay and there are about 25 houses with piers on the area that i ride on. but lucky for me all of the people are old and do not give a crap.

Don't underestimate the ability of those "old" people to organize and effect changes in the form of regulations, legislation, etc. Just because they are not directly confronting you doesn't necessarily mean they don't "give a crap".

It might serve us all well to remember that in most areas we are each a part of group that is way too large for the limited water resources available. (Or maybe that's just because I live in SoCal! )

I live on a lake where wakes have been legislated. It is now against lake policy to have any wake enhancing device (including the wedge). No doubt, a few well organized old folks went to the powers that be, and had this done. The penalty for breaking this rule could be loss of lake priviledges for a year. Blue lake in Oregon has outlawed any boats with wakeboard towers. I wish instead some people would have listened when people asked them to take it easy on the wakes when close to property and docks. If we don't do a better job policing the idiots among us, I can't see this type of thing slowing down. Don't surf in front of docks, let's turn the music down when we are close to houses / riding at odd times, and don't drive your boat like it's your first time!

Good luck to all!

[WakeGirl]

i board on a inlet from a bay and there are about 25 houses with piers on the area that i ride on. but lucky for me all of the people are old and do not give a crap.

Don't underestimate the ability of those "old" people to organize and effect changes in the form of regulations, legislation, etc. Just because they are not directly confronting you doesn't necessarily mean they don't "give a crap".

It might serve us all well to remember that in most areas we are each a part of group that is way too large for the limited water resources available. (Or maybe that's just because I live in SoCal! )

I live on a lake where wakes have been legislated. It is now against lake policy to have any wake enhancing device (including the wedge). No doubt, a few well organized old folks went to the powers that be, and had this done. The penalty for breaking this rule could be loss of lake priviledges for a year. Blue lake in Oregon has outlawed any boats with wakeboard towers. I wish instead some people would have listened when people asked them to take it easy on the wakes when close to property and docks. If we don't do a better job policing the idiots among us, I can't see this type of thing slowing down. Don't surf in front of docks, let's turn the music down when we are close to houses / riding at odd times, and don't drive your boat like it's your first time!

Good luck to all!

Well said.

[tgaugh]

"Long hair swingin' middle finger in the air"

[DizzyG]

I completely understand people upset with loud tower speakers on lakes that are lined with houses. Those things are very directional, every time the boat turns or is going away from you, you can hear the music as well as or better than the rider. It's really really annoying. On large lakes without houses and people enjoying the peacefulness you can totally blast it away. On rivers probably not a big deal either as you aren't going up and down the same area and turning around all the time.

Loud tower speakers are very annoying, nobody wants to hear your music, maybe the rider but they can get an MP3 player or deal without music for 10-15 min. Be courteous.

On the wake side of things. We run a pretty heavily loaded VLX up and down the same area ll the time. We've had a few complaints here and there, but our lake is a wavy disaster starting at 10:00am on Saturday and well into Sunday night. They can piss and moan all they want, but we aren't half as bad as the 40' cigarette boat roaring around all weekend all day, or the giant deck boat pulling tubers all day.

[SacRiverRat]

They can piss and moan all they want, but we aren't half as bad as the 40' cigarette boat roaring around all weekend all day, or the giant deck boat pulling tubers all day.

You may think that your wake is "justified"... but the people making the rules, probably don't see it that way. They probably see your wake "enhanced" boat as being made to make a larger wake on purpose.. something that could be controlled.

[blue47]

Interesting old post. I have both a lakefront house and a wakeboard boat. The waves don't bother me since even the most radical boats cannot even begin to compare with what Mother Nature does. If my boat house or bulkhead could be damaged by boat wake, they would be completely decimated by the first storm. Our lake rules say that a boat must travel at no-wake speed if within 100 feet of a man-made structure. The idiots who wakeboard that close are rude and dangerous. Yes, I have seen it too often. Interestingly, the parks and wildlife folks, if they chose, could confiscate equipment violating the rules. That would be interesting.

[dielawn]

Personally, you own your dock not the water. Let everyone make how ever large of a wake they want. If its damaging to your boat or dock then make the proper adjustments. IE. Padd/Buoy the crap out of the side of your floating dock! With proper docking, no damage should incur due to wakes moving the dock/boat.

[EBrown]

PLEASE READ - THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU:

The Oregon State Marine Board has just made using wake enhancing devices illegal on the Willamette River south of Portland. We went thru a Rule making Process with the marine Board due to the complaints of riverfront homeowners. 7 years ago the complaints were about loud stereos and a little bit of dock damage concern. After 6 years of this issue gaining no traction, and the issues only getting worse with the popularity of wake sports, the homeowners this year switched their concern to erosion, and the government reacted swiftly. The Governor himself put pressure on the Marine Board to enact new rules on this issue. You can see the detail on the PDXWAKE website at www.pdxwake.com

The thred related to this issue is:

http://www.pdxwakesnow.com/viewforum.php?f...ce71501799f901c

My advice to anyone in a community where this is becomming an issue:

-Get your head out of the sand, these are rich people who are used to getting their way. If you make them an enemy, be prepred to fight, but it will be in the legal system, where they likely have friends in high places, and the resources to make your life miserable.

-Don't be an idiot and don't let your friends be idiots. If you have a 24' boat, fully loaded with people and ballast, don't wakesurf and turn your tower speakers up in a highly residential area. This step alone will eliminate the "hostility" of most complainers, and likely will keep them from taking the process any further.

-Organize and reach out to the "enemy". Offer some compromises before legislation is forced on you. You won't like the process or the result.

At the public testimony sessions here in Oregon the people against the new regulations were the vast majority (like 90% of the attendees). The proponents of the new legislation didn't even have any scientific evidence to support that the erosion was due to the wake sport activity. Please don't think this process will be fair, or represent anything you would expect to find in democracy. I would suggest once you are in an official process on this issue with a government entity, you have already lost. Compromise fast!

I'd be happy to chat with anyone dealing with this. The last year has been a painful, but very educational process.

Cheers

Eddie

[Matt_Alger]

Coming from clean lakes in Wisconsin, I used to think the Illinois river sucked. It is very muddy, usually rough, and has things floating that you might hit. However, since there is no wake that I can possibly create that can rival the barges that move up and down the river, I feel relatively confident that no legislation will adversely impact my ability to wakesurf and wakeboard. Also, when I want glass for slalom or footing, I go to a private ski lake. I seem to have the best of both worlds. Life is good!!!

By the way, why don't a bunch of you guys out west get together and build your own ski lake so you can set your own rules? If you get 5 people who each throw in $200k you should be able to do it. Considering that most boats are now $60k plus, I would think that $200k to have your own spot might be worth it.

[MalibuTime]

Interesting old post. I have both a lakefront house and a wakeboard boat. The waves don't bother me since even the most radical boats cannot even begin to compare with what Mother Nature does. If my boat house or bulkhead could be damaged by boat wake, they would be completely decimated by the first storm. Our lake rules say that a boat must travel at no-wake speed if within 100 feet of a man-made structure. The idiots who wakeboard that close are rude and dangerous. Yes, I have seen it too often. Interestingly, the parks and wildlife folks, if they chose, could confiscate equipment violating the rules. That would be interesting.

That is one thing that strikes me as odd with the Willamette case-what mother nature does. As EBrown posts, there was not hard science behind the banning of wakes. Based on what we get up here on our rivers, the Willamette probably has a fairly major flooding every 2-3 years, which is going to (maybe- no science here, just observation) have the potential to do a lot more to reshape the shoreline than waves.