SAVE THE CULTURE OF CULVER LAKE

My name is Kurt Gewecke, I live on Center Street. I am a long time boater and have enjoyed kayaking, canoeing, sailing and power boat sports on Culver Lake since 1992. I also own and sail a 40’ sloop on and in the bays of the Atlantic Ocean. My experience in boating is both broad and long.
By way of petition, I and the undersigned, wish to respond to the request for comment on the power boat restriction proposal. I offer the following observations and request:
It is my opinion that the initiative to prohibit wakeboard boats is based on a series of false premises. Those false premises mask and mischaracterize the actual and fundamental issue. The real question and issue at hand is, “should the current board CHANGE THE FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTER OF CULVER LAKE by limiting the enjoyment of wakeboarding through the prohibition of wake enhancing boats”.
Culver Lake has established itself and has remained for decades a “powerboat sport friendly lake”. To restrict powerboat sports as they naturally develop is to change the very nature and character of our lake and its community. It further treats with contempt the intent and stewardship of past boards of directors, who in their wisdom found it appropriate to allow power boats that create wakes to coexist with canoes, rowboats, and sailboats. As Culver Lake saw the advent of power boats, indeed the very concept of a wake was new and certainly foreign, thus no doubt upsetting to some at the time. Nonetheless, the board saw the benefit to the community in allowing power boats and power boat sports to develop on Culver Lake. As the years passed and surrounding lake associations restricted power boat use, Culver remained the only local lake to welcome a community of folks who enjoy the power boat sports. Former boards even made special provisions to allow powerboats that promoted the popular powerboat sports of the time. As an example, ski boats have special provision on the lake for the sole purpose of promoting water skiing as a sport. What has changed is not that the Culver Lake community wants to enjoy something different than it has in the past, rather the sport itself has morphed into something slightly different in form. Indeed, many people choose Culver Lake specifically for the benefit of power boat sports and their ability to use the lake for that purpose. To restrict now the natural development of power boat sports (i.e. wakeboarding and wake surfing) is to change fundamentally the ethos of the lake community as a whole. For this board to impose such a fundamental change is wrong and would have a catastrophic effect on the community . Further, to do so in the shadow of incomplete information and false premise would be particularly offensive. Let me identify the false premises I refer to:
1. There is a safety issue that requires this action: although safety is always an issue and is, in fact, the board’s responsibility to manage, prohibition does not ensure safety; it merely avoids one potential hazard which does nothing to promote overall safety. Safety is the responsibility of all boaters and lies fundamentally in the competency and good judgement of ALL those who use our lake.

2. Large wakes preclude other types of boats from simultaneously using the lake: kayaks, canoes, rowboats, sailboats and sailboards when operated by a competent person are by no means precluded from safe operation simultaneously with wake enhancing boats. Competency and seamanship are the largest factors in determining enjoyment of a boat under different and or changing conditions regardless of the source of those conditions. It is incumbent upon all who operate any vessel in the State of NJ to be competent in the operation of the vessel they command.

3. Large wakes are reducing water quality: There is simply no empirical evidence to support this claim. Nor is there a consensus of science on the effect of wave action produced by boats vs. those produced by natural conditions or the overall effect on water quality compared to wind produced wave action, runoff and other natural (or manmade) environmental conditions.

4. Certain boats are the only boats capable of producing large wakes: Driving habits as a whole are a major factor in the creation of wave action on the lake. Number of boats out at a certain time combined with the weather condition at the time and the driving methods (tubing vs. skiing) all play a factor in conditions on the lake at any given time.

5. Large wakes are wreaking havoc on the lake: There are only a handful of incidents reported by people claiming adverse effects of large wakes created by one certain type of boat. These claims are largely un-corroborated by other witnesses. If by chance they are, then the issue is a lack of enforcement of existing rules, which does not create the need for new or different rules, especially the drastic step of prohibition.

In summary, the fundamental issue is not about a certain type of boat, but rather about the nature and character of a community. By demonizing wakeboard boats, a few in the community seek to change the fundamental ethos of the broader Culver Lake community. Often a minority will set itself against the liberty of the majority under the guise of protecting those whom they seek subvert. Unless the demonization of the scapegoat is revealed for what it is and the premise upon which it was established exposed, freedom and liberty are slowly eroded and tyranny by the minority will prevail.
I call on this board to see and understand the gravity of this decision, the deception of false premise and to act in preservation of our Lake Community.
Yours Truly,
Kurt Gewecke