Independent Consultant Hired by Pro-Wake Surf Group Finds that Wake Surfing Endangers All Lake Users and Damages Lakes & Shores

SAFETY ISSUES:

Tellingly, the very expert, Water Environmental Consultants, retained, advanced and endorsed by a pro-wake surf group on Lake Waramaug, highlighted the following safety issues in their 2021 report on the use of wake boats in ballast mode on Lake Rabun and Lake Burton in Georgia. Quoting directly from the WEC report:

“Large wakes can create unsafe conditions by swamping recreational craft, impacting other boats, or causing falls overboard. Small craft, including canoes, kayaks, and sailboats are particularly at risk of being swamped, broached, or capsized by steep waves from wake boats." (WEC Report, at v)

“As detailed by this report, wake boats produce much higher waves than typical cruising or waterskiing craft, and they also produce longer, more energetic waves. The increases in wave heights and wave lengths caused by wake boats increase the risk of injury or fatal accidents on these lakes through several possible mechanisms. These larger waves can:

  • “Increase risk of swamping of small craft that have a low freeboard, which in turn increases the risk of drowning or injury;

  • “Increase risk of falls overboard, which also increases risk of drowning or injury;

  • “Increase incidence of cruising boats slamming into waves, resulting in passenger injury; and

  • “Increase incidence of vessels being pushed or slammed into docks or shoreline bulkheads, which increases risk of injury or death for people near the vessel." (Id. at v-vi)”

DAMAGE TO LAKE & SHORELINE:

The WEC report expressly exposes the risk of wake surfing on smaller, narrower lakes. Quoting directly from the report:

Erosion:  “… wave energy from wakesurfing and wakeboarding vessels are much more likely to contribute to shoreline erosion than typical boat wakes or wind waves. ...  Vessel wakes have been shown to have the potential for adverse impacts to shorelines, including shoreline erosion … scour of the bottom of the shoreface, and temporary reduction in water clarity.”

Churning sediment and shorelines: “As water becomes shallower, the wave interacts with the bottom, and wave transformation is affected by refraction, shoaling, and bottom friction. Waves may also be reflected by the shoreline, structures or the bottom. Wave transformation processes generally cause an attenuation in wave height as the wave propagates away from the sailing line, until it reaches very shallow water, at which point wave shoaling causes an increase in wave height before wave breaking.”

Recommends 950 foot buffer:

“For wakesurfing, the wave height equation indicates the height does not attenuate to 0.8 ft until approximately 950 feet from the sailing line. At 500 feet of the sailing line, the wake height is approximately 1 ft. Appropriate buffer distances for wakesurfing operation may include 500 feet (allowing for higher and more powerful waves), or 950 feet (requiring wave heights no greater than typical cruising/waterskiing conditions)… Therefore, even … a 950-foot buffer for wakesurfing conditions will still allow waves to impact other vessels, structures, or the shoreline with more power than those from cruising/waterskiing at a 100-ft buffer distance.”

Logo and text for Water Environment Consultants in Mount Pleasant, SC, with the acronym WEC on a water-themed background.

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