Description
Ballast boat sports are very popular these days, with slower moving sports (9-11mph with larger waves) like surfing and hydro-foil use, to faster sports (18-23 mph, smaller wakes) for boarding, skating, and trick riding, among the more common activities. These vessels come in all shapes and sizes, but the goal is water displacement to create waves for riding in some manner. This is all in good fun, and most wakesport enthusiasts, like other types of boaters, are courteous and follow established laws and rules on their chosen waterbody, but like with anything, these are always a few who can cause both short- and long-term disturbances to our natural resources. Increasingly, some groups and some states are becoming concerned about impacts of these large waves on waterbodies. They have been leading or reviewing research on potential impacts from these lake uses, and some are even electing to further regulate ballast boat activity to limit impacts like shoreline erosion, sediment disturbance, hazardous conditions, or transport of aquatic invasive species. This issue of LakeLine focuses on some of the efforts underway by some states or entities, to limit potential impacts of ballast or wakesports on waterbodies.
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