Wakeboat Study / Legislation

[uniwarking]

Hello all. There is a growing threat to our sport and the use of wakeboats. A team at the University of Minnesota published a crowd funded study of wave size comparing a 20 year old competition ski boat versus a newer "wake boat." This study is now being used by legislators as they consider regulations for wake boats. This study is not done in good faith and is clearly targeted towards wakeboats and wake surfing / wake boarding. They certainly have not looked at other newer/larger/heavier "non-wake boats." I'd urge you to reach out to the team performing these studies and encourage them to be scientists instead of special interest promotors.

Facebook - St. Anthony Falls Laboratory - SAFL
Webpage - http://www.safl.umn.edu/

You can also reach out to the University of Minnesota or the authors of the study directly.

Some states have passed or are considering bans/restrictions and this study is fueling this!

[BigOrange]

Specifically new laws going into affect in Tennessee starting July 1. With SC, Mastercraft, and Bu all out of TN, I’m totally surprised it passed. I wonder what special interests played into the new laws passing.

As I understand:
No surf/wb on a cove/finger/river less than 400’ wide.
No surf/wb within 200’ of a bank/shoreline.

[SONIC]

Specifically new laws going into affect in Tennessee starting July 1. With SC, Mastercraft, and Bu all out of TN, I’m totally surprised it passed. I wonder what special interests played into the new laws passing.

As I understand:
No surf/wb on a cove/finger/river less than 400’ wide.
No surf/wb within 200’ of a bank/shoreline.

I boat on a small(by Tn standards anyway) lake, so I went and measured the width of all the places we surf and they are all well over 400ft (800-1000), even in places I would consider too tight to surf in so in my opinion the laws are a no big deal.

The 20 ft from shore is a bit annoying as sometimes we will surf close to shore (with the rider/wave on the opposite side) to keep the surf wave off the shore so in my case that regulation is going to actually hurt the shoreline more. I do however regularly see people surfing with the wave going into the shore 50 ft off the shoreline so maybe it will help.

[Josh828]

These new laws were pretty common sense but this floated around a few months ago and had me worried haha

[Holdmybeer]

So if you want to be topless you just have to "identify" as male?

What is the point of this law when it's easily skirted from other laws?

Also 4 people = 12 containers
Is this beers, bottles of bourbon, 1/2 gallon yeti jugs?

So dumb!

[brad460]

Someone email these folks and tell them they must add 1000 lbs of lead to their study…otherwise impossible to surf and have an accurate study..

[Mxmark4]

These new laws were pretty common sense but this floated around a few months ago and had me worried haha

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.

[brad460]

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.

[BigOrange]

Which totally ignores any other boat doing the same. What about our same wake boat which throws just as big a wake when just cruising or pulling a tube? What about big cabin cruisers?

[larry_arizona]

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.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk