Balancing the interests of the state’s lakes and rivers users is a never-ending challenge, but the state’s wake boat users hit an unseen obstacle earlier this month when the public weighed in on these specialized watercraft.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources held its usual spring hearings on a variety of conservation-related topics, with more than 11,000 residents and non-residents voting online April 10-13 on 76 questions. The DNR included non-resident input this year because some out-of-staters own land here or hunt, fish, trap and otherwise enjoy Wisconsin’s outdoors.
There was public support, by a more than 2-1 margin, for six questions that would bring more restrictions on wake boats, an expensive watercraft designed to create larger waves for wakeboarders, surfboarders and water skiers.
A Shawano boat dealer who sells two top brands of wake boats says restrictions on these boats is largely unnecessary and could cause financial hardships not only to the dealers who sell them but also the owners who could find themselves unable to use their boats on their favorite waters.
“They’ve been trying to do this for quite a few years,” said Jake Drakenburg, fiberglass boat specialist at American Marine and Motorsports. “I prefer nothing to happen. As long as people respect other people, there’s no problem. A 21-foot walleye boat makes the same wake as a wake boat.”
Wake boats, sold by Wisconsin dealers since about 2005, are high-ticket watercraft that range in price from $130,000 to $280,000, with the average around $180,000. American Marine sells Malibu and Axis, two of the top-selling brands.
American Marine sells about 50 wake boats a year, with the state’s dealers selling 5,000 to 7,000 a year. Drakenburg owns a 22-foot Malibu Wakesetter 22 LSV and enjoys wakeboarding and tubing with his wife, Maggie, and sons Sheldon, 17, and Marshal, 12, two or three times a week on Shawano Lake.
“Are you going to tell them (wake boat owners) that they can’t use them?” Drakenburg said. The secret to keeping shoreline property owners and fishermen happy is to “go to the middle of the lake. Shawano Lake is a big lake to fish.”
While enjoying one outing there, an angler dropped anchor right where his family was using their wake boat. Slow-water users can avoid such conflicts by staying away from powerboaters. Some smaller lakes like Legend and Loon have no-wake policies after 6 p.m., which further benefits anglers, kayakers and canoeists, Drakenburg noted.
Fellow American Marine boat salesman Rick Coello noted that Legend and Cloverleaf lakes and the Wolf River are other popular areas for wake boats.
Wake boats generate larger waves through the use of water ballast tanks in the rear of the boat so the boat rides lower in the water, Drakenburg explained. His Malibu has four ballast tanks that can hold a total of 2,200 pounds of water.
A 2020 study by the University of Minnesota’s St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, conducted on Lake Independence, Maple Plain, Minnesota, used two Malibu wake boats and two conventional power boats. The study indicated that full vs. empty ballasts had little impact on the wave height, total wave energy and maximum wave power at distances greater than 100 feet.
It took about 500 feet for the waves to “attenuate” or dissipate from a wake boat vs. 425 feet from a conventional boat, the study summarized. An aftermarket “wave shaper” that can be attached to any boat had the most wave impact.
The six Conservation Congress questions on the annual DNR spring survey related to wake boats included two from Dane County (written by George Meyer of Madison) and four from Vilas County, two from Jeff Meessmann and two from Yvonne Meessmann, both of Boulder Junction, according to a DNR link to the individual questions.
According to an introduction to the six questions, “unregulated wake surfacing” has the potential to erode shoreline, destroy fish spawning beds, swamp loon nests and otherwise cause environmental damage. All of these proposals would require legislation to be implemented.
You can read all the questions at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/sites/default/files/topic/About/WCC/2023/Sprin...
The first wake boat question seeks to restrict such boats more than 700 feet from shore “or other water users” on lakes larger than 1,500 acres. The overall vote was 6,062-3,019 in favor (5,768-2,770 in favor by Wisconsin residents).
The second would prohibit “wake boats causing hazardous wakes” on lakes less than 1,500 acres. The vote was 6,292-2,879 in favor (5,989-2,632).
The third question would prohibit wake boats from operating within 700 feet “of any dock, raft, pier, buoyed restricted area, shoreline and any other watercraft.” Votes were 5,999-3,020 (5,712-2,769).
The fourth seeks to create a state law that would prohibit wake boats on lakes of an as yet undefined size, depth, length and width. Voting was 6,179-2,874 (5,874-2,632) in favor.
The fifth would prohibit methods used to intentionally magnifying wakes on lakes less than 1,500 acres. Voting was 6,207-2,856 (5,900-2,616) in favor.
The final question seeks to prohibit intentionally magnifying wakes on Presque Isle Township, Vilas County. Voting was 5,688-2,743 (5,409-2,504) in favor.
All results can be seen at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/sites/default/files/topic/About/WCC/2023/Sprin...
Ross Bielema is a freelance writer from New London and owner of Wolf River Concealed Carry LLC. Contact him at Ross@wolfriverccw.com.
Rough waters may be ahead for wake boat users
