After a year of surveys, public hearings, vigorous debate, and careful consideration, the Towns of Dayton, Farmington, and Lind have passed new ordinances on July 23rd and 25th. The vote by the Town Boards was unanimous.
Effective immediately, enhanced wakes are prohibited on Rainbow, Round, Columbia, Long, Stratton, and Spencer Lakes. Enhanced wakes, typically used for wake surfing, are generated by using optional features on specific types of watercraft.
Ordinance Details
Prohibited Equipment:
- No person may use or employ water sacks, ballast tanks, submersible wings, or any other device that causes a boat to operate in abow-high manner or increases/enhances a boat’s wake.
Prohibited Operation:
- No person may operate a boat in an artificially bow-high manner to increase/enhance the boat’s wake. This includes wake enhancement by using ballast, mechanical hydrofoils, uneven loading, or operating at transition speed (greater than slow-no-wake speed but not fast enough for the boat to plane).
Certain Operations Excluded from the Ordinance: The following operations are not violations, provided they do not use ballast tanks, water sacks, mechanical hydrofoils, or wake-enhancing fins:
- Water skiing
- Tubing
- Brief transition operation to empty a boat of water
- Brief transition operation of a boat accelerating into a planning condition
Furthermore, these restrictions do not prevent the use of any particular type of watercraft. This includes wake boats, if the above-described methods and devices are not deployed.
Penalties:
- Any person violating this ordinance shall forfeit $500 for the firstoffense and $1000 for the second offense within one year.
Request for Compliance:
The Chain Association is sharing this information to help all lake users understand the intent of these restrictions. Our community prides itself on respecting established rules governing our lakes. We now ask for everyone’s support and compliance with this new ordinance. We hope property owners and the public will self-police, allowing the Sheriff’s Water Patrol, which is already stretched thin, to continue keeping our lakes safe for all.
As always, in the event, that you observe behavior or conditions on the lakes that concern you, please contact the Waupaca County Sheriff:
- Emergency CALL 911
- Non-emergency (715) 258-4466
After calling the Sheriff, at your convenience, also report non-emergency incidents to the Chain ‘O Lakes Association by following this link:https://www.waupacachainolakesassociation.com/incident-reporting-form
We commend the community for expressing their views on this issue in a fair and respectful manner. With 95% support for these restrictions, the path to protecting our lakes and their users was clear.
Lastly, we deeply respect and applaud the towns of Farmington, Dayton, and Lind for collaborating on this very important issue. Their actions have protected the safety of all lake users and the environmental health of our precious resources.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.