Surf's up in Minnesota, wipeout ahead
Wakesurf boats are disrupting shores, lake bottoms and other boaters.
By Ron Way
Text size
Copy shortlink:
Another invasive species is showing up on recreational lakes, one that could become more insidious than zebra mussels or curly pondweed. They're brightly colored, ear-pounding loud and more powerful than most cars. Unlike pondweed, these things affect lake bottoms, lake surfaces and lakeshores.
They're wakesurf boats, the hottest-selling watercraft in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The pricey rigs are specially built to create 2-foot waves, cresting ever higher with newer versions.
Starting a few years back, boats were fitted with ballast tanks to push their sterns down and churn big waves for steeper launch for wakeboarders to fly and twist and flip.