No Wakesurfing at Shasta

I just got back from a week at Shasta. We had just purchased a CWB Ride before the trip. On our first full day at Shasta the Sheriff pulls us over and tells us they don't allow wakesurfing on Shasta, if they see us doing it again we'll get a ticket. I don't remember exactly what he said the ticket would be for, maybe negligent operation. He said if you are closer than 20 feet to the back of the boat it would be a violation, they didn't care about the rope length. I hope this gets sorted out soon.

seems officials get teaksurfing and wakesurfing confused... that just sucks...

Just got off the phone with the Sgt. in charge of the Boating safety division. The depts. take on the situation is that they feel it is unsafe and they are trying to stop it before they have someone die from it. So it seems that we need to get someone from the sport to give these guys some good info. Some of the board makers or boat manufactures or both might need to put together some info packets or even a presentation. It might go a long way in opening some eyes.

That's a good idea. I know that Jeff Page from Inland Surfer and Rick Lee from Centurion presented Wake Surfing to the Western Region (including CA) conference of NASBLA (national association of boating law administrators) in May. They explained the sport and the differences between wake and teak surfing. From my understanding the NASBLA members seemed ok with wake surfing and were working on laws to outlaw teak surfing. Is the person you talked to the rep to NASBLA?

We got pulled over when we were there a couple of weeks ago as well. The Sheriff told us that it wasn't illegal. However, they felt that it was unsafe and if they warned us once and caught us again, they would give us a citation for unsafe boating.

He said we could surf as much as we wanted to as long as we were at least 20 feet behind the boat

At least he was cool about it....

PLease get me as much info on this as possible. We need the name of the
officer and the name and phone number of his headquarters. It won't be
anything like getting him in trouble but if we know who to talk to about
Shasta then I might be able to get them better educated about what the law
really says. There is no 20' law. The new AB2222 specifically excludes any
20' verbiage. All law enforcement has the right to write a ticket for
anything they feel is negligent or dangerous. We just need to let them know
that wake surfing is neither negligent or dangerous and that there is no 20'
rule. Unfortunately the state of California printed a 20' thing on a
sticker that needs to be changed since the legislation was passed.
Thanks
Jeff Page / Inland Surfer

I didn't get his name, but while he had us pulled over we had him give us a fire permit. I may still have it in the boat, his name should be on there as issuing officer.

Here's a link to info on the Shasta Sheriff's office. There's a phone number listed on the page.

http://www.sheriff.co.shasta.ca.us/boatingsafety.htm

Glad that's not my foot shown under the "Most Common Boating Violations" section. Yikes. You know that hurt.

Just FYI, we wakesurf at Shasta all the time and have never been warned. We've probably just been lucky. I hope this gets cleared up soon.

The following publication makes notice of the 20 foot precaution noted above:

http://www.dbw.ca.gov/Pubs/CO/CObroch.pdf


(Message edited by migitty on July 29, 2004)

Thanks for the info on the sheriff. We will contact them and hopfuly work things out. We will let you know how it goes.
Thanks again, Jeff Page

I will be heading up there soon.Keep us informed on progress.I just purchased a board.I need to know the laws.

I have the fire permit but I can't read the name.

I was up there this last weekend but did not get nailed at all seen the sherif a few times as well. Must have gotten lucky. What part of the lake does this guy patrol at so I can stay away.

We were in the Squaw arm just past the Pit arm junction when we were pulled over. We stayed in those arms the whole week we were there and saw the Sheriff's boat in both.

Well I just got of the phone with the
Shasta Sheriff's Office. The main concern was
that people didn't sit on the sides of the
boat, dangle feet off the back while a rider
is wakesurfing or sit on the back pad and remember to turn of the motor while on the swim platform. I think if we follow the boating rules they will be happy. There is no 20' law. The new AB2222 specifically excludes any
20' verbiage. All law enforcement has the right to write a ticket for
anything they feel is negligent or dangerous. We just need to let them know
that wake surfing is neither negligent or dangerous and that there is no 20'
rule. Unfortunately the state of California printed a 20' thing on a
sticker that needs to be changed since the legislation was passed.
Remember to smile.
Thanks, Jeff Page

I am in maryland and i just got a 320 dollar ticket for negligent operation because i was driving while my brother was wake surfing. The cop said it was against federal law. The only maryland law that i saw that would cover that is hazerdous skiing practices. I don't know anything about the federal part, but if anyone had any information about wake surfing so i can fight this that would be awesome!

Go to www.wakesurfinghotline.com

Mark thanks for the post.. good idea..

Just an FYI, I sent an email to Ray in CA and this was his rsponse..

Thank you for your concern. I assume the reason for your email to me was regarding the Assembly bill by Paul Koretz that deals with Carbon Monoxide poison prevention. You must have read an old article about this issue because our department along with boating organizations and industry have been working with the author of the bill and his staff to make sure it does not penalize an activity for which we can find no measurable instances of injury or fatality linked to carbon monoxide. We actually even consulted with the CDC (Center for Disease Control) who researched incidents that even remotely suggested that Carbon Monoxide poisoning was involved. We were unable to find any incidents where wake surfers or wake boarders suffered from this deadly gas.

As a result, we were able to convince the author to remove the sections that would have affected this type of activity.



Thank you again for your concern

Ray Tsuneyoshi

What it Ray's title? Clearly the message hasn't filtered all the way down to local law enforcement. It would be great to get a letter with the above that people could print out and keep on their boats (at least in CA) to show anyone who might pull them over for wake surfing.

Here is some info on Ray...
http://www.rboc.org/newsreleases.html

Forgot to add this as well...
http://www.dbw.ca.gov/g-7-02.htm

Maybe he could provide the letter that people could keep in their boats.

shasta wont allow it and they just use it as a reason to pull you over they wont give you a ticket for surfing but they will get on your boat and find something to ticket you on. just go to trinity or whiskey town they dont mind