Our local lake is 42 acres and they allow 40 boats on the lake. It gets crazy on the weekends. All of the rangers are cool except for one of them.
Last year I bought a new Murray board and had my wife tow me. We were the only boat on the lake during a weekday and he gave my wife a ticket for towing without a flagger. That was fine with me until he really comped a big attitude against us. I told him that we were the only boat on the lake and I was anxious to ride my new board. He gave my wife the ticket. Cool thing was that he wrote the wrong time (8:00 p.m. instead of 8:00 a.m.)for our court appearance so the ticket was thrown away.(pissed him off).
yesterday morning, I went out with my family at 7:00 a.m. and there was a triathalon going on there. I waited until everyone finished their swim before taking my set. As the last person came out of the lake I started riding. There was the ranger driving his boat with me the whole time tearing up the lake.
I thought WTF? Then I saw who the ranger was.
Today I took my boat to the lake and my friends daughter took his boat out. My friend watched his daughter from the dock for a while to make sure she didn't jack his boat up. As he was watching us ride, the ranger came out on the dock, ran back to his truck and turned his lights on when we passed. We didn't see him turning his lights on us. We passed again and he ran to his truck and did the same thing. My buddy, who was on the dock watching us asked the ranger who he was trying to stop and he pointed to my boat. My buddy said "what is he doing wrong?" the ranger said, "driving without a spotter." My friend said, he has his girls with him, there are three people in the boat watching him ride. My buddy then knew that this was the guy that got pissed at me last year. My friend said, "do you really think that my friend(me) would come out here again without a spotter?" Ranger got pissed.
In the mean time, a couple was putting their boat in the lake with their two kids. The ranger said in a nice tone, "How are you doing?" As soon as their boat was about 5 feet from the dock, the ranger pulls them in and gives them a ticket for not having life jackets on the kids. The family loaded their boat and went home. (Sucks)
As a rider and courteous boater I try hard to be safe. I help boaters in need (today I did). I don't trash the water with power turns or joy riding. I abide by the rules when It comes to keeping the water nice.
We called his boss and told him what my friend witnessed from this ranger first hand and he said he will dismiss this families ticket but he could not do anything more to this ranger.
This is our only local lake and this one guy is making it miserable for us. Lake ethics is really important to me.
End of rant.
Question: Should I summon the WW's out there to help me with this? Everyone call his boss and state that we are out here to support good boating ethics, etc.?
What kind of support could I get?
Let me know.