Portland, Oregon it is time to stand up for your sport

Lyle

Okay everyone there is a motion to limit the size of wakes on the Willamette. If we want to stop this thing we are going to have to get together tomorrow night (Tuesday) to represent:

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/bill_monroe/index.ssf?/base/sports/1118484618150940.xml&coll=7

They have already made "wake enhancing devices" against the rules on Lake Oswego, which is killing us on the lake. They are only talking about one section on the river. But I am sure once established the whole thing could snowball across all of our rivers and lakes throughout the state. I would think this would have an effect on not just wakeboarders but local companys e.g. Active Watersports, Mastercraft, US Outdoor, Natique, Straightline, even G.I. Joes.

"public meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Lake Oswego to review Andersen's request for the new zone. It will be in the Lake Oswego Community Center, 505 G Ave., and gives the Marine Board its first look at the proposal and reaction from the public. "

We really need to come together for this event. I realize it is short notice but for anyone that cares about the sport of wakeboarding in the Portland area try to make it to this public hearing.

DU540 · Outlaw Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 185 City: PDX

Here's a link to Mapquest:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&address=505+G+Ave&city=LAKE+OSWEGO&state=OR&zipcode=

Diggs · Addict Joined: 27 Jan 2004 Posts: 627 City: Portland

Don't think I will be able to make it. Screw them... Those Willamette Tour Jet boats and big ass yachts put off a much bigger wake than we do. I know most of us realize the wake we put out so we have the courtesy not do do it in no wake zones. That is part of living on a public waterway! I feel about the same about them as I do all the little kayakers that are trying to kayak in some large body of water and then flip you off when you roll by..... I am generally very considerate about the wake I am throwing

Lyle · Posted: Jun 13, 2005 2:58 pm Post subject:

It is ridiculous. I grew up on the Columbia and my dad and I were constantly fighting the maintenance on the dock. It is just part of living on the water. What are these people going to do when a flood comes, sue the mother nature for too much rain, or what about a big windstorm and Mr. Anderson’s little wave gage goes off the scale, “oh no the waves are over legal limit I am going to fine . . .uh. . .uh that guy across the river for cutting down his trees and allowing the wind to blow more.” Get a life buddy welcome to owning a house on the river, you have to do occasional work on your dock. Oh no you had to replace your ½” bolts with ¾” bolts. Poor baby.

Entrust Clothing · Soul Rider Joined: 19 May 2005 Posts: 279 City: Portland

man that's a load of crap, i know a guy that lives on blue lake and can't use his tower b/c it's against the lake rules

oregonrider · Newbie Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 22

This would ruin the willamette if this crap passes. All the energy this old idiot is putting into his crying should be directed towards securing his dock and go Bubb Rubb himself I hope somebody beats him up outside the meeting and sinks the smalll piece of stuff fishing boat he probably uses once a year to the bottom of the river with him inside it. The willamette is the best spot to ride on the westcoast hands down and its in our back yard this old man is such a piece of stuff. He thinks hes better than everyone else on a waterway and that he shouldnt have to put up with waves. We own waterfront property with a dock and yes stuff goes wrong and it may be the door knob with the x star that lives a few houses down who comes to close to your dock but hey thats life build a stronger dock or secure it better because guess what its a public river not a private lake. This cheap bastard probably built a cheap dock and it got damaged. big suprise you live close to portland of course people are going to be on the waterway all the time. Move to eastern oregon with your fat wife and sit on your wake tester and go Bubb Rubb yourself.Then there wont be so many people with expensive toys in your publicly owned back yard.

Tyler T · Posted: Jun 14, 2005 1:41 am Post subject:

Someone wanna fill me in? I guess I don't really know what you're all talking about.

Crapla · Newbie Joined: 03 Mar 2004 Posts: 6 City: Pit-Yakh

So if they are going to ban fatsacks, then they are instantly disciminating against guys with fat girlfriends.

Lyle · Posted: Jun 14, 2005 6:44 am Post subject:

I am trying to rally as many people as I can to go to this but it is tough. I know if they pass a law a ton of wakeboarders are going to be pissed but at that point it is going to be 10 times more difficult to reverse it. Hopefully some of you guys can make it to Lake Oswego. I think it is pretty important to the future of our sport that we make a good show tonight and heck maybe we can even put some faces to wakeboarder.com names.

Tyler T, Check out the link I posted up top. Basically this guy has made a petition and gotten enough people to sign it to now run through to the Oregon State Marine Board. The Law would essentially limit the size of a boats wake to 12". For now it would only effect a couple miles of the river, which by the way is prime riding location. But once the status quo has been set it will be easy for them to adapt it to all parts of the rivers and lakes through out Oregon. This guy has come up with a device to measure the height of wakes from boats. Essentially it would be like a radar gun a cop could sit on the side of the river and measure your wake when you went by. Oh your wake was 12.75" you get a $300 ticket have a nice day. . . . hey that gets me thinking anyone have some free time and know a patent lawyer? Maybe we could patent this thing before him and keep him or anyone else from selling.

toothpick · Posted: Jun 14, 2005 6:45 am Post subject:

I wish I could make it, I'm an Oregon native and rode on the Willamette in many Wet Wednesdays. I don't understand why he doesn't just get permission to build a log barrier around the outside of his dock in the water. That's what marinas do, the logs break up the wakes pretty significantly. That would be my key point if I were to attend the meeting. That's what has been done and proven in lakes everywhere.

Tyler T, the link to the story is in the first post...it's kinda tough to see, but it's the text that starts with the http:// Laughing

vette74 · Posted: Jun 14, 2005 7:00 am Post subject:

I would go sabatoge his devise pour a bunch of marine epoxy around his "crab trap floater" or change his numbers 6"=1' now 1'=2'.

Either that or steal it he will ge tired of putting it up.

Tyler T · Posted: Jun 14, 2005 8:38 am Post subject:

toothpick, yeah yeah yeah. Laughing

It was really late and I wasn't paying attention. My bad. Embarassed

Dees · Posted: Jun 14, 2005 9:08 am Post subject:

It's an easy sytem to make, to test wake size, and getting it patented would be easy but it wouldn't work, because they would then just use the High-tech transducer (might not be as accurate) if the petition passed, if they couldn't use his machine because it was patented by some on else.

loomosity · Outlaw Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Posts: 103

To be patentable, an invention has to be novel (i.e., new) and not obvious. In short, you can't patent something that someone else invented.

As for stopping that law from passing, the thoughts and hopes of wakeboarders everywhere are with you. Unfortunately, the active few can pass laws that are disagreeable to the slumbering majority. Good luck.

jayp · Criminal Joined: 13 Aug 2004 Posts: 69 City: Portland

This must not pass. If you can't attend the meeting, written comments are accepted until June 30th. Here is a link with the address to send written comments via snail mail or e-mail http://www.boatoregon.com/News/2005/May26WillametteRiver.html

Board2die · Outlaw Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 244 City: Sacramento

Good luck to you guys that are riding out there. Most of the people outside of our sport think that we are a bunch of young punks without any brains or vision. If you can show the governing body that we can use our energy constructively, I think that you will have a much better chance of this proposal not passing. For all of you guys that are attending just make sure you are prepared. First impressions mean everything.

Diggs · Addict Joined: 27 Jan 2004 Posts: 627 City: Portland

I am unable to make it tonight, but here is a copy I sent to the OSMB....
Hi Randy,
I am unable to attend the meeting tonight and wanted to thank you for taking this letter in as a substitute.
I am writing in opposition to some proposed ideas for limiting wake size on the Willamette River. I can surely understand the need to have better signage or information for some of the inconsiderate or uneducated boaters that use that part of the Willamette River that might be passing too close to docks. As we all know there are many inconsiderate boaters out there, but that does not make it right to pick on specific boats. I own a ski/wakeboard boat and have spent hundreds of hours on the Willametter River. I am a very considerate boater for local homeowners as well as other boaters. It is just not fair to enact legislation that could punish people that are considerate. Not to mention the $50,000 investments that we have made to spend time on the PUBLIC waterways.
I have spent many years on the water and living on the water and the fact is that you have more maintenance to deal with when you live on the water. That is part of living on a PUBLIC waterway. Any people that are that strongly opposed to this should be looking for a home that is in a more clearly posted no wake zone, or a home on the Tualatin River, or a pond, or similar waterway that does not experience these wakes. Heck I have been on the Willamette in bad weather when the wind and currents are producing as much chop and pounding waters of any boat that might throw out a wake.
In Conclusion, I might be a little selfish and don't want to lose one of the things many of us Oregonians enjoy the most, and that is the Willamette River. The people that have proposed such legislation are 100% selfish and want to steal these PUBLIC waterways for themselves. I think there is a happy median that the OSMB can enact by educating boaters, all denominations of boats, to be more considerate as well as potential homeowners of the inherent risks they are taking when they live on the water. Everyone knows you will be adopting more maintanence and different issues when you move to a water front property!

On a side note.... Is it possible to enforce this? How do you plan to educate boaters of this type of legislation without blindly ticketing them? How can you possibly measure the size of these wakes? How can you prove a valid measurement?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and keeping our waterways PUBLIC in Oregon so we can all enjoy the river!

Diggs · Addict Joined: 27 Jan 2004 Posts: 627 City: Portland

Already got a reply back so it is worth the email to make your point. Here is his reply and his email again
All excellent points. I will include it in the public record. Thank you for your comments.

|-------------------------------------------------------------|
...Dedicated to safety, education and
access in an enhanced environment.
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
Randy Henry
Randy.H.Henry@state.or.us
Policy & Planning Coordinator
Oregon Marine Board
www.boatoregon.com
(503) 373-1405 x240

riderx · Newbie Joined: 26 Feb 2005 Posts: 20 City: Porkland

Here is mine

Randy,
I was not able to attend the meeting tonight about the proposed rule changes regarding wake size on the Willamette river. However, as an avid wake boarder and recreational boater that has a significant financial investment in the my chosen sport I am very concerned. It would be very unfortunate if this rule passed without consideration for the very large wakeboarding community that uses our public waterways to enjoy our sport. It is already challenging to find open areas to safely ride in so anything that limits the available space will increase the traffic in the surrounding areas and make it that much more challenging ride safely.

It seems Mr.. Anderson is not willing to accept the inherent risk that comes with his chosen residence. It stands to reason that any private structure build on the public water needs to be built to withstand the environment it resides. Perhaps if Mr.. Anderson used his engineering expertise to develop more stringing building codes for floating structures the boat traffic would not be an issue.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Diggs · Addict Joined: 27 Jan 2004 Posts: 627 City: Portland

so how did this meeting go?

Firefightersmurf · Guest

I am originally from Astoria, but now live in TX, so I am pretty familiar with the "Oregonian Mentality". And I am truly surprised that somebody have not attributed the size of wake to the decline of some rare form of lichen that only grows on the rocks on that particular stretch of the Willamette. I have read the article on the Oregonian website, and the section on the OSMB website. I seems to me that their biggest complaint is the "large boats" 25'+ but they keep blaming wakeboarders. One particular passage on the OSMB had me perplexed "ski or wakeboard boats pulling people in tight circles create the largest wakes." I know I haven't been to Oregon in about 5 years, but down here in Texas we prefer to go in straight lines, not tight circles Wink

I am truly pulling for you and hope they don't restrict that PUBLIC waterway. But if by some cruel twist of fate they do, it might be fun to see who could get the ticket for the Biggest wake...20"...30"...bigger??? Please post the results of the meeting when you have a chance.

Diggs · Addict Joined: 27 Jan 2004 Posts: 627 City: Portland

[quote="Firefightersmurf"]And I am truly surprised that somebody have not attributed the size of wake to the decline of some rare form of lichen that only grows on the rocks on that particular stretch of the Willamette.

The sewage has already destroyed that!!! Shocked

Lyle · Posted: Jun 15, 2005 12:49 pm Post subject:

Well the public forum went fairly well last night. I wanted to say thanks to Collin, Ron, Chris, Kendall, Matt, and everyone else that is in the wakeboarding/waterskiing community for showing up and representing. It was kind of funny because they let people talk in the order they got there. So of course the old farts that are really pushing this thing talked first. As people got up and spoke their mind it became aparent there were more people against the measure than for it, and with this the foundation for the measure started to crack. I think we have a good chance at beating this thing, but it sure would help if you guys can send emails in also, because what happens now is last nights meeting gets transcribed all of the emails and letters that are sent in are tallied and presented to the Oregon State Marine Board. I am not exactly sure who they are, but that group of people (I think 5-12 people) then decide if a law needs to be made. My only hope is that not too many of them are older people on the water who are constantly sustaining damage to their docks. If that is the case we could be screwed.

The email address is Randy.H.Henry@state.or.us

Here is the letter my sister wrote in

Hello Randy-

I just read about this proposed law to manage wakes on the Willamette.
I wanted to let you know that often times, I am on the river in this exact section with my family (husband, 75-year old mother-in-law and two small children) in our boat and I have never noticed a problem with too big of wakes.

Wanted to give my input, that I don't think this law is neccessary.

Thanks,
Maria

http://www.boatoregon.com/News/2005/May26WillametteRiver.html

DU540 · Outlaw Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 185 City: PDX

Lyle,

Sounds Like things are looking pretty good. I had to bail early so I got to hear mostly the "old farts" point of view. Good to hear that we had more support later in the evening.

I wasn't planning on speaking but I felt strongly enough to get up and rant a little, got a lil flustered and not sure if I made much sense but....I'll send off an email that will be more coherent, LOL

BTW, that disc I gave you is about an 80% build, rough-cut of our next film, let me know what ya think.

Lyle · Posted: Jun 17, 2005 2:20 pm Post subject:

Cool we will check out the disk this weekend. I have a better understanding of the avator now. You sounded good up there. I got up and voiced my opinions also. Hopefully enough people send in emails to shut the law down before even starts.