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Go Back   WakeWorld > >> Wakeboarding Discussion Archives > Archive through September 20, 2005

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Old    herbman            09-13-2005, 12:24 PM Reply   
Howdy folks,

I have a question. What is the smallest lake size that is recommended for wakeboarding? I live on a pretty large lake right now but have an opportunity to buy a lot on a beautiful but small lake in the mountains. It is pretty deep, but only around 80-100 acres. POwer boats are allowed, but what you mostly see are an occasional outboard pontoon. Most of the people moving there are more of the canoe/naturelover type. Any input is appreciated!
Old     (newmy79)      Join Date: Jun 2005       09-13-2005, 12:36 PM Reply   
you don't need a huge lake, look at the delta and the canals in CA., they aren't very wide and people ride in them all the time..

Just make sure the lake allows watersports, that would be a bummer if you bought the lot and couldn't board..
Old     (depoint50ae)      Join Date: Jul 2005       09-13-2005, 1:06 PM Reply   
80-100 acres should be plenty big for one boat out boarding.
Old     (msasser)      Join Date: Apr 2005       09-13-2005, 1:14 PM Reply   
our area you can only make about 3 or 4 jumps before turning around. its anoying sometimes, but it still works.
Old     (billybobfl2001)      Join Date: Sep 2005       09-13-2005, 1:34 PM Reply   
You need to determine how much boat traffic that lake has on it.

For instance, I live on a 60 acre private lake. Because it is private only homeowners can use the lake, however, it still gets busy sometimes.
I share my lake with 1 boarder, 2 skiers, 2 fisherman and 4-5 jetskis. Most of the time each person has the lake to him/herself. On days where multiple people want to use the lake, we use common courtesy and an unwritten protocol for allowing each group time on the water.

A couple of good things about a small lake is that it practically takes a gale to create any real chop on the water and the rollers smooth out quickly.

On the downside, a lack of long straight runs can get a little frustrating and you quite often run back across your own small rollers.
Old     (wakeriderixi)      Join Date: Jan 2004       09-13-2005, 1:54 PM Reply   
dont know about the size thing BUT..... make sure you ask the residents if they are going to mind a power boat with BIG wake coming through... its a constant battle on one of our lakes with homeowners about the wake smashing on shore.
Old     (taylormade)      Join Date: Jun 2001       09-13-2005, 6:48 PM Reply   
I live on a private lake that's got 120 acres as it's main ski lake and then another 30-40 that's not really deep enough to wakeboard in (average 5') and it's plenty big enough. We have noticed a large amount of people putting in rocks and riff raff (sp) on their shore line to protect their property, but, uh eff em.
Old     (oulaxster25)      Join Date: Feb 2004       09-14-2005, 10:13 AM Reply   
The lake that I am on is about 70 acres shaped like an L, about 1/2 mile long by about 1/3 mile the other way. It is good when nobody is out, but when you start putting a few other boats and jet skis out there it starts to get choppy. Othe then that it is good, must of the time there is only one or two boats out even on the weekends.
You should take a look at the types of boats that are out there and the number of house that are built and if they are building more.
Old     (fox)      Join Date: Jul 2002       09-14-2005, 10:48 AM Reply   
OUr lake is 150 Acr, and I can say that we have a lot of troubles. They have recently banned wake enhancing devices (ballast, wedge) as well as loud speakers. The lake has a lot of traffic, with about 5 ski boats being the max before you start feeling like someone is going to run you over. Add to that what I call the pontoon races, where 6 or so pontoons want to go as fast as they can, and you've got some messed up water. The next private lake I live on will be my own!

Eric
Old     (damned04)      Join Date: May 2005       09-14-2005, 4:13 PM Reply   
I live on a 450acre lake and it is impossible to ride on the weekends. I usually go up during the weekdays and have the lake to myself, but on the weekends i go up to a friends lake that is only 40 acres and about 10 feet deep on average. We usually wakeskate there since its glass constantly. I say 100 acres is enough if its constantly calm, but anything less than that is basically a pond
Old     (diddy666)      Join Date: Sep 2005       09-14-2005, 4:52 PM Reply   
We have a 76acre lake and it is perfect
Old    herbman            09-14-2005, 7:44 PM Reply   
Yea,

Our lake is huge (Weiss Lake Alabama), and I suppose that we are a bit spoiled, as most days during the week, it might be us, 10 fishermen, and a waverunner or two on a 32,000 acre lake (I am not kidding)... Now on holidays or Sundays there might be a few boats out, but we can usually manage. One of the only problems with our lake is the past contamination issues (Thanks Georgia), but things are getting much better by the day. There is another lake that is called Lake Lahusage that is super-small in comparison, but MAN is it clean (It's only tributary is Little River atopt Lookout Mountain)... The only issue that I see is that while there are no restrictions on boats, and there are a few pontoon boats, the local tree-huggers (Pardon the expression), might freak out with a 5000lb weighted down inboard V-8 tearing through the lake... Man, with property realtively inexpensive down here, does anyone want to go in with me to develop a really nice private lake community in Northeastern Alabama????
Old     (fox)      Join Date: Jul 2002       09-15-2005, 6:59 AM Reply   
Bottom line, you can board on a pretty small lake. Private ski lakes are about 200 feet wide and 2000 feet long. You just need to turn more often. Not sure how big Radar lake is, but it doesn't look to be all that big. The problem you run into with smaller lakes is having to share them.
Old     (boarditup)      Join Date: Jan 2004       09-15-2005, 7:42 AM Reply   
Here is an 80 acre lake designed for wakeboarding. Three bays are 280 wide by 2150 long. About the size of Radar or Trophy. www.placidwaters.com As you can see, it is not all about the size of the lake, but the other users and rules as well.
Old     (joeshmoe)      Join Date: Jan 2003       09-15-2005, 11:44 AM Reply   
i guess you could ice skate in the winter
Old     (boarditup)      Join Date: Jan 2004       09-15-2005, 12:17 PM Reply   
Ride until November/December depending upon weather. Ice breaks in March/April, usually. Snowboard in the winter.
Old     (santa)      Join Date: Jun 2004       09-15-2005, 1:20 PM Reply   
It's not about the "area" of the lake, but rather about the maximum stretch length.

To have a decent time WB'ing without getting dizzy because you're turning around all the time, I say you need a stretch of minimum length 2.5 Km (that's 1.5 Miles for ou American folks). Figure about enough room for two consecutive slalom courses and turning area.

I got to that figure 'cause it's the length of our lake. We have time for maybe 6 jumps per length before we ned to turn around.

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