Wake surfer Brock Moody isn’t a big fan of “people on their docks yelling at you,” so he understands the rationale behind a new law setting a distance requirement for his sport
“The lake is for everyone to enjoy,” said Moody, a Chestatee High School student who tied for first in the 25th annual World Wake Surfing Championship in 2021.
He’s speaking of a new Georgia law taking effect July 1 that requires operators of boats that create a wake capable of being surfed to be at least 200 feet from “virtually anything else,” Georgia Department of Natural Resources spokesman Mark McKinnon said.
It can’t be near “any moored vessel; any wharf, dock, pier, piling, or bridge structure or abutment; or any shoreline adjacent to a fulltime or part-time residence, public park, public beach, public swimming area, marina, restaurant, or other public use areas.”
The new law affecting all state waters, including Lake Lanier, also requires wake boarders and wake surfers to wear a US Coast Guard- approved life jacket while engaged in those sports.
The bill exempts intracoastal waterways, rivers or private lakes, as well as any regatta, boat race, marine parade, tournament or exhibition for which the DNR commissioner “has granted a marine event permit,” according to a May 24 press release on the National Marine Manufacturers Association website.
A 100-foot law “still applies to all other vessels,” McKinnon said. “It does not affect no-wake zones, which require all vessels to slow to idle speed while in the zone.”
Moody doesn’t think the law will change much on Lanier, however.
The best place to wake surf is on smooth waters, such as what’s found in channels and coves, which tend to be too narrow for the sport on Lake Lanier. Waters become choppier the farther from the shoreline.
“There are some channels that aren’t even 200 feet across,” he said.
And those areas are where many of Lanier’s Army Corps of Engineers-permitted docks are located.
The sport “has become an issue for property owners and people who own and use docks,” said Rep. Victor Anderson, R-Cornelia, who introduced the legislation.
The issue became more pressing for Anderson after redistricting changed his legislative boundaries to include Rabun County, home of Lake Burton and Lake Rabun, which “have people who live on the shoreline and bodies of water that are large enough for significant boats to travel on.”
“There are people who don’t like watersports as a whole,” said Frank Matcha of Buford-based boat dealer WaterSport Central. “Our biggest (thing) is educating boaters … and being mindful of everyone on the lake.”
He said he believes 200 feet is a fair distance.
“Most people are well outside of that,” Matcha said. “At the end of the day, you want your space from everybody on the water anyway.”
Fines for breaking the law are set by the jurisdiction “where the charge is made,” said Lt. Judd Smith of the DNR’s Law Enforcement Division, but he added that any misdemeanor can range from $1 to $1,000 and up to a year in jail.
However, “ordinarily, when there are law changes like this, we try to take a soft-handled approach for the first few months,” he said. “We will most likely take the rest of the summer to try and educate the boating public about the changes, but obviously if we catch repeat offenders, issuing citations is not off the table for our game wardens.”
The law, meanwhile, has gotten support from the marine association and others.
“We appreciate the leadership of Gov. Kemp and the Georgia General Assembly in passing this legislation,” said Ben Murray, manager of Southeast policy and engagement for the group. “This common sense legislation enhances safety and maintains the ability for every user group to share the states’ waterways while alleviating environmental impact concerns.”
“We’re certainly not opposed to the law,” said Amy McGuire, executive director of the Gainesville-based Lake Lanier Association, which has posted about it through social media.
“Anything to keep people safe, we’re in support of that,” she said. “Adding another 100 feet to the obstruction law is just going to serve to keep people a little safer.”
This story was originally published in the Gainesville Times, a sister publication of DCN.