do you HAVE to have an observer (3) to wakeboard?

do you have to have a third person in the boat (two in the boat, one boarding) by law to wakeboard in PA or NJ? how strict are they on enforcing this? we use to do 2 in GA and were ok....

Why not look it up on their respective web sites?

You only need 2 people in the boat if you are wakeboarding in NJ, PA, NY, etc. Just as long as someone is spotting you if you fall.

matt, i did-for PA anyway. they say yes. i just wanted to know how heavily enforced it was. im trying to figure it out for lake wananpaupack (i butchered the spelling on that one).

thats what i meant mango, 2 in the boat, one in the water. i just wanted to know how hard they were on that rule.

In Minnesota, a mirror or a person in the observer's seat are the same thing. Try the mirror and if you get stopped, say you are from Georgia and did not know. Worse case you get a ticket if you are even stopped.

David, it may also depend on the time you're there.

If you're hitting it before 8:00, you may not get stopped. ( e.g. 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. ). Most rangers here don't get out that early.

If you're having a few pops or other intox's, be careful. Don't want to be pulled over unecessarily ya know...

thanks matt. i just noticed my girlfriend is going to have to get a boating safety certificate before she can get her liscense. woohoo!

You should go to any New Jersey Motor Vehicles office and pick-up a free boating safety manual. It's only about 50 pages in length, it's easy reading and it tells you everything you NEED to know. We've been closely observed by New Jersey marine paolice several times to make sure everything we were doing was up to the legal requirements. We were even stopped once for not having a third (a spotter) on the boat. Fortunately he only gave my girlfriend (the boat driver) a written warning.

Whether its law or not you should always have an observer. Its a safety thing.
We never go out without min 3 people.

My brother and i have dressed up his board bag with a hooded sweatshirt and put "him" in the passenger seat. We've talked about getting a used dummy for a spoter. I do agree though it's not as safe. We only do it when we "HAVE" to.

(Message edited by shutupandboard on July 14, 2004)

haha lets see a pic of that!

that would be funny if you had a sex doll all dressed up and a cop pulled you over. what a shock that would be.

sadly i thought of doing the same thing.

sadly i thought of doing the same thing.

Why not just get a third? Safe boating is fun boating.

Consider this.... (and I have done much 2 people boating) - IF someone gets hurt, and you can't get them in the boat due to the nature of their injury... how will you drive and handle the injured person on the platform?

And it has happened recently - good thing there was an extra person.

got the message fellas.