Wakeboat Study / Legislation

I really try and think where my wake ends up whether it be on shore or another boat.

But good lord do the toons and tubing boats not look where they are going and cross or pass in front of my line. I just shake my head.

If I see fishing boats especially with planar boards out, I wait for them to clear, but I won’t wait for a fishing boat horvering over the same pocket for an hour.

No power turns for downed riders, volume only high enough for rider. Music muted when returning to rider.

I try to throw my wave to the center of lake so it can fade as it eventually gets to shore.

I try to avoid dock areas entirely.

I try not to grind an area more than a handful of passes before moving elsewhere or giving it a rest.

I fully understand we are not a well liked type on the water. I minimize the hate as much as I can. I was the same when I was a jet skier.


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Originally Posted by sandm

not to be the debbie downer BUT imo this is not about eroding shorelines. this is more about wakeboats as a whole...

look at who uses a lake regularly and think perceptions. an old boss told me years ago that "your perception is my reality".
lets look at a day in the life of some wakeboats. not all but some.
load up in the morning with friends/beer/surfboards. spend all day going back and forth in the same spots tossing waves, partying on the boat, screaming kids and loud music. it goes back and forth in front of your dock all day.
now look at another tooner. load up with beer/friends. head out to the swim/party spot. spend the day and home. goes by once or twice and even towing a tube, they are moving at 2x the surf speed-less passes-without a tower full of speakers and a wake that can shake a dock loose.

in the 2 examples if I was a property owner. the wakeboat would annoy the piss out of me. not even so much as for the wakes but partying and loud music and seems that we find "that spot" and just go back and forth for hours.

ok. now I want to ban them. go after partying? already have dui laws on the books. go after music? nope. too hard to enforce and too many other things emit loud noises prior to sunset. go after wake? yup. easier to justify and easier to get more on board.

I hate to say this but as an industry we have done this to ourselves as the 75% inconsiderate ruin it for the 25% responsible.

and yet there's another thread on here at the same time with a couple comments on how clear and loud a new rev12 is at 450ft. we get what we get.....

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As usual we're in complete agreement here.
Irresponsible people ruining it for those of us who have some respect.
We're at the end of the golden age of wake(surf) boats IMO, it only goes downhill from here unfortunately.

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Originally Posted by SONIC

As usual we're in complete agreement here.
Irresponsible people ruining it for those of us who have some respect.
We're at the end of the golden age of wake(surf) boats IMO, it only goes downhill from here unfortunately.

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Is that why prices skyrocketed? The manufactures have to capitalize while they can. I'm half kidding, but I agree the wake boats may start to see more restrictions.

Surfing, the wakesurf craze has caused this. Wakeboarding has been around for 25 years or more, never really been an issue. Many, not all, new wake boat owners buy them for the sole purpose of surfing and have never really been on the lakes before. Some are clueless, some are entitled, some just do not care. We all pay the price for the actions of a few unfortunately. If everyone was like Sonic and Larry, none of this legislation would be needed. On that, it was actually the National Tow Boat association that had a lot of input on these bills. They are trying to get out in front of this mess. Trust me, those in power want even more and stringent restrictions on our beloved boats. I just wish it applied to all boats and wakes. I am already seeing people complaining about wake boats in the middle of the lake, well, that is where they are putting us. But I digress, hopefully it has little impact on most of us, but the target is now squarely on our backs.

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Originally Posted by Josh828

These new laws were pretty common sense but this floated around a few months ago and had me worried haha
https://www.thunder1320.com/wp-conte...61782351_n.jpg

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That one was a good joke, one of my patients was telling me about it and had me wondering if it was a real thing. Never saw this letter until today.

I hate to say this but years ago we used to be proud to have a wakeboard boat and now I feel a bit embarrassed to have one. We now go above and beyond to make sure we are not the stereotypical wakeboat boaters..always careful around everyone, we launch and load quickly, we don’t blast our stereo, are super careful about where we surf and sure as F won’t be adding lead…... That being said we are not big surfers like we used to be and so now I am wishing we would have just bought a bow rider.

Monterey has a great boat called the M-45 with a 300HP outboard- I’ve already started planting that seed with my wife.

Banning wakesurfing is in our future..Too many surfers think they need huge waves, in reality it’s just compensating for their lack of skills.

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Originally Posted by KnoxMojo

Surfing, the wakesurf craze has caused this. Wakeboarding has been around for 25 years or more, never really been an issue. Many, not all, new wake boat owners buy them for the sole purpose of surfing and have never really been on the lakes before. Some are clueless, some are entitled, some just do not care. We all pay the price for the actions of a few unfortunately. If everyone was like Sonic and Larry, none of this legislation would be needed. On that, it was actually the National Tow Boat association that had a lot of input on these bills. They are trying to get out in front of this mess. Trust me, those in power want even more and stringent restrictions on our beloved boats. I just wish it applied to all boats and wakes. I am already seeing people complaining about wake boats in the middle of the lake, well, that is where they are putting us. But I digress, hopefully it has little impact on most of us, but the target is now squarely on our backs.

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although I agree with part of this, had wakesurfing never come about, I still think there would be a push on this just from a different angle. 25 years ago we did not have 4rev10's on every tower being sold nor too short/2live crew(insert more current rapper here-i'm dating myself :) ) being broadcast for a 1/4 mile across a lake where people live. today seems like more and more rusty malinoski wannabe's needs to have the latest nsfw album blaring when they ride. wakes are the easy target to clean up the majority but if they think it's going to make it all better..... I believe it's really wakes, music and partying that all combine to give the industry a black eye.
it's society that seems to have moved to a me me me thought process over the last 10 years or so. no one is considerate of others anymore.

and ya sonic, there's a few on here I wish I was closer to for a beer and some bullshartin.. met several on a couple boating forums over the years and it seems the people that we are all bashing on are the ones not part of the forums and contributing to making the scene better.

I see my buddy go to the same cove every weekend and surf it along with tons of other surf boats all fighting for the same bit of water plus fighting tubers and jet skis thru there. Knox mojo knows the cove I speak of as its right outside his place. Its downright sketchy when its a weekend and everybody is out there. Theres time boats will be 3 wide surfing down thru there, I feel for the folks who live there and are subjected to it day in and day out. I took my boat to a new launch (Tellico) and it was amazing last weekend. Deeeeeeep water 80 plus feet low traffic and can surf main channel so Im not destroying peoples docks or ruining their quality of life. It was so much better, and I dont feel like Im negatively affecting anybody by going there. My props also appreciate the fact thats the water isnt full of driftwood!

I agree with the comment that the loud music, particularly the rap with extreme vulgarity, is playing a big part in the complaints. Who wants to take their family with young kids to the lake and have to hear cussing blasting out across the water? Especially most of it being tailored around sex and the P word, F word, etc...you know what I mean. Not trying to sound old, but damn just have a little class when you know young kids are around. I have teenagers kids and when they or their friends Playlist have a song like that pop up, it gets skipped.

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This is what they are doing in Northern WI to eliminate wake surfing…coming to a lake near you.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7f67aa5645.jpg


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