Axis Wakeboard Boat Forum

Alright Guys I need your thoughts and input about this.
It seems that our city council is meeting in two weeks to discuss wake surfing on our local lake. The email I just received said that some are looking at making it reckless endangerment and reckless operation of a vessel. Most attempts at this across the nation have been unsuccessful with the exception of one lake thus far.
We all know how safe wake surfing is. It's just that we need to get some information together to go have a voice at the meeting. Any stats vs other water sports or any information at all would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully this will go no further than the meeting on the 16th. We all know that once one lake starts outlawing it then others will follow.
Any info or links would be appreciated as we start to prepare our side of the story about wake surfing.
Thanks

Are they concerned with the rider's safety or the impact of the wake on other boats / swimmers / etc?

Yes, I would want to know exactly what angle they are coming from to better prep the counter argument.

Not 100% sure yet. May be the distance the surfer is from the prop. The marine police did issue a few citations last weekend only to back off after many phone calls and complaints.
However I have a feeling this May be driven by residents who don't like the giant wakes. They actually tried to ban ballast a couple of years ago but were unsuccessful. Hear that we will have to fight this battle again in early 2015.
But for now from what we have heard is they are going to go after it from a safety point and the distance of rider from boat.
On Facebook go to Mike's Water Sport Lessons. Super good guy. He has posted a couple of stories about it and should be leading the group.

I would also assume the local residents are the ones driving the complaints. Last weekend was a very busy weekend for most waterways so you can imagine how many complaints lake patrol received just in that wknd alone.

A few weeks ago we were out wakeboarding and stayed closer to the local marina since it was a week day and nobody was around. We were taking sets down the middle of this one cove that has docks on both sides, it usually isn't an issue staying away unless you are having to pass another boat. Well, another boat comes to ride there also which was cool bc we had actually just stopped to rest. They didn't stay towards the middle, favored one side, and not 5 mins later late patrol came flying by and went after them. It was obvious that someone who lived near by called them in bc their dock was getting tossed around.

Fading music to front speakers when sitting, staying as far away as you can from people's docks, etc. can go a long way. Usually it's just a few idiots that give everyone else a bad name so try and get some data from the surf specific companies. I'm sure they have all of that research handy and it's in their best interest to share it in cases like this.

He mentioned on his FB page "They believe the danger is with the surfer getting so close to the propeller with the concern that if the surfer were to fall and the boat had to stop suddenly or if the motor stalled, the surfer would be in danger of hitting the back of the boat and be injured. I have heard that reckless operation is the closest law but not the cleanest charge. The question being proposed is whether this is reckless operation of a vessel and prohibited. "
For an I/O or outboard I would agree that charges would be appropriate. For an inboard, especially with a platform, one would have to perform quite the feat to launch from a board and hit the prop. I think it would be quite near impossible. Some photos (profile - showing boat angle from bow to stern) would help alleviate concerns about that. Hitting the boat if the driver were to suddenly stop - I suppose that's more possible. That would be driver error and with a bad driver one could as easily injure a tuber or wakeboarder.

From his latest post sounds like they may go after ballast. That's probably coming from home owners or small boaters.

Bama Axis what lake are you on? Since I see Skiers assists you (Lay Lake? Mitchell?)

if they are saying it's because of the wakes then are they planning on banning any boat over 30ft? Because any cabin cruiser 30+ft will put out a wake that will rival or be bigger than any wake our boats could put out.

Lake Tuscaloosa


Max boat length now I think is 28ft. I hear from a very reliable source that early in 2015 they are going to try to ban ballast.

Might be an interest for the boat company's lawyers to get involved with, and help out, since it would directly impact the manufacturer as well.