| OSMB News |
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| For Immediate Release |
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3/3/08
Marine Board Conducts Boat Wake and Noise Exercise
On March 6, the Oregon State Marine Board will conduct an on-water exercise to measure and document wakes generated by various sizes and styles of boats. The on-water exercise will take place on the Willamette River at Wilsonville.
Since 2000, homeowners along the lower Willamette River have reported increasing erosion and dock damage due to excessive boat wakes. The trend has followed the increasingly popular activity of wakeboarding, which has fueled the design of boats that create larger wakes. The Marine Board has focused educational efforts encouraging people to play away from developed shorelines, but with limited success.
The exercise will help demonstrate how different boats create wakes of different size and period and how long they travel, which could influence regulatory decision making. Regulatory proposals have included such things as prohibiting wake-enhancing devices like mechanical fins and ballast tanks, to zoning the river and closing certain developed areas to wakeboarding or other large-wake activities.
The on-water exercise will include a wakeboat, runabout and larger boats. Marine Board staff will videotape each boats’ wake created at various speeds and distances from a measurement device. In addition to wake complaints, the Marine Board receives noise complaints from powerful stereos included on some newer boats. Law enforcement will be on hand to measure noise levels from various distances on the water.
The exercise will begin about 2 p.m. and will be visible from the dock at Wilsonville Memorial Park, which is where the sound test will also be measured from. For more information about the exercise, contact Randy Henry, Policy and Planning Analyst for the Oregon State Marine Board at 503-378-2611 or email at randy.h.henry@state.or.us. For more information about the goals and objectives for the wake working group, visit www.boatoregon.com/OSMB/safety/wakeboat.shtml.
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