Wisconsin wake boat bans, neighbors pitted against each other

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Wis. - Summer may be winding down, but a water war is still heating up in Wisconsin. A new kind of powerboat is prompting a wave of local ordinances all over the state.

There is hardly a more sensitive issue on Wisconsin lakes than so-called "wake boats" – boats designed to make bigger waves for water sports. 

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It's unclear if lawmakers will tackle the issue at the state level, but in one small town after another, residents say they can't afford to wait. And wake boat owners are feeling singled out.

"We’re trying to be responsible, respectful boaters," said Corey Kincaid, who is raising three boys on Blue Spring Lake in southeast Jefferson County.

In recent months, Kincaid said neighbors have been recording him and his boys when they're on the lake. He said their affinity for competitive wakeboarding has made them targets. 

"They’ve been filmed and kind of somewhat harassed," he said. "You know, we just don’t want people hating us."

Minutes after Kincaid gave the FOX6 Investigators a ride in his wake boat, we sat down for an interview with one of his neighbors, Ryan Tobiasz.

"We have one boat that goes back and forth and back and forth," Tobiasz said, referring to Kincaid's boat, which he said makes repeated passes within a short distance of his shoreline. "We have said, ‘Hey, back off. You’re coming in too close.'" 

Tobiasz believes so-called wake boats like Kincaid's are doing damage to the lake his family has called home for generations.

"If the lake is damaged, if the bottom is going to be damaged, the shorelines are going to be damaged, that’s going to impact all of us," Tobiasz said.

That is why he and others want to restrict their operation on the public lake in southeastern Jefferson County, which covers about 150 square miles.

"You can see across the lake here," Tobiasz said. "It’s very small."

With a mean depth of just seven feet, wake boat critics say Blue Spring Lake is especially vulnerable to the slow, plowing speeds typically associated with wakesurfing, which requires a boat to operate with its bow pointed up.

"And that prop wash going down and scouring the bottom of the lake," Tobiasz said.

What is wakesurfing?

Wakesurfing relies on special fins that push the wake to one side, creating a wave big enough to surf without a rope. However, Kincaid's boys don't wakesurf – they wakeboard.

"Seems like there’s a lot of confusion," Kincaid said.

Wakeboarding requires faster speeds, meaning the boat levels out on the water. It also relies on divided wakes and the use of a tow-rope. Some say it's more like waterskiing than wakesurfing. 

Still, as Kincaid's boys get older, they are learning to master more complicated wakeboard tricks.

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"That’s kind of where you need a bigger ramp, you know," Kincaid said.

That is where his wake boat comes in handy. It automatically draws lake water into built-in ballast tanks inside the hull. 

"We have to go slow for a second to get the ballast on," Kincaid said.

The onboard water makes the boat heavier, which makes the waves produced by the boat's movement bigger. 

"That’s the big controversy," Kincaid said.

In other words, it's not necessarily the sport that matters.

"It’s the boat," Tobiasz said.

"I think anyone who chooses a boat such as a wake boat for a lake that may not be suited for ballast boating may not have made a good decision," said Jim Hochman, Blue Spring Lake board chair.

Proposed ordinance divides community

That is what prompted Hochman to introduce a proposal to regulate wake boats on Blue Spring Lake. 

"It’s going to pit neighbor against neighbor," Kincaid said.

"It’s not meant to be a personal issue," Tobiasz said.

Last month, more than 100 residents packed a park pavilion for the annual meeting of the Blue Spring Lake Management District, some saying they were blindsided by the proposed ordinance.

"How, all of a sudden, is this an issue?" asked Sharon Deguzman, a lake resident who spoke up at the meeting.

"I would like to see some actual facts," said Andy Schuler, also a lake resident.

"We try to be good neighbors," Kincaid said, before his voice became choked. "It's hard for me to talk about."

Hochman now says the proposal should have been clearly marked as a working draft.

"Got that FOX?" he said, turning toward a FOX6 News photographer who attended the meeting. "I made a mistake."

The Aug. 24 meeting filled an outdoor pavilion in Aurelian Springs Park, a short drive from the lake. Nearly 20 different people took turns at the microphone, some defending wake boat owners. 

"You are videotaping 10-year-olds!" said a woman in a yellow t-shirt who did not give her name.

More than half of those who spoke, however, expressed concern for the lake's ecological health. 

"When the wake boats go by, the waves come crashing in," said former board member Bill Goldburg.

"It affects the weed beds, the lake bottom, and fish habitats," said resident Brian Randall. 

"I started seeing boats going through the water like this," said Eileen Oelke, a 75-year resident of Blue Spring Lake, as she used her hand to demonstrate the signature bow-high angle of wake boats. "Behind them was a trail of brown. Wake board boats don’t have poop. That was our lake bottom!"

Water war waged town by town

What's happening in Palmyra is part of a statewide water war that is being waged one small town at a time.

FOX6 Investigators have obtained a list of 31 communities that now have ordinances restricting "artificial wake enhancement." The first such ordinances in the state were passed in Mequon and Thiensville in 2009, along the Milwaukee River, which banned operating a boat in a "bow-high manner," "use of ballast," and "operation at transition speed." That prohibits boats from fast enough to create a wake, but too slow to level-out – or plane – on the water. Wakesurfing requires boats to operate at a transition speed, rather than planing.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, just five wakesurfing ordinances existed across Wisconsin. From 2021 to 2023, another 10 ordinances were approved. And in 2024, 16 more communities have restricted artificial wake enhancement.

In all, the 31 local ordinances restrict ballast boating on nearly 200 Wisconsin lakes.

Many of those new ordinances were crafted with the direct assistance of Jeff Meessmann, director of Last Wilderness Alliance.

"A lot of people say, ‘Well you’re just trying to ban wake boats.’ That’s not true at all," Meessmann said.

Wake boats themselves are not the problem, according to Meessmann. It is how they are used; the artificially bigger waves matter. Meessmann said there is an even greater concern when ballast boats are used on more than one lake.

"Ballast tanks can not be emptied (completely), so they run the probability…they run the likelihood of transferring aquatic invasive species," Meessmann said.

Call for state legislation

Meessmann said he would like to see a state law that requires ballast tanks to be inspected before a boat can enter a new lake. He would like state lawmakers to ban wakesurfing from lakes smaller than 1,500 acres – and he wants state lawmakers to require wake boats to stay at least 700 feet from shore in water at least 30 feet deep.

The water sports industry has lobbied for a 200-foot shoreline buffer with no depth restriction.

"What we’re proposing compared to what the wake boat industry is proposing is miles apart," Meessmann said.

What is most important, according to Meessmann, is that nothing be passed that eliminates ordinances that have already been approved.

"You can't get rid of local control," Meessmann said. 

Ordinance on hold for 90 days

Back in Palmyra, lake board members agreed to slow down and study the issue further, but only for another 90 days.

"This group does not want to wait to see what happens in Madison," Hochman said.

That has Corey Kincaid nervous.

"We're just trying to enjoy the lake like everybody else," Kincaid said.

While his neighbors keep a wary eye on the future of a shared natural resource.

"I’m just really worried what could happen out here," Tobiasz said.

The Water Sports Industry Association did not respond to an interview request for this story.

Meanwhile, a pair of competing wake surfing bills – 2023 SB 680 and 2023 SB 1016, both sponsored by Senate Republicans – failed to advance in the last legislative session. It's now unclear if lawmakers have any plans to bring them back.

State Sen. Andre Jacque (R-De Pere) declined an interview request, while State Sen. Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) did not respond at all.

As for scientific research, the University of Minnesota's St. Anthony Falls Laboratory is studying the impact of downward propeller thrust from wake boats on shallow lake bottoms. Many observers have been waiting months for the findings to be released. A spokesperson for the University of Minnesota now says they expect to publish results in early 2025.