Wakesurfing Illegal!?

[sandm]

... if I choose to do this... and get hurt .. who do I hurt? ME! So now its ok to take my right away? If I miss hititng a nail with a hammer and bloddy my thumb... will it be against the law to hit nails?

problem is that if you get hurt and end up in the hospital and don't have insurance, who ends up paying for it? all of us. sorry, just playing devils advocate...
wakesurfing should be outlawed behind any boat that is NOT a direct/v drive. if you are on the water as a cop, you should have some common knowledge about boats, and should be able to recognize a direct/v drive from a i/o from at least 100ft away, not to mention the boat name would be a big clue.. that would put the whole issue to bed, and allow anyone that does get ticketed for it to have some recourse in court, and if you are surfing behind your bayliner f-17, that's what natural selection is for.

[gcombe74]

wakesurfing should be outlawed behind any boat that is NOT a direct/v drive.

I agree with most of what you said except this... I have seen a few people behind yamaha jet drive boats... appears to be just as safe if not more behind one of them as well!

I say if you have a death wish to wakesurf behind an I/O just notify next of kin before you go!

[kaneboats]

wakesurfing should be outlawed behind any boat that is NOT a direct/v drive.

This is why the answer isn't always a new law. You'll have the jet drive people complaining and the cops ticketing the wrong people. The answer is for everybody to have a little sense. If you are grown up enough to have a boat you should know what kind of boat you have. You don't skydive out of a commercial airliner. You don't drive your Corolla across a stream. You don't drive your snowmobile to the beach in July. You don't wakesurf behind an outboard or an I/O. The danger is apparent. "Wear your life jacket" and "Watch out for the prop" aren't good enough.

[sandm]

This is why the answer isn't always a new law. .

don't disagree, but there are some cops out there that don't seem to understand. this would make it easy for them to distinguish who should and who shouldn't be surfing and write tickets or teach/train accordingly. the popo on our lake understand wakesurfing, but I'd be pissed if I trailered to a new lake and got a ticket or told not to. the temptation to argue with them would be too great, and I think we all know where that would end up.

I don't think about the jetdrives much as we don't have many ski boats with jets here. 99% of the jetdrives are on river boats, and I have yet to see one surf, but yea, include them as a wakesurf boat then.

[Mrs. Kane]

Sandm,

Anyone with out insurance can go to the hospital for ANY reason (a cold) and we all have to pay for it. AND if someone owns a $30,000 plus boat and does not have health insurance.....well, I can't even begin to go there.

Anyway, I still believe in less laws.

Part of the beauty of the USA is we can all have our own opinions! I thank all military, current and past for defending that right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sandm]

totally agree with the military statement.. respect everything they do

I don't know how it is where you live, but I can't even begin to count the $60k boats around here owned by people in the construction industry, and I bet that less than 40% carry insurance, since they are all self-employed, but that's another story...

I agree that in some cases less law is better, but sometimes you need laws to help define what is legal and what isn't. 2 cops, one decides to enforce some obscure law that makes wakesurfing illegal, while his partner doesn't. 2 boats on the same lake, one gets a ticket, one doesn't. how does the guy that got the ticket fight it?
I used to be involved in the import car scene and owned 2 evolutions. I thanked the county/state for the laws that governed the modifications so I could fight cops that tried to harass me.