Andy,

Check with the Central WI waterski show team.  I use to ski for them.  There home site is the park on DUbay right off off the interstate.  They also use to have a portable slalom course but I don't know if they had a permit for it's use.

Where about on Dubay are you triing to put it?

Are you trying to install a permanent course, or are you trying to get permission to use a portable course? I would expect the latter to have less red tape to navigate.

andy I have left my course in for 2 days staright with out a permit. I tried the whole permit thing and it was not worth it. Now I just put it out and take it in when I want to use it. Sometimes if the traffic isnt heavy I leave it out and hope the fisherman dont hit it haha.

My main concerns are with the proposed course potentially obstructing navigation between the shoreline and the island.

That's your point of contention. The course is absolutely NOT a hazard to navigation. We're talking about 26 buoys, 6 inches in circumference and 3 inches out of the water, spaced out over about 92,000 square feet.

Of the 92,000 square foot area the course will inhabit, less than 21 square feet are taken up by buoys.

Buoys are frequently used as navigational markers. The buoys used in slalom courses are built to deflect under the bottom of an outboard boat -- you can try to hit them and will probably fail in breaking either the course or your boat.

We are sympathetic to other uses but hopefully a reasonable person can agree that taking up 21 square feet out of 92,000 --- 0.02% --- is not hazardous.

I have heard that 24 hr rule too. I thought I read something on the WI DNR site about that. It might have been sun rise to sunset rule, not a 24 hr rule. I will try and find it again.

Thanks for all the great suggestions, everyone.

Wade, I also did a little math of my own.  If I to put a single rectangle around my entire course (55m balls included in length, turn balls for full width), the course would take up approximately 0.07% of the lake.  Pretty minute, no?

One other argument you need to have up your sleeve is the safety issue.  Here's that argument (in brief):

"Water skiing is already allowed on this lake - always has been - but the typical water skiers that everybody sees out on most public lakes are all over the place, spraying canoes, coming too close to docks or other boats, etc.  They're unpredictable in their patterns and they can monopolize the whole lake in their constant search for "smooth" water.  This makes them a danger to others and ALSO a danger to themselves - since they can't possibly know where all the shallow spots,  underwater obstacles and hidden dangers lie."

"One of the primary purposes of the slalom course is to define - exactly - the path that both the boat and the skier will take... every time.  Within a precisely defined rectangular area that measures roughly 855 feet long by 75 feet wide, both the boat and the skier are safely confined to a path that has been thoroughly surveyed and deemed to be safe.  Furthermore, every other recreational user of that lake can easily see a clearly laid out area where the skiing takes place.  Statistically, the VAST majority of accidents (and resulting injuries) involving water skiers and their tow boats - as well as accidents involving water skiers and other boats (docks, swimmers, etc.) - occur on public lakes outside of a slalom course."

"In other words, history has absolutely proven that skiing within a slalom course is safer (overall) than free-skiing outside the course.  What we're trying to bring to this lake, with our slalom course, is greater skiing safety, not less!" [this last statement MUST be made with a straight face, btw]

Naturally you'll have to flesh this out a bit, and polish before presentation.  Many statistics can be obtained via the internet, and your state may keep detailed boating safety numbers (California does, for example).  You can probably get some statistical numbers from US Waterski, INT, and other organizations as well.


It's been said that ""There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." (Benjamin Disraeli - attrib.), but in this case you're presenting a real truth.  The majority of slalom course injuries happen in practice and are very rarely reported at the level that makes it into public record.  On the other  hand, when some Weekend Wally drives his boat (and skier) into a canoe full of nuns it makes national news.  Take advantage of this fact to drive home the very real point that a slalom course on your lake will bring a "greater measure of safety" to the overall boating/skiing activities.

TW

Last edited by Thomas Wayne (Sun, Mar 14, 2010 11:22 PM)

For anybody that is concerned with putting in a course in Wisconsin, this is what happened in the end for us.  We decided to pass on the permit process as things were not looking bright in that direction, so we began to pursue permission to put the course in on a temporary basis.  After jumping around between DNR people for a while, we finally received permission under the following guidelines sent from the DNR:

I would need more information on the type of portable slalom course you are referring to before I can give you a definitive answer.  However, there has been a legal determination for placement of certain types of portable slalom courses.  If your portable slalom course meets the standards from that legal interpretation, then that it may be possible that no permits to place would be necessary if the following conditions were met.
1.  The portable slalom course uses minimal and portable/removable anchors to hold it in place.
2.  The portable slalom course was placed immediately prior to the use of the course and removed immediately after the use was completed.  This means if the course is placed and used in the morning it would need to be removed if any kind of break was taken, even if the intent was to use the course later in the day.
3.  Placement of the portable slalom course did not negate the user's and boat operators from the normal boating laws.  All boating laws apply.
4.  Placement of the portable slalom course does not reserve the water for slalom course use only.
5.  Any of the public could use the course, boat through the course, or anchor and fish within the course at any time, following all applicable boating laws.

If these conditions cannot be met, or the users are unwilling to abide by these conditions, then a full permit process is required.  The permit process is very lengthy and complicated.

If anyone has any questions or would like the full e-mail conversation for their own use, please PM me.  Otherwise, I hope this information is helpful  for anybody else looking to do the same thing.

Andy