Police

[Hammer]

I was surfing on our area lake last weekend (Eagle Mt Lake) when the police come up to me and says i was riding at a unsafe distance behind the boat and law reqires 20 ft. He also says its dangerous for the fumes as well. I told him i was going to install a FAE system but he still said its unsafe of coarse he checked me out for everything else i figured that much.He gave me a warning took my name and boat told me if i get stoped again i'll get a ticket i guess i'm going to get one cause i'm not going to stop. I think i would like to get a ticket to talk to the judge to find out.
Keep Surfing !

[jester]

You have to love the Police. I have hard other states doing the same thing. The way i see it is that if i am not indangering other people then it is my own business what i do or don't do. If would be kind of funny if the same cop stops you the next time. Let us know how everything turns out.

[McMoomba]

Hammer, that stinks. I haven't tried sufing yet but last season I saw a few people on Joe Pool and never heard of any problems. Hope all is well over there withe the wildfires.

[moombadaze]

Wish the police had been on the lake last night and seen the jackass punk kid who came way to close to my daughter when she fell surfing. I was so pissed-yelling and cursing at him-i bet all the people around the lake heard me.

[jmvotto]

daze,
they only hassle the people being responsible, they should seriously look at the idiots that don't know the laws and rules. I had a bass fisherman trailing my daughter on skiis at about 50 yds inside the wake. I was pissed.

I can't wait for the police to pull us over, I will have to fill up on my BS, plus get me a surfboard soon.

[kaneboats]

Wouldn't it be nice if the boat cops were people that grew up on the water and understood the real dangers instead of being taught that if you don't understand it then it's probably illegal so write a ticket?

[sandm]

glad that most of our water cops on the lake I frequent are more about boater education that enforcement.
they have no issues getting involved with reckless boating, following too close, wake issues and conflicts between 2 boaters, but I have never seen them get involved with people out having a good time, minding their own business doing whatever recreational activity they desire.
we have a couple of full time actual sheriffs that are up there all the time, and are cool, the rest on the weekends are volunteers that have a love of the water and want to spend time on it, not just about the paycheck.

ed has some good advice. get the facts from wakeoutlaws and be prepared to stand your ground, get a ticket if need be, and then let the courts and the prosecutors argue against what is becoming one of the fastest growing watersports..

[kaneboats]

I took a quick look but didn't see the discussion. Could someone post a link directly to the info? Thanks!

[Timbuck80]

Sorry to hear that they are hassleing the wakesurfers down there. I am in Idaho and I remember that they had a News show on wakesurfing from somewhere up in central Idaho I never did hear what came out of it. Here is some information on the Laws.. Good Luck!!!!http://www.wakeoutlaws.com/wakesurfnasbla.php

[zabooda]

Sorry Tim but those are model rules developed by the site and more than likely the rule makers don't even know they exist. I belong to two different organizations that fight restrictions for off road recreational riding and rules that affect dog laws and in both cases there are national chapters and local chapters that work on a common goal. In both cases it requires involvement and it requires money. Without organization, the state and local rule makers will win out just by the sheer numbers who support the laws. Boats that make the large wakes are like cigarette smokers and that is the wake is enjoyable for them but an annoyance for others. I have the same issue with off road riding and the majority of the people want lands to be banned from riding. Our club spends about $2,000 a year to send people to the state capitol to lobby and other clubs do the same and it works in most cases. You need to educate the lawmakers on a one-on-one situation.

You can't test the laws by ticketing as that would be foolish because you can't fight the legality of the law but only that the law was broken.