Wisconsin jumps on the Wakesurfing ban/restrictions

[Kmayotte]

Our lake may be extremely biased given the president of the Wisconsin Lakes Association is a resident which is another story within itself. Anytime he is on the water he will zig-zag his pontoon in front of wake boats to ruin the water and make them stop or veer out of his way. And this mostly occurs at the best hours of the day for calm water wakeboarding. There are only 10 wake boats on the 450-acre lake and all wake activities are never anywhere near 200ft from shore, always as central to the body of water as possible, usually 400+ feet. We try to be as respectful as possible but there is always a few who will never be pleased. I

Video those shenanigans. Blow him up on socials. He won't be president long acting like that.

[XBIGPUN66]

I would call the DNR or sheriff and report unsafe boating activity if this was happening while we were riding

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[Tom1295]

I'm in northern WI as well, and have been following these developments the past few years. I'll admit that I don't like wake surfing boats, and do think they can be problematic. Of course it only takes a few to ruin it for everyone. My biggest question is what are the manufacturers doing to fight back against this growing wave (ha, ha) of opposition? The spring survey results this year were even more against the boats than last year. 70-75% of the people responded that they favor regulation based on which question they responded to. I feel that in WI, even if there isn't one more wake surfing boat added to the lakes, people are still going to fight really hard to regulate or ban the boats that are already out there. So, what is being done? Education can't be the only answer. I mostly blame the manufacturers for the arms race they started to see who can make the biggest wake. The fact that it has come to this point shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

[srock]

Ban wake-boats and the manufacturers will just move on to whatever sells. It will just take time until those against wake-boats win and it will probably be an environmental claim of shore wake damage, invasive species in ballast, disruption of some critter's breeding. Loud music only adds to the discontent. Your best bet is to quell the issue by keeping those expensive boats in the backyards of every dock owner on the lake...aka your doomed. To think that in my day it was the early morning fisherman who were upset. Now it's everyone except the person behind the boat.

[Kmayotte]

I'm in northern WI as well, and have been following these developments the past few years. I'll admit that I don't like wake surfing boats, and do think they can be problematic. Of course it only takes a few to ruin it for everyone. My biggest question is what are the manufacturers doing to fight back against this growing wave (ha, ha) of opposition? The spring survey results this year were even more against the boats than last year. 70-75% of the people responded that they favor regulation based on which question they responded to. I feel that in WI, even if there isn't one more wake surfing boat added to the lakes, people are still going to fight really hard to regulate or ban the boats that are already out there. So, what is being done? Education can't be the only answer. I mostly blame the manufacturers for the arms race they started to see who can make the biggest wake. The fact that it has come to this point shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

They are pumping money through the Marine Trades association to hire local lobbyist to fight. There is a lobbyist in NH who basically works full time on any and all legislation that pops up. Manufacturers are not sitting idly. They're just working quietly and with their money. And generally with politics, that's who often wins.

[Tom1295]

They are pumping money through the Marine Trades association to hire local lobbyist to fight. There is a lobbyist in NH who basically works full time on any and all legislation that pops up. Manufacturers are not sitting idly. They're just working quietly and with their money. And generally with politics, that's who often wins.

Thanks for the info. Interesting times for sure.

[Ola]

In their latest presentation to the Wisconsin DNR they referenced the owner's manuals of Malibu and Mastercraft, citing that these ballasted boats are impossible to completely drain, leaving the possibility for invasive species to be present if the boat is moved from lake to lake.

This argument goes nowhere IMO. Does any bilge completely dry out? How about the livewell of any fishing boat coming off the lake? I'm confident that the overall volume of water carried from lake to lake by fishing boats greatly exceeds that carried by wakeboats simply due to the overwhelming number of fishing boats that are present in Wisconsin.

[Jbertram1245]

Ola I completely agree. The owner of the Boat house in three lakes argued this exact point. But I assume the people opposed to wake boats are throwing the kitchen sink at these boats. Trying to exploit any environmental issue possible to sway the DNR and legislators. Wisconsin lakes association argues that the ballast tanks on wake boats are difficult to access and inspect. You could argue the same for fishing boats which is frustrating. Not to mention most wake boats stay on one lake the entire season while fishing boats often move across a variety of lakes in one day.

[North Woody]

I’m resurrecting this thread as it’s been a year since the last post on this topic but this issue clearly isn’t going away …

The GOOD news: In Wisconsin, where Republicans control both houses of the State Legislature, no enhanced wake sports bills have been brought forward to even receive a hearing so far. And the DNR has also not put anything forward.

The BAD news: There appears to be an increasing effort in Wisconsin at the local level to pass ordinances to restrict or outright ban enhanced wake boating. As of April, 44 ordinances restricting or prohibiting wake-enhanced boating have been passed by town boards or other local units of government in Wisconsin. So the anti-wakesurf crowd isn’t waiting for state action to curtail enhanced wake boat activity, and they seem pretty well organized to keep this up.

On our relatively small 450 acre lake outside of Eagle River, WI, we have addressed this by rolling out a revised “Courtesy Code” that requires surfers to stay 500 feet offshore in water at least 20’ deep. We also ask people to be respectful with their music and we don’t allow surfing after dusk. This is only a courtesy code and is therefore non-binding, but we ask everyone to respect it and adhere to it. We only have 7 surf boats on our lake (two of which are owned by our Lake Association Board members!), and so far we been able to thread the needle with our non-surfing neighbors on the lake.

We have our annual Lake Association meeting on Saturday so I’m looking for any help on what you guys are seeing on your lakes wherever you surf. Thanks for sharing your experience as we hope to find the right balance of allowing all of us to use the lake respectfully where you surf, fish, kayak, paddle board, water ski!