For some Minnesotans, it’s the ideal way to spend a summer day on the lake: wakesurfing a perfectly curled wave behind a powerboat with no worries of getting tangled in a tow rope or breaking ribs in a wipeout.
Others see the sport as a menace — powerful wake boats generating strong waves that pound shorelines, pummel lake bottoms and threaten the health of Minnesota lakes.
Newly released research from the University of Minnesota won’t end that debate, but the study offers a deeper look at the trouble below the surface when wake boats pass over at shallower depths.
The findings may revive calls for statewide restrictions on wakesurfing. They’re also likely to churn up the ongoing debate over the state’s changing lake culture and who gets to shape it…