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mobldj

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To The Editor: Do wakesurfing boats belong on the river?
John Wright September 21, 2020 2 Comments


“John,
Parker Live needs to address the controversy over wake / surf boats on the river. Many private docks have been damaged by the huge wakes this summer alone. The river isn’t big enough for what they want to do. Everybody likes to have fun but people are really mad at this point. Can you please talk about this? There should be more of a public debate about it.”
– A part-time resident

Here at Parker Live, we love all our river goers, and the many sports enjoyed on our stretch of paradise. On top of that, my own opinion is that wakesurfing is one of the most fun watersports ever invented. But okay, there’s a controversy! So let’s talk about it.

On the Parker Strip, recreation comes in many forms. Over the course of any given weekend, you’ll see people tubing behind boats, swimming, sunbathing on inflatables, jetskiing, grilling at the shoreline, snorkeling, bass fishing, cruising on boats, paddle boarding, socializing at bars, kayaking and much more.
And the history of towing people behind powered boats goes back a long way. Waterskiing goes back to 1922. With a little less speed and a shorter rope, you get wakeboarding. And nowadays, it’s easy to see the popularity of wakesurfing, which is even slower and with a much shorter rope.
The reason this growing sport produces larger wakes (waves) than other forms of boating is obvious: the deeper the wake, the better the session. Boats used for wakesurfing are deliberately designed to produce a large, surfable wake behind them, so surfable that the surfer can throw the rope away once they’re in position. They are no longer being towed like a skier or wakeboarder, they’re free riding.
The boats people use for this can intentionally take on water for ballast, digging into the water further. The best of them allow for controlling the shape and scale of the wave using touchscreens… or even using a controller in the hand of the surfer.
As I said before, it’s undeniably fun and cool. BUT…
…that wake doesn’t just disappear once the rider has surfed it. It pushes out from the boat with a deep ripple effect behind it, affecting the water for other people along the way, and lands on the shoreline up to several minutes later in bursts of crashing waves. Once you get a lot of them out on the river at once, you may as well be boating in a blender.
Several angry rants on boating forums have taken up the issue for years, with some posts this summer including photographs showing damage to private docks, which they blame on wakeboarding and wakesurfing.
In Minnesota earlier this year, legislators introduced a bill that would require wakesurfers to stay 200 feet away from other water users, a proposal that may have come from within the boating industry itself. But, on the Parker Strip, that would be an impossible solution. The river isn’t wide enough in many areas for it to be practical, and the confined space means that the shorelines wouldn’t be any less-impacted anyway.
And I guess that may be the exact argument here. On a wider body of water, like parts of Lake Havasu, there is room for wakes to dissipate. The argument goes that this is precisely why the Parker Strip – the Colorado River between Headgate Dam and Parker Dam, on which there’s lots of private property – is an unsuitable place for the sport.
Personally, it would make me sad to see it banished from the Strip completely. Twenty years ago, people complained that ‘cigarette boats’ didn’t belong on the strip, and then that wakeboards didn’t belong on the strip, and then that jetskis didn’t belong on the strip. Everybody seems to have their own pet peeves about something. And is it even a settled matter that surfing causes more disruption or damage than any other watersports?
The ultimate question is the same as every controversy: how do we all get along?
In conversations with some local complainants, I asked whether they could think of any other solutions. One that was offered: allow wakesurfing only on certain stretches of the river or at certain times. For example, between BlueWater Resort & Casino and the Badenoch’s area, which has fewer homes along its shoreline. Or, between certain hours, with quieter times for waterskiers and anglers (who generally like a smooth river), and other times for more…. rowdy… activities.
What do you think of wakesurfing as a sport, and do you think there’s room for it in Parker? Do wakesurfing boats belong on the river?
John Wright
Editor
Parker Live
 

River Runnin

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Those PlowBoy Wave Tractors shouldn't be allowed on ANY river! Surfing is an OCEAN sport and should stay there!
Whoever wrote this Doesn't have a clue! -- "On a wider body of water, like parts of Lake Havasu, there is room for wakes to dissipate." -- A Wave Tractor that plows the shoreline on either side will send it's waves to the opposite side! ... Run the middle, and they make the long trip to both sides!

wake 1.jpg


Wake 2.jpg


About the only thing they're good for is! --- Fuck'n it up for everyone else! 😑
 
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rivermobster

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Agreed! But I don’t want more regulation, what is the next issue they can regulate

Yep.

I think most Regulations per say come from outside the community they affect. As in the enviro nuts trying to shut down off roading.

This is boaters and owners along the strip trying to stop an unsafe situation. This is an in house issue to me.

Plus no one is saying you can't use your wave machine, just go use it in the ocean where you aren't causing problems for someone else!
 

Outdrive1

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Im no fan. These boats are huge in size and displace so much water that it becomes unsafe to operate a river cruiser/day cruiser boat. They’ve ruined the river IMO. You come across a hole and before you know your boat is airborne while you pray for a good landing. In the mean time the shore line, docks, tied up boats, and boats crossing their wakes are all getting hammered. How is that fair? No other type of boat has such a negative impact on everyone else around them.

Wakeboard boats weren’t such an issue. The wakesurf race to have the largest wake is an issue. Just my opinion.


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Outdrive1

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Wrong thread
 

rrrr

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Agreed! But I don’t want more regulation, what is the next issue they can regulate

This is an illogical position. If a certain activity is causing significant monetary damages to private property and irreversible environmental harm, it is the duty of elected officials to address it.

Your assumption that regulating wake surfing will result in other regulations which will forbid activities that don't destroy property and habitat is unfounded.
 

Flying_Lavey

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Im no fan. These boats are huge in size and displace so much water that it becomes unsafe to operate a river cruiser/day cruiser boat. They’ve ruined the river IMO. You come across a hole and before you know your boat is airborne while you pray for a good landing. In the mean time the shore line, docks, tied up boats, and boats crossing their wakes are all getting hammered. How is that fair? No other type of boat has such a negative impact on everyone else around them.

Wakeboard boats weren’t such an issue. The wakesurf race to have the largest wake is an issue. Just my opinion.


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After my bimiji was destroyed and my boat completely submarined due to one, I 100% agree.

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$hot

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This is an illogical position. If a certain activity is causing significant monetary damages to private property and irreversible environmental harm, it is the duty of elected officials to address it.

Your assumption that regulating wake surfing will result in other regulations which will forbid activities that don't destroy property and habitat is unfounded.
How is it illogical? An issue to us isn’t an issue to wake boaters. What about PETA, they may see an opportunity to regulate traffic because of a duck.
Inviting regulation only harms our freedoms because it points the spotlight. Self policing and education is the key.
Just stop your boat in front of them.... problem solved, no more wake. High stakes frogger
 

rrrr

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How is it illogical? An issue to us isn’t an issue to wake boaters.

And driving drunk isn't an issue for alcoholics. The government was established to protect the rights of others based upon the wishes of the electorate. That doesn't mean the government can act arbitrarily to restrict our freedoms.

Look around at what's happening. Voting in November will establish the winner of the struggle between freedom and regulations like no other time in our lives.

I believe thoughts like yours are a result of living in California, where the government exists to tell you what you can't do. I've lived in Texas for 45 years, and I can't recall anytime the state and local governments have prevented me from doing anything I wanted to do. As a result, I don't fear governmental regulation. The elected officials work for me, not against me.

Inviting regulation only harms our freedoms because it points the spotlight. Self policing and education is the key.

Ask the people that live on the river how that's working out for them.
 

stokerwhore

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"coolest sport ever invented" ??? only if your favorite passtime is sucking big cocks. 90% of those tards look so fucking gay just standing there in the water behind the boat. maybe flap their arms up and down a little. maybe do a little butt wiggle. as a life long surfer i can tell you that what is being done behind those wave pig boats IS NOT surfing. dont forget to throw shaka for your selfie fags
 

Looking Glass

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And driving drunk isn't an issue for alcoholics. The government was established to protect the rights of others based upon the wishes of the electorate. That doesn't mean the government can act arbitrarily to restrict our freedoms.

Look around at what's happening. Voting in November will establish the winner of the struggle between freedom and regulations like no other time in our lives.

I believe thoughts like yours are a result of living in California, where the government exists to tell you what you can't do. I've lived in Texas for 45 years, and I can't recall anytime the state and local governments have prevented me from doing anything I wanted to do. As a result, I don't fear governmental regulation. The elected officials work for me, not against me.



Ask the people that live on the river how that's working out for them.



Voting in November will establish the winner between freedom and regulations.

Really?
 

Wheeler

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"coolest sport ever invented" ??? only if your favorite passtime is sucking big cocks. 90% of those tards look so fucking gay just standing there in the water behind the boat. maybe flap their arms up and down a little. maybe do a little butt wiggle. as a life long surfer i can tell you that what is being done behind those wave pig boats IS NOT surfing. dont forget to throw shaka for your selfie fags

I'm not sure if the author of those statements is even a citizen of the USA. I do know that he was not born here and is a Biden supporter. 👃

He didn't even bother covering the Parker Trump parade. 👎👎
 

D19

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All the people who claim to be a “responsible wake/surf boat owner” are just kidding themselves. It’s not only the driver, it’s the boat design. Ballast full or not.

Wake/surf boats have made the river up by Needles very unenjoyable.
 

oldschool

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All the people who claim to be a “responsible wake/surf boat owner” are just kidding themselves. It’s not only the driver, it’s the boat design. Ballast full or not.

Wake/surf boats have made the river up by Needles very unenjoyable.
So, you think that the wake from my Sanger V215 is larger than any one of the many 25+ foot v bottoms running around Parker?
 

Brobee

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So, you think that the wake from my Sanger V215 is larger than any one of the many 25+ foot v bottoms running around Parker?

IMG_2503.jpg

Obviously it’s the boats fault. Just look at this dock crushing, boat sinking, massive wake coming off my PURPOSE BUILT surf boat. A bayliner running off plane makes a bigger wake than this. The performance cats that take a half a mile to get on plane fuck up the water more than I do unballasted. I don’t agree with anyone surfing in Parker but that’s just because it’s too busy and it’s shit conditions.

But to say that all owners are just fooling themselves and the boats throw massive wakes full up or not is just dumb.

You might want to check the mirror Dennis, your ignorance is showing.
 

Englewood

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All the people who claim to be a “responsible wake/surf boat owner” are just kidding themselves. It’s not only the driver, it’s the boat design. Ballast full or not.

Wake/surf boats have made the river up by Needles very unenjoyable.

Don't buy a low profile floating motor and maybe wakes won't be an issue?
 

D19

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Don't buy a low profile floating motor and maybe wakes won't be an issue?

That’s pretty lame to say, especially on performance boat forum. You are basically saying that small boats should just deal with it.

Does not matter which one I’m in, 25 Essex or the Jet boat or any other friends larger boats, the wake boat wakes and rollers suck. It’s not just low freeboard boats that suffer.


So, you think that the wake from my Sanger V215 is larger than any one of the many 25+ foot v bottoms running around Parker?

Don’t know that boat model, but I will say on average wake boat boats leave behind harsher water then most large Vee bottoms on the river. Totally different hull design, one is designed to perform, one is designed to plow water and create a wake.

A lot of the issue is the rollers left behind that you don’t see as you’re pretty far away by then.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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Careful for what you wish for...First wake boats, then speed limits, then we all riding in fucking electric boats going on 10mph nature rides.

Exactly. They are not going to ban wake boats. That means they would have to come up with a specific definition of what wake is too big. The regulations they come up with will screw everyone.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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That’s pretty lame to say, especially on performance boat forum. You are basically saying that small boats should just deal with it.

Does not matter which one I’m in, 25 Essex or the Jet boat or any other friends larger boats, the wake boat wakes and rollers suck. It’s not just low freeboard boats that suffer.




Don’t know that boat model, but I will say on average wake boat boats leave behind harsher water then most large Vee bottoms on the river. Totally different hull design, one is designed to perform, one is designed to plow water and create a wake.

I mean to some degree he is right... where does it end? Picking on a specific boat type and trying to regulate it is not going to end well for anyone. It is just going to result in over regulation that affects everyone.

It is like saying Sports cars are too fast and should be banned from public roads. Well what qualifies it as is a sports car?
 

D19

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I mean to some degree he is right... where does it end? Picking on a specific boat type and trying to regulate it is not going to end well for anyone. It is just going to result in over regulation that affects everyone.

It is like saying Sports cars are too fast and should be banned from public roads. Well what qualifies it as is a sports car?

A sports car going down the road is not effecting the road condition for other drivers.

I did not say they need to be banned and I've been clear about that in the past on this forum. I'm just saying they suck and create crappy water conditions for anyone behind them. That's the truth.
 

Blackmagic94

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View attachment 924892
Obviously it’s the boats fault. Just look at this dock crushing, boat sinking, massive wake coming off my PURPOSE BUILT surf boat. A bayliner running off plane makes a bigger wake than this. The performance cats that take a half a mile to get on plane fuck up the water more than I do unballasted. I don’t agree with anyone surfing in Parker but that’s just because it’s too busy and it’s shit conditions.

But to say that all owners are just fooling themselves and the boats throw massive wakes full up or not is just dumb.

You might want to check the mirror Dennis, your ignorance is showing.



Lol. A bit sensitive. I’m sure there were a few nice nazis members within the party as well.
 

parkerkp14

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This is a tricky situation. I own a Ski Nautique G25 that throws a massive surf wake. Some of the best memories I have with my kids revolves around wake surfing. With that said I refuse to surf Parker anymore. We have in the last few years mainly down by Bluewater earlier in the morning or late at night. From a surfing standpoint it sucks surfing at Parker. I'd rather spend the time taking my boat out of the water and driving to Havasu Springs. If the people of Parker want to regulate when/where you can surf I think that's the best option. We love boating in Parker and don't want to stop just because of the type of boat we own. If we are told we're no longer allowed to surf that's fine by me but don't hate/ban wake boats all together.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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A sports car going down the road is not effecting the road condition for other drivers.

I did not say they need to be banned and I've been clear about that in the past on this forum. I'm just saying they suck and create crappy water conditions for anyone behind them. That's the truth.

The sports cars have the capability to affect the road conditions by driving fast/irratically.

Regardless, I understand your point. I've got a 23' boat and hit one of their wakes from time to time on Havasu. It is what it is.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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This is a tricky situation. I own a Ski Nautique G25 that throws a massive surf wake. Some of the best memories I have with my kids revolves around wake surfing. With that said I refuse to surf Parker anymore. We have in the last few years mainly down by Bluewater earlier in the morning or late at night. From a surfing standpoint it sucks surfing at Parker. I'd rather spend the time taking my boat out of the water and driving to Havasu Springs. If the people of Parker want to regulate when/where you can surf I think that's the best option. We love boating in Parker and don't want to stop just because of the type of boat we own. If we are told we're no longer allowed to surf that's fine by me but don't hate/ban wake boats all together.

That is a good option.. regulating times/ and locations.
 

stephenkatsea

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Suggesting Wake Surfing boats should operate between Blue Water and Badenochs, because there aren't as many homes along the shore in that area, is F'n ludicrous. Believe we have some RDP peeps here who own homes right there. How do you think they feel about damage to their property caused by the very intentionally large wakes? WTF?
 

boatnam2

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I hate to say it but anymore there is a wake surf parked in front of a lot of the baller pads, you buys better enjoy the river before they lobby to get all the fast boats that run people over off the river. I guess the rich guys dont mind fixing the docks.
 

stephenkatsea

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I hate to say it but anymore there is a wake surf parked in front of a lot of the baller pads, you buys better enjoy the river before they lobby to get all the fast boats that run people over off the river. I guess the rich guys dont mind fixing the docks.
Yea, And it's OK for BLM to burn and loot because those places have insurance?? Somehow, that sort of seems like similar logic.
 

MK1MOD0

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This is a tricky situation. I own a Ski Nautique G25 that throws a massive surf wake. Some of the best memories I have with my kids revolves around wake surfing. With that said I refuse to surf Parker anymore. We have in the last few years mainly down by Bluewater earlier in the morning or late at night. From a surfing standpoint it sucks surfing at Parker. I'd rather spend the time taking my boat out of the water and driving to Havasu Springs. If the people of Parker want to regulate when/where you can surf I think that's the best option. We love boating in Parker and don't want to stop just because of the type of boat we own. If we are told we're no longer allowed to surf that's fine by me but don't hate/ban wake boats all together.


Interesting first post..........
 

boatnam2

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Yea, And it's OK for BLM to burn and loot because those places have insurance?? Somehow, that sort of seems like similar logic.
I'm just saying people with the most money usually have the loudest voice when it comes to laws, Personally i think i will never see when Parker outlaws a certain type of boat, could be wrong but i doubt it.
 

SKIDMARC

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When I go to Parker the majority of the boats parked in front of the houses have a wakeboard tower on them. Sorry but the guys that keep complaining are the minority.

Wakeboard boats are not going anywhere but up in production numbers.

If they regulate the wakeboard boats, then they should limit the size of boat to 24 ft and no more than 600 HP. Anything more can and does create a dangerous environment for everyone. Or at least that is what is going to be said.
 

mbrown2

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Exactly. They are not going to ban wake boats. That means they would have to come up with a specific definition of what wake is too big. The regulations they come up with will screw everyone.

Biggest wakes I ever saw in Parker were from the Trump parade a couple of weeks back... I have a wakeboard boat and a high performance boat......I hate it when I come across rollers in the cat at 8am while I am trying to make some speed passes... Now I just turn and find calmer waters.. on the river that's tough...but I am not ready for regulations on the river......even with wake regulations you have to enforce....heck they have laws in place for it now...but have you ever saw a boat cop on the water at 7-8am.

Let these socialists pass regulations....and to enforce you will have boat cops at every turn pulling over flatties for noise, jets for unsafe speed but hey...the water will be flat....but we can only go 35 otherwise we run into a cop enforcing...

That said....I have a place on the river but when I want to surf...I go to the lake and surf around the pump station....big open space not right out in front of the springs and normally do it between 8-12...flatter water there anyway. The river is too small and just turning around to get folks who fall I am throwing massive water around which I don't care for.... I will tow tubes, wakeboards, and skiiers on the river but the wake is different for them....with surfers you need space...its huge.
 

Magic1

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"coolest sport ever invented" ??? only if your favorite passtime is sucking big cocks. 90% of those tards look so fucking gay just standing there in the water behind the boat. maybe flap their arms up and down a little. maybe do a little butt wiggle. as a life long surfer i can tell you that what is being done behind those wave pig boats IS NOT surfing. dont forget to throw shaka for your selfie fags


LOL Well Stated !!!!! And they play the worst music as well.
 

Gonefishin5555

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Lots and lots of older style wakeboard boats seen on Lake Mojave this last weekend. Most were parked on the shoreline. They don’t really have any clue how to weigh down their boat and throw off any size wake that can let a beginner drop the rope and surf. I think the demand and numbers of these boats is only going to increase. Some of you guys just panic at the sight of these boats regardless of what size wake they throw off.
 

76sanger

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This is an illogical position. If a certain activity is causing significant monetary damages to private property and irreversible environmental harm, it is the duty of elected officials to address it.

Your assumption that regulating wake surfing will result in other regulations which will forbid activities that don't destroy property and habitat is unfounded.
When has 1 regulation ever just stopped at 1 regulation? They dont!
 

2Driver

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Ok lets move the discussion to something simpler

Should you spank your kid?
Are Jeeps better than SXSs
 

Dirtbag

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no wake surfing where docks are present. I dont have an issue with wakeboard boats rolling up the river or to and fro but when they are doing their thing they ruin the water for everyone
 

boatnam2

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Ok lets move the discussion to something simpler

Should you spank your kid?
Are Jeeps better than SXSs
I remember not too long ago all the parker jeep guys where pissed off because all the SXS guys wash boarded the trails they cruse on.
 
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