Wakesurfing.....virginia.....illegal?

(jwmustangin) · (jwmustangin) **Join Date: Jan 2009** 05-14-2009, 6:02 PM

What's the deal with this? Is wakesurfing illegal in Virginia or is it just one of those gray areas that allows the wardens to pull you over if they feel like it?

(k_b_stephens) · (k_b_stephens) **Join Date: Jun 2008** 05-15-2009, 5:16 AM

Yea, illegal....it's really a technicality. We have to stay below the border on Lake Gaston.

Here's a thread about it on EORG.

http://www.endofropegang.com/cpgnuke/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=6599&postda ys=0&postorder=asc&start=0

(rhawn) · (rhawn) **Join Date: Dec 2006** 05-15-2009, 7:40 PM

Its only illegal if you drop the rope.

(rallyart) · (rallyart) **Join Date: Nov 2006** 05-15-2009, 9:16 PM

Curious question. If you don't get pulled up by a rope could they even call you an out of control skier? I mean starting from the deck is hard but you never would have been a skier...

(calexan) · (calexan) **Join Date: Dec 2008** 05-15-2009, 11:15 PM

Isnt it illegal to be in motion with people on the sundeck and further back? Atleast here in AR it is....

(rhawn) · (rhawn) **Join Date: Dec 2006** 05-17-2009, 6:07 AM

Here is the full skinny. The Game wardens are interpreting a swimmer rule to apply to wakesurfing. The law states that a boat cannot be under power, other than idle, within 50 feet of a swimmer.

The horrible and moronic interpretation is that once a surfer lets go of the rope, they are then a swimmer, and therefore the driver is breaking the swimmer / idle law.

I've been pulled 3 times now for it and oddly enough, they just won't give me a ticket. Even after debating the definition of the word swimmer to the extent the people in my boat are begging me to shut up and let it go.

My theory is they don't want to hand out a ticket because they don't want to defend it in court.