Night Surfing

[Guapo]

Anyone know about TN?

It is illegal on Norris. A few weekends ago I got waved down by another boater who saw us surfing at dusk. They said they just got pulled over by the marine police for surfing at dusk. We packed up quickly and headed in. Reall bummer.

[wallacmc]

It is illegal on Norris. A few weekends ago I got waved down by another boater who saw us surfing at dusk. They said they just got pulled over by the marine police for surfing at dusk. We packed up quickly and headed in. Reall bummer.

BOOOO!!!! Gonna have to find a friend at a private lake, I think.

Fellas, we need video. I know someone video'd this stuff.

[somebodyelse5]

Anyone know what the ticket is in AZ? If its only 75 bucks, Thats not bad at all, just get whoever was surfing to throw down and itd be like 10 a person.

[awr90]

ill be doing it this weekend after i get my lights done and ill get some videos. iv tried it before but its hard to see on dark water

[meangreen22ve]

Timmy did it the last few weekends at empire it was a blast

[lightning59]

I will probably get hammered for this post, but here it goes. I will be a dissenting voice on night surfing, riding, whatever. If it was risky and borderline stupid, I did it back in day. Now 50 yrs old and the safety guy at work, there are way too many "what ifs" on night ops and towing people. Be careful, I don't want to read about a night accident. I'm not preachin, just sayin.

[wallacmc]

I started the thread, but I won't be the one hammer. That's a sound stance. But, here is the reason why I'd be ok doing it. With LED transom lights/tower lights, it would be easy to illuminate someone on a surfboard. If you are ok with driving at night to begin with (some may not be and that's fine), why not with someone surfing behind you? The rider can't jump in front of the boat and get in the way. There are plenty of spotters, since most people like to surf with peeps anyway. And, in my esxperience, the largest lakes can be virtually empty of other boats at night. So, while at first glance it seems dangerous, I really don't see any danger that isn't there for a normal night time cruise, especially under a full moon.

all that being said, I won't bash you; its a valid opinion.

Also, I also understand why it would be illegal. There is a big difference between surfing and skiing/wakeboarding, and when the laws were written, I'm quite sure surfing was not near the mainstream yet. There is no incentive for a legislature to go back and change the law by making a night watersports exception for surfing.

[Guapo]

I started the thread, but I won't be the one hammer. That's a sound stance. But, here is the reason why I'd be ok doing it. With LED transom lights/tower lights, it would be easy to illuminate someone on a surfboard. If you are ok with driving at night to begin with (some may not be and that's fine), why not with someone surfing behind you? The rider can't jump in front of the boat and get in the way. There are plenty of spotters, since most people like to surf with peeps anyway. And, in my esxperience, the largest lakes can be virtually empty of other boats at night. So, while at first glance it seems dangerous, I really don't see any danger that isn't there for a normal night time cruise, especially under a full moon.

all that being said, I won't bash you; its a valid opinion.

Also, I also understand why it would be illegal. There is a big difference between surfing and skiing/wakeboarding, and when the laws were written, I'm quite sure surfing was not near the mainstream yet. There is no incentive for a legislature to go back and change the law by making a night watersports exception for surfing.

Matthew...run for state legislature in TN...I'll vote for you (if they'd let a hoosier vote) We could start the Surf Party

[ImaPigDog]

Matthew...run for state legislature in TN...I'll vote for you (if they'd let a hoosier vote) We could start the Surf Party

He is not eligible. He still has too many teeth.

[Guapo]

He is not eligible. He still has too many teeth.

And too many branches in his family tree

[wallacmc]

You guys are killing me. Tim, I'll have my order for t-shirts placed soemtime today.

[lightning59]

I started the thread, but I won't be the one hammer. That's a sound stance. But, here is the reason why I'd be ok doing it. With LED transom lights/tower lights, it would be easy to illuminate someone on a surfboard. If you are ok with driving at night to begin with (some may not be and that's fine), why not with someone surfing behind you? The rider can't jump in front of the boat and get in the way. There are plenty of spotters, since most people like to surf with peeps anyway. And, in my esxperience, the largest lakes can be virtually empty of other boats at night. So, while at first glance it seems dangerous, I really don't see any danger that isn't there for a normal night time cruise, especially under a full moon.

all that being said, I won't bash you; its a valid opinion.

Also, I also understand why it would be illegal. There is a big difference between surfing and skiing/wakeboarding, and when the laws were written, I'm quite sure surfing was not near the mainstream yet. There is no incentive for a legislature to go back and change the law by making a night watersports exception for surfing.

Good points, appreciate ya!

[MoneyPity]

Night Surfing does not bother me as much as night skiing where speed and visibility are not good mixes. I just think of a night fisherman slow trolling for whites or walleye and out of nowhere here comes a boat at 30mph. Sorry for being negative but over the years on our home lake there were 3 deaths due to boats running well above no wake speeds. 2 at night and 1 in dense fog.

Bullshoals, Tablerock and Norfolk lakes allow up to 30 mph at night and as big as they are they are well patrolled and when fishing I have seen numerous arrests for night skiing. Surfing is not or was not popular there but I would venture that the 3-4 boats that patrol at night would dampen the fun. They are usually looking for bass boats cranking across the lakes at night and I have had them get bored and stop me when fishing at 2am.

[wallacmc]

I'm with ya, Money. Night Skiing would simply be nuts. I don't think anyoneon here would advocate for that.

[LovinPowell]

A long time ago (in my much younger days) I was being pulled at night at Lake Powell with a full moon. After quite a while I was getting tired so I decided to just drop the rope and be done. Well, the people in the boat didn't see me drop the rope and off they went. I remember sitting in the water listening to the boats motor fade off in the distance and realizing that they didn't see me drop. For an unforgetable experience, try sitting in the water at midnight on a huge lake, with no one around. Pretty eerie. Just then I heard a boat motor coming from a different direction, coming right toward me. I thought, no big deal, I'll just swim to the side. As I swam to one side, the boat seemed to be coming straight for me. I swam faster, still seemed like it was coming straight towards me and getting alarmingly close. I was ready to dive under as the boat passed about 20 feet away. They never even saw me. Making a long story shorter, my family finally came back and found me, but not before some scary moments for them as well.

Today while surfing, I fell and the people in the boat didn't turn around until a few hundred yards later.

To each his own, but I just see the potential for trouble to be not worth the risk for me. Plus I would hate to see wake surfing outlawed completely.