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Wake-creation systems from the powerful boats can scour the bottom of lakes, disturb fish habitat, uproot plants and disturb sediment that can release phosphorous and nutrients that cause algal blooms, many contend. That’s how powerful they are.”īecker and others raised concerns about the effect of wakes below the water’s surface.
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“I turned my head and he was in the water. “Moments before this, he said ‘Donna watch out, here it comes,’” Burt said. Burt said her husband fell off a dock and bruised his ribs last year when a “large artificial wake” hit the shore. She said wakesurfing sends strong waves crashing against the shore of her narrow lake, eroding her shoreline, putting infrastructure at risk and damaging aquatic plants like cattails. Chuck Becker, an anti-surfing activist who lives on Big Sugar Bush Lake north of Detroit Lakes, said boats have chased kayakers and canoers out of the water, sent waves over pontoons and damaged docks.ĭonna Burt, who helped found the organization Safe Wakes for Small Lakes, lives on Lotus Lake near Chanhassen.
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Yet as boats equipped for surfing have spread, so have complaints about the large, powerful wakes they kick up. “Surfing is a huge percent of what most families are actually doing behind their boats these days,” he said. And what people want to use them for is wakesurfing. The boats are designed to make large enough wakes that a person doesn’t need a tow rope to ride them, unlike water skiing or wakeboarding.įletcher, whose dealership sells four of 10 ski boats powered by inboard motors in Minnesota, said inboard boats are the only growing segment of the boating industry. Concerns about shorelines, lake bedsīoats used for wakesurfing move relatively slowly, typically between 10 and 12 miles per hour, said Adam Fletcher, a salesman for Minnesota Inboard Water Sports. They view a 200-foot buffer as an ineffective solution that wouldn’t prevent disruption and damage. However we recognize that this may not be enough.”īut a contingent of homeowners and environmental advocates have pushed for tougher regulations - or at least more research on wake boats. “While there are disrespectful and uneducated boaters in all categories, the boaters in the wakesurf community stand out further because of impact these waves can have on other boaters and properties,” Wiczek said. But he endorsed a 200-foot restriction as a practical, and perhaps necessary, step. Bill Weber Jeremy Wiczek, an owner of the boat dealership Nisswa Marine, told the Senate panel that he tries to advise buyers on best practices for avoiding harm and bothering other lake-goers.