Good morning Rob, I'd like to point out and ask that you correct/clarify that water skiers DO NOT ride the "big waves" created by wake boats. In fact, water skiers want as small of a wake as possible (similar to how downhill snow skiers would not want moguls placed on a giant slalom course) and like other lake users, are negatively impacted and put at risk of physical harm by the large waves created by wake boats for wake surfers.

Wake surfers use a rope to get up, but as the waves become large enough to surf on, they toss the rope back into the boat and surf solely on the waves created by the boats. Water skiers, of course, must hang onto the rope in order to continue skiing. Wake surf boats have internal ballast systems that add 4,000 pounds or more of water to the boat, pushing the boat down into the water in order to create larger, more destructive (in my opinion and backed up by studies) waves. Conversely, water ski boats are specifically designed to travel on a level plane in order to minimize wake size as much as possible.

Wake surfing and water skiing have very different impacts on other lake users, docks and shorelines, and I would appreciate Daybreak not conflating the two.

In response to this item that ran on 1/9/24

VT's proposed ruling on wake boats would still allow them on Lake Fairlee. Despite vociferous public comment that the state's Agency of Natural Resources is being too lenient by allowing the boats—which are designed to create big waves for waterskiers and boarders to ride—within 500 feet of a lake's shoreline, the agency is sticking to its plans. In Sidenote, Li Shen details the rule-making state of play and what it might mean, and offers up a map of Lake Fairlee showing where the boats could still operate if nothing changes.