Wakeboard boats deserve the blame

Re: Letter: Boaters need to control their wakes, Sept. 2

Recent writers are correct in pointing out that “wakeboarding” is a major cause of wake damage to the shorelines of the Rideau Waterway.

However, the picture the Citizen attached to these letters, and the caption, suggests that the publisher did not really understand the problem.

The image shows cruisers: overnighters, and live-aboard boats, moving in an orderly manner from one chamber into another of a lock flight.

The large cruisers are most often in transit from one lock station to another. Their speed is often monitored by the lock masters, who telephone ahead.

I have been in the Hogsback lock station when a cruiser arrived from Black Rapids much ahead of the expected time. He was denied entry to the lock.

It is not to say that no cruiser might generate a large wake, but is a much smaller portion of the problem. Cruisers are easily located and identifiable. Skippers are almost always aware and concerned about the wake they generate.

Wakeboarders use the waterway differently. They seldom use the locks. They arrive by trailer at one of the many launch ramps, and set out to deliberately generate large wakes. A growing number of the available boats are specifically designed to send up the largest surf possible for the speed they attain.

The riders of the boards need the wakes for their tricks. Today, this is the source of the main problems of erosion and wake damage on the system. David Douglas, Ottawa