Property owners in Michigan during the 1960’s and 1970’s main safety problem on inland lakes was speed boats operated in fast or unsafe fashion. During the 1980’s the proliferation of jet skis or personal watercraft struck many riparians as nuisance and a safety hazard. Today, riparians are becoming increasingly concerned about the popularity of “wave boats” (also sometimes referred to as bladder boats, wave runner boats or wake board boats). Unfortunately, the impact of wave boats on Michigan inland lakes appears to be dramatically worse than the negative consequences of personal watercraft and conventional speed boats. Speed boats are bumble bees, while wave boats are killer bees! (thus the title of the article)
What is a wave boat? It is a watercraft that uses mechanical means to fill reservoirs (sometimes called “bladder”) with water or other liquid to increase the boat’s weight and mass, and to raise or lower the boat in the water. Depending upon how a wave boat is operated, it can throw a tremendous wake and create huge artificial waves.
There are three major concerns regarding the use of wave boats in inland lakes. First, on many lakes, they have had severe negative environmental impacts. If one of the purposes of a wave boat is to create huge waves, that goal has proven all too successful! On some lakes, wave boats have caused considerable erosion along the shoreline and banks of the lake. Wave boats also keep the water “churned up”, particularly in shallower areas, thus disturbing plant life, fish, aquatic insects and other natural lake organisms.
The second negative impact of wave boats is property destruction. Riparians throughout the state have reported instances of moored boats being swamped, boat tether lines snapped, adjoining anchored boats being slammed into each other and similar property destruction caused by the huge waves generated by wave boats.
The third and final problem associated with wave boats involve safety. There have been reports throughout Michigan of people being thrown off swim rafts and even other boats due to the waves generated by the wave boat passing too close. The risk for bodily injury associated with wave boats passing too close is obvious. It is likely that the most practical way of minimizing the adverse impacts of wave boats is to vigorously enforce state boating laws. Any type of motor or power boat operated at greater than a slow or nowake speed must remain at least 100 ft. away from the shore, a dock or swim raft, a marked swim area, a swimmer or an anchored vessel. Both careless and reckless use of a watercraft are illegal.
Some owners of wave boats argue that it is not fair to “profile” or “discriminate against” a particular type of watercraft. However, it cannot be denied that the impacts of wave boats on inland lakes can be much more severe than conventional speed boats. Problems associated with wave boats are different from other watercraft, not only in kind but also in magnitude and intensity.