Is there a law against this?

[Pac22]

This thread just reminded me of something "new" that I just encountered for the first time this summer. I'm sure it's probably been around for awhile, but I had never seen it until about a month or so ago. I believe it could be a dangerous activity, but our regs don't address it......YET.


From http://www.lakecumberland.com/forum/vie ... #pid303993

Anyone ever heard of "wake surfing"? For the dummy's like me who have never heard of it or seen it done, here's what it is.

Found a guy "surfing" in a no ski zone about a month ago. When I first met the boat he was surfing behind, I noticed he was EXTREMELY close to the stern of the boat, standing up on what I thought was a knee board. I also thought he was being towed by a rope. Upon stopping them, I learned that he was actually "wake surfing" on the leading edge of the boats wake, directly behind the swim platform. And worse yet, he wasn't wearing a PFD of any type. But he also wasn't attached to the boat by a rope or any other means. (Please note definitions #20 & 21 above again here). My common sense told me that at some point he had to be being "towed behind a moving vessel" in order to get the surfboard up on plane on the leading edge of the boats wake not more than 3-5 feet behind the boat.....even if it was nothing more than simply holding onto the boats swim platform with his hands until he was up. However, the problem was that I didn't actually "see" him doing that, and for all I knew he could have gotten up before entering the no ski zone and then surfed into it already planned off.

One of those situations that isn't yet covered by any regulation and all I could do was go "hmmmmm.....never seen


Text from http://www.lakecumberland.com/forum/vie ... #pid303993

[Pac22]

911 posted this and I was wondering if it was against the law, or even dangerous? Keep in mind, everything we do in life is dangerous....Driving a car, they say, is the most dangerous thing one will ever do in life. But I don't see this being more dangerous as anything else as the boat stops, so does the wake. But then,,,,,,,what do I know.

[bubbles]

i don't really understand it, would have to see a video of it. but i'd say one major thing would be not wearing a life jacket doing a watersport.......just my thoughts.

[TheOneAndOnlyROOSTER]

i don't really understand it, would have to see a video of it. but i'd say one major thing would be not wearing a life jacket doing a watersport.......just my thoughts.

ditto

[kdfwr911]

911 posted this and I was wondering if it was against the law, or even dangerous? Keep in mind, everything we do in life is dangerous....Driving a car, they say, is the most dangerous thing one will ever do in life. But I don't see this being more dangerous as anything else as the boat stops, so does the wake. But then,,,,,,,what do I know.

I was kinda pointing out in that post that we don't have any regulation that addresses wake surfing....yet. Wake surfing technically gets around the water skiing/tubing regs because the person is NOT being "towed" behind a boat that is moving as is required by the legal definitions pertaining to skiing and tubing regs. And because it technically isn't skiing (because it isn't being towed) , the PFD requirement for skiing also doesn't apply. Nor does the prohibition against skiing or tubing in a no "ski" zone.....which is where I encountered the folks that were doing this. The ONLY reg we have pertaining to "surfing" of any kind that I could find is a prohibition against skiing, tubing, surfing operating a motorboat etc while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. But the folks were NOT under the influence of anything either. So all I could do was say "hmmm.....never seen that one before" and let them go about their business. However, now that this has been recognized as a glaring omission in the regs, I would anticipate wording being added to our regs pertaining to wearing a PFD while skiing and no ski zones to address this in the future.......and hopefully not the distant future either. But then again, they don't let me write the laws so who knows when it may eventually happen.

As far as whether or not it is dangerous, I can see the potential for someone to get seriously hurt and possibly killed doing this.....especially without a PFD on. The way the guy on the Utube video Squakmeister posted took off from a standing position on the swim platform I could invision someone falling and striking their head on the swim platform, which has the potential to knock them out or at least daze them to the point of drowning if they aren't wearing a PFD. Aside from that, I believe there is also the potential of suffering carbon monoxide poisining in this close proximity to the stern of the boat (a big problem when "teak surfing). And finally, I see the potential for someone to get their feet/legs chopped off in the boats prop if attempting it from a sterndrive or god forbid an outboard. Example; If a person were attempting to take off from the swim platform as the guy in the video did and slipped and fell feet first off the back edge of the swim platform, I'm thinking his natural instinct to "catch himself" on the swim platform with his hands, arms and upper half of his torso would probably kick in and he would likely wind up with his feet in the prop before the realization that "catching himself" was a bad idea kicked in. Keep in mind that this is not a high speed sport either. To produce a good surfing wake requires that the boat be traveling at a relatively slow speed so that the bow of the boat is up a little and the stern is down. Then again, I suppose a larger cruiser would produce a good wake at any speed it was capable of too.

As far as doing this while wearing a PFD and using a rope to take off so that you are not on top of the prop (on sterndrives and/or outboards) the only thing I can see that would make it any more dangerous than water skiing would be the potential for carbon monoxide in that close proximinity to the transom. And there are many documented deaths from carbon monoxide while "teak surfing".

[Nervous Wreck]

Where is the link to the video? I gotta see this!

[E_]

I saw it once and it looked pretty cool. The guy I saw had his pfd on, I did not see how he got up on the board... I would not think it would be anywhere near wise on a boat without a BIG swim platform.


Also do we have the link to this thread on LC.com? If it is from there we need to past a link and state that is where the text came from.
Found the thread and pasted a link

[TheOneAndOnlyROOSTER]

Heck I don't even jump in for a swim, without some type of floatation device on... Usually a swim belt, but man all it takes is once, and you're fish food!!!

[FasterThanYou]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cMXQK53WPU

[Pac22]

Thanks for your response 911. I totally agree a pfd should be worn. And the fact that someone would start from the swim platform is idiotic. No way in hell I'd try that. A short rope would be ideal.

[E_]

I think the boat has to already be moving and then you move out from the boat onto the surf board...

[E_]

I just found this...
http://www.wakesurfingvids.com/ using this search http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=how+to ... s&ei=UTF-8


WakeSurfing 101
http://www.wakesurfingvids.com/viewclip ... 6Pf5s7HGF0

This tackles the Carbon Monoxide issues, outboard motors.., dragging on the swim platform, wearing life jackets, and they show that to start is to be in the water (I WAS WRONG I GUESS lol) and they show getting up.

[Pac22]

Cool video but that dudes hair was jacked up.

[E_]

D@mn, now i am going to have to watch again since I did not notice..

[E_]

LMAO, Guess ur right..

lol.JPG (18.25 KiB) Viewed 3921 times

[Pac22]

And to think he did that on purpose. Boarding at 10mph couldn't do that.

[Lisa]

Are pfd's when tubing/skiing only specific to certain lakes or states? I ask because I was watching "Brooke Knows Best" (shut up Howl and/or ___) and they were tubing in Miami on the ocean with no PFD's. I just wondered??

[Pac22]

watching "Brooke Knows Best" (shut up Howl and/or ___)

[RELAX]

Why is everyone so uptight about someone not wearing their PFD? Why should anyone care?? Cant you just take care of yourself and wear your special PFD when you get wet?

I have seen surfers (without a PFD by the way) riding waves so big that it would make most people piss their pants in tiny little Lake Cumberland.

[E_]

YOU REBEL! lol


I think most are uptight about the person being too close to the prop in some of the vids. The one I posted though seems they took the hazards into account.