New Law - Wakesurfing Illegal??

We are on Lake Wylie in Charlotte, NC; got pulled over today by a Wildlife officer. He said they were trying to pass a law banning wakesurfing unless you could stay 10 feet away from the swim platform & not let go of the rope. He said there was a mandatory court appearance and a $2k fine for the driver and surfer if we were caught surfing once the law goes into effect. Anyone heard of this?

I hope not. Is it only NC or all the US?

Who pulled you over???

I have talked a lot with the CG, Meck County officers (Terry) and the SC DNR officers, and have not heard of this at all!!!!

Post this over at http://www.endofropegang.com/

You will get some great responses about this.

I didn't get the name of who pulled us over. It was just a wildlife officer said he was letting us know that a lot of people had been injured surfing and that we could be issued a ticket for reckless endangerment.

As long as you have the proper boat to surf with, there should be absolutely no problem. If this is true, it's just plain ignorance on the State and local officials side

I have the proper boat, 2006 VLX. I tried to explain prop position etc. but he wouldn't listen.

Very interesting NCSooner. If I were in your position I would contact my local state rep as soon as possible and see what is going on. I would also contact your states parks and wildlife department and try and get in touch with a supervisor. Unfortunately many people are uninformed about how this sport actually works and they also hear the horror stories from people who surf behind I/O's, outboards etc... and loose limbs or digits. Then they just decide that all surfing is dangerous and think they should outlaw it. There is a thread on here about surfing lake powell and the possibility of a ban, some good info in there that may help you. Good luck and keep us posted

I ride Wylie all the time and I havent heard this. I havent started surfing yet but we are looking at picking up and surfing this year. Where do you all ride at? Just wondering, I have had a few Officers follow us around or speed up to us on their jet skis and then speed away.

Chris, The same thing happened in Idaho. The local boat shops and wake surfers jumped on it immediately. We signed a petition and set up a meeting with the State Parks and Recreation Department and the county sheriffs who patrol the lakes in our area. It turns out that they were very misinformed about our sport. In the end there was no law banning wakesurfing here in Idaho.

they started acting like that down in Mississippi, then some people informed the proper authorities, now they just write tickets for anyone trying to surf behind anything besides an Inboard. For some reason they can't tell which boat is an inboard, but whatever. So everytime we surf we get pulled over, and they're like, "oh we pulled you over yesterday, and they day before," they can't recognize the same boat?

Maybe we need a special flag

I will be calling Malibu dealership on Tuesday to discuss this issue and see if I can get some help on fighting this. Here I got into surfing because it is lower impact and doesn't hurt as much as wakeboarding and the wildlife department thinks it is more dangerous

Raymond, We live in Brown Cove on the North end of Wylie and pretty much stay in that area this year because of the high gas prices. Which area do you ride?

We mainly ride south of T-Bones. We ride Crowders and Beaver a lot. We ventured up north some last week and tried out a cove but it was very narrow and I think the people called the wildlife on us. Even in the middle we were most likely to close to a few docks. We were changing riders when wildlife came through so we didnt get busted or anything. Where exactly is Brown Cove? I dont know much about the North side. I rode with a friend and his Malibu a few times around Southpoint. I know the South end gets super crowded after 11ish on weekends, how is the North?

Browns cove is close to the Duke Power Allen steam plant - opposite side of the lake. We have a large grouping of condos (Emerald Point) at the entrance to our cove. It is not usually crowded up this way.....great for surfing!

NCsooner,

I spoke with 2 of the York county Sheriff lake patrol officers today, and they have not heard of anything in the works to ban/outlaw wakesurfing. One was going to call his Sargent on the way home and ask him. He said they had a lake enforcement meeting just a few weeks ago and nothing was mentioned.

I will fallow up with him tomorrow and find out who to contact that would be the governing body that could make this law.

TigeMike,

Let me know what you find out. I am going to try and call wildlife commission tomorrow to discuss this issue.

Also heard that the owner of Centurion and the Centurion Crew might be getting involved with a case on Lake Gaston as well. I think it was a reckless endangerment ticket. Insane. Really sucks that everyone can't get on the same page.

Spoke with the wildlife commission in Raleigh on Wednesday and they did not know anything about wakesurfing being banned and to the person I talked to knowledge they have not instructed their officers to start writing tickets. He gave me the name of local officer to talk with about this issue. Will keep you posted on what I find out.

Good to hear NCsooner. Sounds like a completely misinformed officer, hopefully that will change as well.

Any word on this case from anyone?

I'm still trying to open some lines of communication with Centurion in regards to the Gaston case

Everyone I have talked to basically said the officer is smoke'n crack. No one else has been told a thing about even looking into outlaw/issuing tickets for wakesurfing.

Thanks for the update TigeMike.

Talked to local sergeant for the Wildlife Commission, he had never heard of wakesurfing so I tried to explain over the phone and he said we should be fine as long as we weren't surfing to close to docks. I have his name in boat in case we get pulled over again.

Excellent!!!