Back on the lake !!!

[Peto]

We need to outlaw surfing in the canyons... 200 miles of lake, why do you have to do it right in front of peoples camp sites?????

This guy was within 40 yards of our group of cruisers and ignored us when we tried to wave them down.

I know the wake boat people say there are courteous surfers but I have yet to meet one.


Spoke to my buddy today and he had a second conversation with the wake boat owner and he has agreed to pay for all the damage on both boats without getting his insurance involved.... Thats a bonus.

 

[PowellBride]

That's a pretty simple resolution on the surface, easier than my thought that they need to extend the distance of wakeless speed based on the boat wake.

However - define "canyon". Are all of Friendship and Last Chance a "Canyon" or just the nameless fingers off of these "Canyons". Also doesn't stop the huge wake when the boats fly by campsites in the canyon without a surfer, but still have loaded/partially loaded bladders.

 

[Havalina]

I actually talked to one of the Rangers last Saturday about this issue. Nothing will change until the park superintendent gets tired of being harassed about this. They have a ranger working boat safety and writing tickets every weekend. The wakeless violations are a low priority and I would have to agree that getting the intoxicated boat operators off the water should be the main priority. Part of the problem is that they now have the boat clubs where your average bubba can buy in for $50,000 and get behind the wheel of one of these boats.

We are going to have to put up with it for a few more years, until people start loosing it on the surf boaters. It is not just us who are annoyed by them. Talk with the ais folks on how they are being treated this year by all the new surf boaters. On of the guys I talked to while getting inspected said that he was getting MF’d and called all other sorts of names when he would point out areas that needed to be drained.

 

[Dungee]

It is not just us who are annoyed by them. Talked with the ais folks on how they are being treated this year by all the new surf boaters. One of the guys I talked to while getting inspected said that he was getting MF’d and called all other sorts of names when he would point out areas that needed to be drained.

Well duh! How dare someone who makes almost minimum wage tell them what to do!!!! Don't those measly AIS workers know that those boats cost more than their lives!!!!! Those inspectors have a lot of nerve!

 

[nzaugg]

I actually talked to one of the Rangers last Saturday about this issue. Nothing will change until the park superintendent gets tired of being harassed about this. They have a ranger working boat safety and writing tickets every weekend. The wakeless violations are a low priority and I would have to agree that getting the intoxicated boat operators off the water should be the main priority. Part of the problem is that they now have the boat clubs where your average bubba can buy in for $50,000 and get behind the wheel of one of these boats.

We are going to have to put up with it for a few more years, until people start loosing it on the surf boaters. It is not just us who are annoyed by them. Talk with the ais folks on how they are being treated this year by all the new surf boaters. On of the guys I talked to while getting inspected said that he was getting MF’d and called all other sorts of names when he would point out areas that needed to be drained.

Those boat clubs are even less than that. You buy on for $15,000 for Northern Utah reservoirs and for an extra $2000 you get a week on Lake Powell on a Nautique surf boat.

I really like the boater license idea, but I am sure all the boat dealers will lobby against it. I have had problems with all kinds of boats. This year it was with the two fishing boats that kept coming in and out of the canyon from their houseboat. The one boat was leaving early and coming late with no navigation lights at twilight and dusk at full speed, kicking up a big wave each time. His companion boat (a surf boat) was coming in and out of the canyon loaded with ballast and generating quite the wave running at surf speeds. I felt badly for the poor paddle boarders who thought they were getting a perfectly still canyon only to be knocked off the boards by a big wave.

While surfing or skiing in the channel, we have had a number of cruisers get too close as well, coming around bends not expecting anyone to be there and getting surprised to see someone with an orange flag up, but still taking their predetermined course between the wall and the boat sitting 50 yards off the wall. Of course, this doesn't compare to the jet skiers who decided they wanted to jump our surf wave while we had surfers occupying it.

Better education could improve all of these areas.

 

[Ryan]

However - define "canyon". Are all of Friendship and Last Chance a "Canyon" or just the nameless fingers off of these "Canyons". Also doesn't stop the huge wake when the boats fly by campsites in the canyon without a surfer, but still have loaded/partially loaded bladders.

Which is one of the problems. Nor does it stop the ignorant cruiser owner, oblivious to the fact that their boat throws a larger wake than anything else on the lake, who plows through the canyons. I'd actually be ok with prohibiting water sports of any type, or "plowing" through certain canyons.

But the bottom line is if the current regulations were enforced, none of that would be a problem.