Wakesurfing Illegal in Australia

[AusFire]

Hey guys,

Just wondering if any of you have this same problem in the US.

Down under they have a law were you can't be any closer than 7mtrs to the boat. Well 7mtr (22.96ft) rope is the minimum.
"The operator of a power-driven vessel must ensure that the tow rope or towing device used to tow a person ensures that the person being towed is not less than 7 metres behind the vessel.
Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units."

http://www.wake.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=33984#p471253

We have to be careful were we do this, not sure if the rule will change as its a recognised sport.

We did think of hooking tow rope to front boat eyelet, then up over top through tower then to rider, 6mtr boat + rider 1mtr off rear platform, = 7mtrs, lol.

[sandm]

there are laws here about being towed by the boat and distance and teak surfing, but almost all the popo's here understand the difference between a safety issue and wakesurfing. every once in a while I hear a story about a rogue cop that doesn't understand what we are doing and tickets. most have been thrown out that I know of..

maybe form an effort with some of the towboat dealerships to petition to rewrite the law with an exception for wakesurfing behind an inboard towboat? takes time and energy, but in the end, i'm sure your efforts would pay off..

[saskie99]

no rope, means not being towed. I see no problem!

[Inliner]

no rope, means not being towed. I see no problem!

LOL, good point Saskie!!!!! ;-)

[you da man]

no rope, means not being towed. I see no problem!

Exactly. However, to play the devil's advocate, most states and maybe even Australia for the original poster of this thread, deck starts would be illegal due to standing on the deck/platform while underway. We've seen posts about a few states wanting to outlaw wakesurfing but only to boats that are outboard (duh) and stern drive (aka: inboard/outboard). V-drive and direct drive boats would be allowed to surf under these proposed laws.

[sandm]

I would welcome such laws as it would eliminate all questions as to what is and isn't legal, but around here, there isn't enough law enforcement and most wouldn't be too concerned with the difference in some of the wakeboard-edition i/o's. there's a bunch of young kids I've ran into several times that are surfing behind a chaparral sunesta. the brochure for the boat even listed it at one point a few years ago. kind of frustrating as I really don't care if they do it as it's no skin off my body, but as soon as one of them gets chewed up by the prop, it'll start the legal machine churning out all kinds of laws to "protect us"..

[you da man]

I haven't seen one of those Sunsettas yet on my local lakes but have seen the brochure. Almost weekly I see the same young adults in an I/O Tahoe wake surfing (they have yet to let go of the rope in 3 summers)

[sandm]

I bet thats not the story they tell chicks.. they dont need no stinkin rope.. :)

[Inliner]

It reminds me of the "bicycle helmet law" they instituted for kids in Florida. I grew up on bicycles and didn't start wearing a helmet until I started racing and my avg speeds were exceeding 20 mph. Less than 1% of kids actually do get a head injury in our state from falling off bicycles yet the state passes a law that makes anyone under the age of 16 without a helmet in violation of the law. When the law was passed, the state then realized they just made 90% of the state criminals and SOME people couldn't afford helmets for their children. So they used tax payer money to buy helmets for most of the children in the state!

All this to protect the 2.6% of the state's population who can't seem to obey the law even WITH a helmet! The problem is, the law and stats don't differentiate between stupid, intelligent and under age. Meanwhile, motorcyclists die every day from the fact that the state doesn't require them to wear helmets... All to protect us from our selves... So in the end run, those stupid enough to wake surf behind outboards and I/Os will hurt themselves and we will all become criminals because of their lack of intelligence. Personally anyone dumb enough to do that probably should be removed from the gene pool... BTW, the stats for this came from http://www.flhsmv.gov/hsmvdocs/CS2010.pdf if you want to verify it yourself.

[Suprahunter]

Where does a bare foot boom stand under the law in Australla?

[AusFire]

Where does a bare foot boom stand under the law in Australla?

Barefoot booms are fine because they are on the side of the boat, their worry is the exhaust fumes directly behind boat i believe. Wonder if ya put the deep exhaust on would that make a difference??

[z28ke]

I've been wanting to start a thread concerning wakesurfing legality and a search turned up some old posts with no clear answers, but didn't want to beat a dead horse. Last season was our first wakesufing and we didn't have any trouble, but we never cruised past the green legs while surfing either. I have only seen one or two other boats surfing on falls lake, both of which inboards.

[z28ke]

Yesterday I wakesurfed past the coast guard, wildlife, and county sheriff boats and nobody said a word about it. Wildlife even did a safety check when I had a surfer in the water! I guess it's all good