Public Service Petition to the wake board manufacturers ??

[Paul P]

Sitting on the deck having an iced tea looking out over Old Hickory Lake here in Tennessee we have been treated to the unmistakable sound of a Hercules flathead marine engine running down the lake on occasions. There are also a few vintage 283 powered
Chris Crafts in our immediate cove location and we can readily identify those as well.

To me sounds like that bring back my childhood as a kid fishing for bluegills on the docks of Conneaut Lake, when I first began noticing mahogany boats and the sounds that came out of those big copper pipes.

The solitude is totally broken today too often, by wake board boats fitted with huge speakers blaring music that is totally distorted and annoying, and it can occur on the same day a Hercules powered classic Chris runs down the lake. What a difference. What a shame.


This is the way it should be……….without irresponsible noise pollution.
This video was taken on the shore of beautiful Lake Geneva, at the ACBS Annual Meeting in 2011.
Thankfully the boat in the video did not have wake board speakers. http://www.youtube.com/embed/P910DgSLgZc?rel=0

It would be a worthy idea for someone (like Haggerty and/or CCABC?), to take the lead and facilitate a petition to be presented to the wake board manufacturers in North America, to be signed by the members of CCABC, ACBS, and anyone else we could get on board, asking them to please stop producing boats with speakers. If they tell us to go jump in the lake, then after acting responsibly and politely, we could turn the petition over to state agencies. I have actually discussed this very issue with TWRA (Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency) who patrols Tennessee waters, and they are sympathetic but have no motivation unless there is more than one voice. Blaring speakers are unnecessary, and the fun they may bring to a few people for the moment actually can extend all the way across the lake and affect many people. It is very self centered, irresponsible, and totally adolescent. So there…………I have had my say. Any interest, comments, or should I go eat some carbs and take a nap?

Best,

Paul

[Delta Moon]

I am sure that is what the people on the sail boats say when we Power Boaters came along... I know a Sail Boater just called My 42 Chris a Smoker....As a Power boater and a Member of the NDBA also. National Drag Boat assocation .... Freedom on the water is the Last Frontier....How about enoying wating the wake Boarder jump and ski to the Music....Can be quite fun...

[Matt Smith]

Maybe that classic boat was not making the noise. maybe it was speakers playing the sound of a cool engine? Just say'n.. And further more, how are you going to get drunk and get girls tops off if you don't have music? Some Molley Hatchet at full volume.. Maybe a Mr. Microphone, ready to say hi to the gals.. I say add speakers to jet skis as well. HA

[Paul P]

Yeah, I get your point, and yes I can take a hint too. I guess it is tough to actually regulate classless obnoxious poor taste and manners, and poor design in boats-architecture-and cars too, after all, it is a free country and we still have the right to make a complete a** of ourselves in public. I love this country. I just don't enjoy obnoxious juvenile behavior even though it is, cough, cough, "legal" within limits. And by the way, personally, when I was single and running a 17' 95 Hercules powered Chris, I did not NEED the speakers.....ahem.



Regards,

Paul

[Delta Moon]

And by the way, when You were single and running a 17' 95 Hercules powered Chris, I bet dimes to dollars There were many people in row boats, sail boats canoe's and a few fisherman saying the same thing as You roared By..... Age and Karma is a Funny thing....I get reminded of myself daily....

[Paul P]

And by the way, when You were single and running a 17' 95 Hercules powered Chris, I bet dimes to dollars There were many people in row boats, sail boats canoe's and a few fisherman saying the same thing as You roared By..... Age and Karma is a Funny thing....I get reminded of myself daily....

Well you are lucky you don't have to back that bet up with cash. I took sailing lessons in an 18' Lightning and I love sailing too, was taught to be a polite boater from the start, and just because I was young and at the helm of a 17' Chris Craft did not mean I was arrogant, irresponsible, and thought the world evolved around me. Quite the contrary, I was taught to show oncoming traffic the side of my hull to telegraph way in advance which direction I was heading, and to back down for fishermen, etc. The issue of loud blaring speakers on boats in Tennessee may be different than other places like the Great Lakes or Lake Havasu, because here we have on Old Hickory a shoreline bigger than Lake Erie, but with many beautiful long coves. These are great for water skiing and general runabout boating, but they are very quiet and lined with homes. You can hear a voice travel across the water. The wake board people are getting a bad rap around here, deservedly so, because they run through the quiet coves washing a wake up into all the boat houses with blaring music, it is really quite obnoxious. In addition, which should be of interest to insurers, alcohol is often an ingredient, and if you can hear people yelling at each other to communicate with each onter on board due to the loud music it looks like an accident waiting to happen. It is the next best thing to texting while driving. I was taught that when a skiier was on the line, everyone was to sit down and be quiet, and spot for oncoming boats and watch the skiier.

Antique and classic boating has a degree of protocol and manners that goes with it. The new style ski boats with the towers and speakers seem to breed a style of boating that appeals to the “all about me” generation. Too bad people can no longer go out onto a peaceful lake, hop in the water with a life jacket on, tighten the line and yell “hit it” and have a ball on water skiis, without interrupting the lives of everyone else in the entire neighborhood for miles with obnoxious noise pollution.

The question I have about this particular set up is "why?"




The boating industry already is being held accountable for design flaws that hurt people, as in this article about Mastercraft. I wonder if the accident in focus here could have been avoided if the driver was not so distracted by music so loud he couldn't hear others on board? If it is "party time" on board at speed and someone is hanging off the back of the boat on a line, then it is "dangerous time". At some point in time "someone" will recognize the liability of the "speaker design flaw" as a major distraction in boating safety, as well as being just "bad form". Hopefully someone won't have to give their life in order for the boating industry to wise up. Hopefully the insurance industry can bring some pressure to bear on this, with the byproduct being a little more peace and quiet when water skiiers and wakeboarders go by. Personally I think it is only a matter of time, hopefully sooner than later.

Regards,

Paul

[Mark Christensen]

Interesting topic. I see lots of problems with restricting these things at the manufacturer level. If you live on a private lake where noone can hear you, more power to you.

One of the biggest problems I have, is that on a majority of the lakes in Central and Northern WI there are restrictions on ski/wakeboard boats before 11am, and after 3pm (times vary by lake). The claim is for wake and noise reasons...... but "that guy" with the 250 hp merc bass boat can fly across the lake at 6am with no issues. This is because most of the boards that decide these policies are dominated by fisherman. They need to make these rules fair, and not hypocritical. Very frustrating.

[jfrprops]

You guys need to get at the REAL PROBLEM: wind splapping halyards on those hollow mast the chop gun sailboats all seem to have. Try sleeping with those around. LOL! I am so old an deaf I can't hear music anyway....but the ringing mast...wow!

64 degree in central Va. this MORNING....windy...going boating!!!!

John in Va.

[Delta Moon]

Good Laughter In the morning.....

[Paul P]

He who laughs last........laughs best. I'm not laughing yet.

Best,

Paul

[Peter M Jardine]

Perhaps a revival of the tradition of the noon gun would be appropriate




but seriously, I dislike those boats, in fact I dislike any boater who chooses to impinge on my boating experience through loud music, high speed, big wakes, and drunken fools at anchor. I know I am a dinosaur, since in a 36 foot cruiser I have neither air conditioning, a television or a bow thruster. To top it all off, I use charts and a compass, and always know where I am. Oh yes, and my boat is not tupperware.

[jim g]

The boating industry already is being held accountable for design flaws that hurt people, as in this article about Mastercraft. I wonder if the accident in focus here could have been avoided if the driver was not so distracted by music so loud he couldn't hear others on board? If it is "party time" on board at speed and someone is hanging off the back of the boat on a line, then it is "dangerous time". At some point in time "someone" will recognize the liability of the "speaker design flaw" as a major distraction in boating safety, as well as being just "bad form". Hopefully someone won't have to give their life in order for the boating industry to wise up. Hopefully the insurance industry can bring some pressure to bear on this, with the byproduct being a little more peace and quiet when water skiiers and wakeboarders go by. Personally I think it is only a matter of time, hopefully sooner than later.

Regards,

Paul[/quote]

Do you see where the kids are sitting in the front one good wave were the bow gos down and there flying out of the boat. seats are for sitting. seat backs are not for sitting on.

[USJeff]

If I was the dictator of the lake, I would restrict music to bands on the following list:

http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Fill%20West%20Shows.htm

Or more traditionally:

http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_songs-motown.html

http://www.staxmuseum.com/about/artists/

At least then I'd know the words...

[Doug P]

REAL PROBLEM: wind splapping halyards on those hollow mast the chop gun sailboats all seem to have. Try sleeping with those around. LOL! I am so old an deaf I can't hear music anyway....but the ringing mast...wow!

John in Va.

Can agree with that

[charlesquimby]

I live in Southern Maryland near Solomons. In the early 60s I remember watching the Chrysler Queen three-point hydro make a victory lap on Mill Creek at Solomons full bore. Then the area became gentrified...no more races. Any boat 18' or better was restricted to a no-wake 6 knots. Now its 6 for everyone. Used to ski on St. Leonard Creek back then, as well. Come the 70s most of the creek was reduced to: You guessed it! 6 knots. Why? The whole area became heavily-populated. Heavy bucks came out with big gun 30 foot cigarettes and above-engine in-your-face jet boats. Both sides of the issue squared off and the power-boaters lost because they wouldn't moderate...ran loud in the wee hours, etc. Sunday noise/operation ordinances were ignored, so eventually everyone got tarred with the same stick. Calvert county introduced noise ordinances enforced by the sheriff on land and by the state on water. Exhaust decibles are checked at a distance of several feet, so it's quite possible the sweet sound of a vintage Hacker or Chris racer would be in violation. That boating is the last frontier for inboard rumble and wind in the face is fast becoming a memory. What would most of us gearheads rather hear? A '32 Hiboy flattie with a set of Smitties, or some yoyo in a tuner with the subs cranked to the max? Rhetorical question. Whew! I'm outta wind...

[jim g]

I helped the owner of miss america ix haul the boat up to lake geneva for the international show a couple of years ago. The people organizing the show asked him to bring it so they could have a photo shoot of the boat running at speed. After launching the boat I notice a sign next to the ramp. I read the sign and I say to my self. I drove 16 hours through the night for this. The organizers got written permission from the lake law enforcement for us to do high speed runs early in the morning.





What I really want to know is the story behind the arrow and spears rule.

[parroteyes]

While I believe we are way over regulated and do not support more, there are city ordinances banning loud auto sound systems.

I think they work, not because of actual enforcement but because of the attention they focus on the issue.

Keep in mind the sort of folks that are inconsiderate with their toys. Teenagers didn't buy those $30,000 boats. We are dealing with thirty something stud wanna bes trying to prove that their's is bigger than yours.

Not really much different than my neighbor that
has to have the greenist lawn and does not
care that the fertilizer run off damages the lake. We are no longer a considerate society.

[dustoff135]

$30,000???

I'm not trying to pick a fight here, but does anyone realize how much these new ski 'extremes' cost these days?
I just went to a boat show here in Germany and looked at a 23 foot MasterCraft ski boat with the tower, speakers and all the other bells and whistles, total cost of 151,000.
Not sure if that was Euros or Dollars, but at these prices does it really matter? The base price was 90K plus. All I can say is WOW, guess I picked the wrong profession.

[jim g]

$30,000???

I'm not trying to pick a fight here, but does anyone realize how much these new ski 'extremes' cost these days?
I just went to a boat show here in Germany and looked at a 23 foot MasterCraft ski boat with the tower, speakers and all the other bells and whistles, total cost of 151,000.
Not sure if that was Euros or Dollars, but at these prices does it really matter? The base price was 90K plus. All I can say is WOW, guess I picked the wrong profession.

We had a wood boat display at the new boat show in greenville s.c. and the master craft ski boat your talking about list at $148,000.00 but the boat show price was $114,000.00. what a deal. Most of the ones you see out one the lake are in the $40,000.00 to $60,000.00 range.

[Oberon01]

I have no problem with people using these boats anymore than I have problems with sea doo's, cigarette boats, cars with open headers or any such things. We have no right to force our standards on them any more than they do us. Classic boaters are not the arbiters of this issue, and I am sure the the melodic sounds coming from our old flatheads that we enjoy were equally annoying to others back in the day as well. Even now that is likely the case. I think there needs to be some near-shore regulation of the use of these boats as it relates to massive wakes damaging shorelines and such, but sound, whether it is from engines or stereos? I have no right to ask for that. I try to live and let live and I like to see people having fun in all manner of ways.

At my lake, we have all kinds of boats - from 190MPH cigarette boats to wake board boats to woody's and everything in between. We all just choose to try to be respectful and get along, and so far that approach has worked for us. A guy spending his money on a boarding boat with a big stereo, having fun with his buddies out on the water and listening to music is fine with me. A typical Malibu or Mastercraft boat built for surfing, boarding or even skiing, in the 21-24 range is anywhere from $75k - $135k - I know this as all my friends have them.

[Doug P]

Regulations are in direct proportion as consideration for others deteriorates.

[quitchabitchin]

Well said Oberon. Growing up running 80+MPH in a bass boat on the Ohio River, the last thing we wanted to see was a cruiser plowing along with a 4 ft. wake, but could do nothing about it, they had as much right to the water as we did. Some smaller lakes have rules against full ballasts for wakeboard boats to help protect the shoreline, but nothing against some guy in a 30' cruiser plowing along at 8 knots with his bow pointed at the sky thinking he is conserving fuel, so I don't quite see the point in the full ballast rule.

There is enough water out there for all of us.

[Thurley]

I have no problem with people using these boats anymore than I have problems with sea doo's, cigarette boats, cars with open headers or any such things. We have no right to force our standards on them any more than they do us. Classic boaters are not the arbiters of this issue, and I am sure the the melodic sounds coming from our old flatheads that we enjoy were equally annoying to others back in the day as well. Even now that is likely the case. I think there needs to be some near-shore regulation of the use of these boats as it relates to massive wakes damaging shorelines and such, but sound, whether it is from engines or stereos? I have no right to ask for that. I try to live and let live and I like to see people having fun in all manner of ways.

At my lake, we have all kinds of boats - from 190MPH cigarette boats to wake board boats to woody's and everything in between. We all just choose to try to be respectful and get along, and so far that approach has worked for us. A guy spending his money on a boarding boat with a big stereo, having fun with his buddies out on the water and listening to music is fine with me. A typical Malibu or Mastercraft boat built for surfing, boarding or even skiing, in the 21-24 range is anywhere from $75k - $135k - I know this as all my friends have them.

+1

[Stovebolt]

I wonder if these guys realize that they can jump into a classic with more class in the bow light, for half the price, for the most part?

[tkhersom]

I remember one time as a kid when a property owner complained, in the local newspaper, about the noise of classic wooden boats (about 6 of them) out for a midnight ride. The boaters (my Dad included, in his '57 CC Continental) got together one night and paddled their boats, enginges off, in front of the complainers camp, aimed their sterns into shore and simultaiously started and revved their engines. That person was never heard from again.