Indiana: New Wake Boarding & Surfing Rules Go Into Effect July 1st

[1980Coronado]

Just thought I'd post this for anyone who lives in Indiana. I live here and I didn't know that this was coming. I don't wakeboard, so maybe this is old news to those that do.

http://www.wowo.com/ArticleDisplay/tabid/74/ArticleId/5479/New-Wake-Boarding-Surfing-Rules-Go-Into-Effect-July-1st.aspx

"(AP) The Indiana Department of Natural Resources announced Thursday that starting July 1, a new law will go into effect that will restrict wake boarding and surfing and teak surfing behind certain motorboats.

Teak surfing, or holding onto the swim platform while the boat is underway at any speed including running idle, will become illegal behind all motorboats powered by an inboard, inboard/outboard or outboard engine.

The same law will apply with wake boarding/surfing. According to DNR Commander, Lt. Gary Whitaker, the new law was proposed after the state saw an increased number of carbon monoxide poisoning cases from teak surfing and propeller injuries from wake surfing. Whitaker said this new law applies to activities that take place directly behind the boat in the wake where the wake is the means of propulsion to the individual.

Whitaker said if a person is skiing or tubing and is not directly behind the boat and the rope is the means of propulsion, then the law does not apply.

Whitaker also said wake surfing has increased the amount of damage to other vessels due to the fact that the boats are producing huge wakes. Those wakes then crash into boats and piers and end up causing secondary damage.

Violation of the new law could include up to $500 in fines and court costs, which estimate to be around $130"

 

[tgell001]

Re: Indiana: New Wake Boarding & Surfing Rules Go Into Effect July 1st

So if the justification is that the wave cant propel you than why is wakeboarding effected at all? the rope is the means of propulsion. This is a stupid law either way, wake surfing waves aren't any bigger than a 50ft dead rise. If they're concerned about property damage than put up a no wake sign in the areas of concern. I bet it boils down to the fact the indiana is broke and needs money.

 

[rallyart]

Re: Indiana: New Wake Boarding & Surfing Rules Go Into Effect July 1st

I think your law actually bans surfing behind outboards and boats with an outdrive but still allows for it behind an inboard. That news article has a couple errors in it.

 

[1980Coronado]

Re: Indiana: New Wake Boarding & Surfing Rules Go Into Effect July 1st

So if the justification is that the wave cant propel you than why is wakeboarding effected at all? the rope is the means of propulsion. This is a stupid law either way, wake surfing waves aren't any bigger than a 50ft dead rise. If they're concerned about property damage than put up a no wake sign in the areas of concern. I bet it boils down to the fact the indiana is broke and needs money.

1.) The law prevents people from wake surfing. This is not the same as conventional wake boarding with a rope. Wake surfing is done a few feet from the transom without a rope. They surf the wake while the boat moves at 5-10 mph.

2.) The waves being produced by wake boarding boats with ballast tanks are much larger than a "normal" boat. Isn't that the purpose of the ballast tanks? They're even bigger when they travel just fast enough to surf behind the boat. I can make a heck of a wave at 5 mph with the Coronado, but it doesn't even come close to the size of the wakes coming off a boat with ballast tanks. I know you're not from around here so I cut you some slack. Most lakes in this area are small and populated. Fast boating is only allowed on lakes larger than 300 acres in Indiana and you must be 200' from shore when towing. Boats pulling wake-boarders travel parallel to shore just outside the 200' marked by buoys. The large waves come crashing into and over your dock, boat lifts, boats tied to the dock, sea walls, etc....It's hard on them trust me. So, what you'd have us do is make the entire lake a no wake zone?

3.) This is not a money grab. Indiana is feeling the pinch of the current economic situation, but is in better shape than all of the neighboring states. This law is an attempt to keep people from surfing so close to the boat that they get asphyxiated by the exhaust of an inboard, or cut-up by the prop of an outboard or I/O.

The State isn't trying to keep people from wake-boarding with a rope at a reasonable distance from the boat. Although I do not favor government intervention in many things, I do not feel this is a stupid law. I think it's stupid that we even had to make the law.

 

[1980Coronado]

Re: Indiana: New Wake Boarding & Surfing Rules Go Into Effect July 1st

I think your law actually bans surfing behind outboards and boats with an outdrive but still allows for it behind an inboard. That news article has a couple errors in it.

The article isn't written very well, but I understood it. It bans wake surfing and also "teak" surfing where idiots grab hold of the transom platform and body surf behind inboards until they get bounced off.. The author made it sound like wake surfing and boarding are synonymous.

 

[tgell001]

Re: Indiana: New Wake Boarding & Surfing Rules Go Into Effect July 1st

It was probably written by an obese woman that's never seen this sport in her life unless they showed it for a second on a comercial on the travel channel. I hate local news, feel dumber after reading it.

 

[rallyart]

Re: Indiana: New Wake Boarding & Surfing Rules Go Into Effect July 1st

Senate Bill 532
(goes into effect July 1)

Chapter 13. Motorboat Watersports
Sec. 1. This chapter does not apply when a motorboat is moored, anchored, docked, or aground.
Sec. 2. The requirements and prohibitions set forth in this chapter are in addition to the requirements and prohibitions set forth in IC 14-15-2, IC 14-15-3, IC 14-15-4, 14-15-8 and IC 14-15-12.
Sec. 3. An individual may not do the following:
(1) Operate a motorboat inboard or have the inboard engine of a motorboat run idle while an individual is holding onto the swim platform, swim deck, swim step, swim ladder or any
part of the exterior of the transom of a motorboat while the motorboat is underway at any speed.
(2) Operate a motorboat powered by an outboard motor or equipped with an outdrive unit while an individual is:
(A) holding onto the swim platform, swim deck, swim step, swim ladder or any portion of the exterior of the transom of a motorboat while the motorboat is underway at any speed;
(B) swimming, or floating on or in the wake directly behind a motorboat that is underway; or
(C) floating on a board on or in the wake directly behind a motorboat that is underway using the wake itself as the means of propulsion.
(3) Operate a motorboat with the number of individual riders on a towed device that exceeds the listed capacity on the towed device or the owner's manual.
Sec. 4. An individual who violates this chapter commits a Class C infraction.

 

[ThreeMileBayWaker]

Re: Indiana: New Wake Boarding & Surfing Rules Go Into Effect July 1st

Well... I'm sure this will make its way to NY eventually, lake front property owners cry about the wake behind my boat when my speedo is ready 5 mph and the limit is 10 on the rivers... If you have a problem, get a steel sea wall.

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Indiana: New Wake Boarding & Surfing Rules Go Into Effect July 1st

I have wake surfed behind a boat designed to do it, in a long deep cove with no docks. It was pretty neat, something I would like to do again. It is something that I would never think of doing in particular areas of a lake, but quite fine in other areas, and something I would never think of doing behind most of the boats on the water. I also grabbed onto the teak behind my old malibu when younger. Totally safe.

Its too bad a few people that have not been as considerate to the effects of their wake, and have not thought through their own boat set up and safety might take my ability to do this appropriately away.

But isn't that par for the course. A couple of people not considering others cause a loss of freedom for a greater majority of people.

OK, enough philosophizing for the day -- time to go load up the boat!

 

[marcoalza]

Re: Indiana: New Wake Boarding & Surfing Rules Go Into Effect July 1st

I have wake surfed behind a boat

Sorry, Can someone explain what Wake Surfing is?
I don't understand the 'Wake as Propulson' bit.

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Indiana: New Wake Boarding & Surfing Rules Go Into Effect July 1st

You fill tanks in the boat with a ton of water, go at the speed where the boats makes the biggest wake possible, and the person behind the boat gets up on a surf board with a really short rope and then once they find the sweet spot on the wake, let go of the rope and use the big wake behind the boat to surf on.

We are talking 2-3 foot high wakes

 

[marcoalza]

Re: Indiana: New Wake Boarding & Surfing Rules Go Into Effect July 1st

on a surf board with a really short rope and then once they find the sweet spot on the wake,
We are talking 2-3 foot high wakes

Now I get it.
Sounds bloody dangerous behind an exposed prop!

I'll stick to wakeboarding for now

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Indiana: New Wake Boarding & Surfing Rules Go Into Effect July 1st

Now I get it.
Sounds bloody dangerous behind an exposed prop!

I'll stick to wakeboarding for now

V-drives and direct drive inboards do not have an exposed prop. Its about a foot to a foot and a half under the boat, which is why there is not threat of getting into the prop with these boats doing these activities.

They do have bog ole V8s pumping out the carbon monoxide though.

 

[1980Coronado]

Re: Indiana: New Wake Boarding & Surfing Rules Go Into Effect July 1st

Well... I'm sure this will make its way to NY eventually, lake front property owners cry about the wake behind my boat when my speedo is ready 5 mph and the limit is 10 on the rivers... If you have a problem, get a steel sea wall.

Precisely the attitude that leads to laws like this. I have an idea....let's increase the tax on boats with ballast tanks to pay for the steel sea walls:facepalm:

 

[1980Coronado]

Re: Indiana: New Wake Boarding & Surfing Rules Go Into Effect July 1st

Well...they may have passed new laws, but nobody seems to care. Plenty of wake surfing going on at the lake this weekend.

 

[craze1cars]

Re: Indiana: New Wake Boarding & Surfing Rules Go Into Effect July 1st

I want to clarify this law for the benefit of people in Indiana (I am one of them). WAKESURFING IS NOT ILLEGAL IN INDIANA. However wakesurfing behind I/O's and outboards is now illegal in Indiana.

Wakesurfing behind an Inboard boat continues to be perfectly legal.

Read the wording of the law carefully and you will see the distinction spelled out, and this site explains it very clearly:
http://www.indiana105.com/features/...rt/9853-new-law-restricting-wake-surfing.html

 

[1980Coronado]

Re: Indiana: New Wake Boarding & Surfing Rules Go Into Effect July 1st

I want to clarify this law for the benefit of people in Indiana (I am one of them). WAKESURFING IS NOT ILLEGAL IN INDIANA. However wakesurfing behind I/O's and outboards is now illegal in Indiana.

Wakesurfing behind an Inboard boat continues to be perfectly legal.

Read the wording of the law carefully and you will see the distinction spelled out, and this site explains it very clearly:
http://www.indiana105.com/features/...rt/9853-new-law-restricting-wake-surfing.html

Thanks for that clarification.....makes much more sense. The AP story was horribly written and did not make the distinction between I/O and Inboard or V-drives. I looked for a posting at the DNR site and didn't see anything.