In areas where recreational boating activities occur, it is important that boat operators are aware of the potential impact of their wake.  In some popular boating and cruising areas, the effects of wake damage have been severe.

True or false? Some facts many people get wrong.

1. Boat wake can’t cause any more damage than wind-driven waves.  Yes, it can.  Wind driven waves tend to travel along the length of the waterway and directly approach the shore only at bends in the channel.  But boat wakes may travel almost directly towards the bank and can cause erosion along the entire length of the waterway.
2. Most watercrafts are small and light enough not to cause any wake problems.  No, they’re not.  Speed is just as important as size, and both factors must be considered together. For their size, most outboard powered boats can travel much faster than almost anything else on the water.
3. On the plane, the smaller wake causes less damage.  No, it doesn’t.  Even though a wake reduces in height as the boat planes, the waves are moving faster, further and travelling outwards from the vessel track. When a planeing vessel travels parallel to a sheltered shore, the wave energy is directed towards that shore.
4. You can see what your wake’s doing from the boat.  No, you can’t.  Even if you’re fairly close to the bank (say 164 feet away) the peak wake impact of a boat travelling at 23 mph only occurs as the first 5–10 waves hit. By that time, you’re half a minute and 1,000 feet away.  The only way to really observe the impact of wake is to stand on a soft shore and watch the impact of wake in all three phases of boat speed. Every boat driver should do this sometime – you may be surprised at what you see.