Anti Ballast Ordnances

Columbus City officials are holding a meeting on March 14th with the topic “Wakeboard Boats on Griggs”. Griggs Reservoir is an excellent body of water for many water sports activities. The reservoir is within a major metropolitan area so that many, many people have easy access, so therefore the water is enjoyed by many in a variety of ways. I expect that the city has received complaints and will propose restrictions on wakeboard boats and wake enhancing systems.

I’d like to know if anyone has arguments for and against wake enhancement restrictions that I can review prior to this meeting. I’d like to keep emotion out of this discussion but come to the meeting armed with the facts. If you live in the Columbus, Ohio area and have an interest in this meeting, it will be held on March 14th at 1:00 at the Whetstone Shelter house at the Whetstone Park of the Roses.

Thanks!

Edward, where did you hear of this meeting? I'd think it would be difficult for the water police to enforce prohibition of wake-enhancing devices, if that's indeed what it's about. Although, I've read other people's experiences where they actually do poke around on boats, check ballast meters, etc.

I can't think of a single argument "for" wake enhancing devices other than it makes riding fun. The larger wakes not only endanger other boats, but they obviously hasten shoreline erosion.


(Message edited by superairdawg on March 03, 2006)

Just as long as you meet the USCG weight requirement of the boat (people + ballast), they have no basis to restrict the use of ballast. Also, technically if they eliminate 'ballast boats', they also have to apply the law to bass boats that have live-wells.

Is there a size limit on the lake now? The wake we create is not any larger than any other 21-22 ft boat cruzing at a ~20+ mph, it is just better shaped.

Any idea on what the complaint was? i.e. bank erosion, boats slammed up against docks? Give us some more info on the lake.

City Park and Rec mailed an announcement to the Scioto River Boat Club.

Some background I've been working on:
Griggs Reservoir is an excellent body of water for many water sports activities. The reservoir sits in a river valley and so is well protected from wind resulting in fairly clam water most of the time. The reservoir is relatively narrow so that all boat traffic must travel north or south so that wakes go to shore and do not cross. Even on a busy afternoon the water can be fairly decent for wakeboarding. The reservoir is within a major metropolitan area so that many, many people have easy access, so therefore the water is enjoyed in a variety of ways.

The very fortunate and wealthy few own waterfront property on the western shore, leasing the shoreline for docking privileges from the city. A public park has been established on the eastern shore. The reservoir is frequented by numerous sculling crews, kayakers, fishing craft, pleasure boaters, water skiers, wakeskaters, wakeboarders, and wakesurfers. On the lake there is a public marina, slips are awarded by lottery, and a boat club, which is open to the public, with more slips and a club house.

Current city restrictions prohibit PWCs, hydrofoil craft, inner tubing sail boats (too narrow, and not enough wind) and limit craft size to 22 feet in length. The lower pool of the reservoir is half no wake and half high speed but no skiing. Most of the long center pool is open speed (up to 40 mph) and open for skiing type activities. The upper pool begins to shallow. There is a ski course on the upper pool, but the rest is no wake.

This thread is an interesting read.

http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65921/170730.html

my parents just sold their house on a private lake where patrol boats would pull up and board your boat to look around if the wake looked too big to be natural. it was usually pretty funny b/c they didn't know where to look.

But, on public waters, I would agree w/ pwork. ballast should be legal AT LEAST up the boat's weight rating.... good luck and let us know how it goes.

There is a fair amount of email activity on this subject running around Columbus, the threat looks pretty serious. I'd encourage any wakeboarder in the Central Ohio area to spread the word and represent our sport.

I though boats under 21' or 23' feet are not regulated. I know my '03 MB Sports has no weight rating anywhere on the boat. I know in Arizona you are responsible for damage that your wake causes. I know of a case here that a guy had to pay $18,400 to have 12 boats and one dock repaired due to his wake caused damage. Thompson Vs. Evans 7/12/05 I think.

Bocephus: Was the guy in a no wake zone? To cause damage to 12 boats and one dock he would of had to be really close to the marina. If thats the case its the dumb ass driving the boat not the wake enhancement features within the boat. Just my opinion

Yup, it was the dumbass driving the boats fault, that is why he had to pay, it was at the Parker Strip on the Colorado River which can get narrow in some spots. It wasn't an official no wake zone though.

Bigshow,

Do whatever you can so that this won't get enacted. I live in a lake community in Missouri. Our restrictions are 20'9", 3000lbs, AWSA approved (meaning no Vdrives), and no wake enhancing devices. Once they start, they will only tighten things up over time.

Tim

I have to agree with Tim 100%.

I'm not sure what the laws are in the US, however, I know that wakeboarding as well as other watersports have been banned from several lakes in Switzerland. Some other counties have introduced laws that we can only ride in corridors a few hundreds yards wide, out in the middle of lake (this only applies when we are pulling riders).

We also have major issues with rowers on other lakes, who want the morning/evening glass all to themselves; they are kicking up a huge stink and are trying to have our riding times reduced even further. Today, we can only ride 300 meters (900 feet) from the shore line and only ride from sun up to sun down or 8am to 9pm when daylight is longer in the summer.

The reasoning behind the wakeboarding reduction/bans is due to possible lake wall damage and or erosion as well as plant life damage. We were lucky last year as the environmental expert the anti wakeboard folks brought in to give testimony actually stated the waves help the plant life, not destroy it - (this was the argument of the rowers used toward having our hours reduced). They didn’t even check with him on the situation prior to the meeting, they discovered the facts during the hearing…it was laugh from all reports.

Anyway, I would suggest as many wakeboarders as possible attend the meeting to ensure that a fair say is given to all.

Good luck with your efforts to keep riding (unrestricted) on your lake.

It's a tough sell unless you are a property owner on the lake as well. There is no more ballast allowed on my lake and I happen to be a property owner too. Bottom line, those with the most to lose...property owners...are usually considered more than the people who use the water.

Griggs is a public body of water, built in the early 1920’s as a city water supply – hence reservoir. There is a park along the east shore and private property on the west shore. The property owners lease the shore front from the city and petition for dock privileges. Some property owners don’t remove their docks during the winter, that’s not a good idea and it’s actually violates code. From 2002 through parts of 2005 we’ve had record annual rain fall. When it rains the reservoir fills with junk. I suspect that the heavy rain fall and tree trunks in the swiftly moving current are very damaging to private docks.

I find that I prefer long narrow river valleys for wakeboarding. Valleys protect the river from wind, helping to keep favorable conditions for water sports. A long and narrow body of water forces everyone to either travel up or down stream. The up and down stream traffic pattern assures that wake go ashore and do not add and multiply as often happens in a busy basin lake.

Griggs used to be a prime location for hydroplane racing, recently classic hydroplanes have been running exhibitions at an annual River Fest event. You need very pristine conditions to run 160 mph boats, so that in it’s self is a very good indicator of just how good this reservoir for water sports.

There are tons of good lakes in Ohio for fishing and tubing, and only about three of four bodies of water that are truly good for water sports, Griggs is one. It would be a shame to lose Griggs. There’s a group working to address the city next week, wish us luck.

An update: The city held it’s meeting today, about 25 of us were in attendance. The city said that they wanted to learn about wakeboarding. They also said that some property owners have complained and two fishermen complained about wakeboard boat wakes.

The short story is that there is no immediate threat. Our group approached the city with an “educate the boaters” approach. We plan to reach out to other wakeboarders, sculling crews, and fishermen. Hopefully an educated and enlightened approach will preserve an excellent body of water for wakeboarding.

communism creeping up at its best

REMEMBER... a few years back ... they were only going to put a lable on a pack of cigs... hmmm

We ride on San Diego Bay. Fully ballasted SANSE. No problem. Our wake is NOTHING compared to the Nimitz, Reagan or the Marine helicoptor transport ships.

Coolest site I've ever seen. A U.S Cruiser returning to 32nd street. Early morning. Sunny. Water was calm. And this battleship was cruising down San Diego bay with the ship communications system blaring AC/DC. Now that's a bad ass boat with a huge wake and a killer (literally) stereo system.

Thats great news for you! Hopefully all "water users" will be able to play pretty with each other. Sometimes, all it takes is a little understanding and communication for everything to work out. Hopefully this will be one of those times.

Edward - job well done. Sorry I wasn't in Columbus, otherwise I would have attended. I did receive an e-mail through Mid-Ohio Waterski club about the ballast issue.

If you have any e-mails regarding the issue, I think you may still have my e-mail address? If not, I'll PM it. I'm curious to hear what was said.

Although Griggs is like 4 miles long, there can't be more than like 25 houses on the West shore. Their yards are like 10 acres each. I can see these owners having a lot of influence seeing as how they're all millionaires.

Chris,

The night before we had a bout 50 concerned wakeboarders at the boat club. I put together a 40 page power point presentation describing why it's much more likely that the 2002 to 2005 record rain fall has been damaging docks rather than our boats. I also have slides addressing the fishermen, scullers, and the 04 washout. Two property owners were at the club meeting, one of them said that the weekend flood waters left his neighbors dock, up by the Hayden Run bridge, in tatters. His neighbors dock is practically on its way over the dam. There’s no way a wakeboarding wakes did that damage, he, like all the other property owners, should have pulled his dock in for the winter.

We decided that bringing the presentation to the meeting might be a little too much because we weren't sure how much of a battle we had, turns out that was probably the right approach. If however this comes up again we have some good ammo for the next battle.

See you on the water in about a month?