Waunakee School District, ank you for your time.
>> Thank you, thank you. Appreciate it.
>> Labor day marks the unofficial end to the 2025
boating season in Wisconsin. But what isn't ending is
the controversy over whether wake surfing and
wake boats should be allowed on some lakes.
Tonight, Murv Seymour tells us why this battle is
likely to carry over into next season.
>> Rain or shine, big and small Wisconsin lakes are a
state and national treasure. >> It's a critical resource
to the state of Wisconsin. >> Especially during summer.
>> When I came up here, I fell in love with the place.
>> This place Jeff Meessmann speaks of is
Natural Lakes, a 380 home lake community in the
Northwoods of Vilas County. >> It has one of the
highest concentrations of freshwater lakes in the
world. one
of them, 220 acre McCullough Lake in Presque
Isle, where street names reflect some of the rich
wildlife seen along these winding rural roads.
>> We see bear here. We see wolves here. Coyotes.
>> Jeff Meessmann loves McCullough Lake and the
lakes of Wisconsin. It's why he moved here.
>> We're an advocate for the protection of our lakes.
>> Guided by his boat with a bucket of gadgets.
>> Normally, what we do is we take samples in the deep
hole. ad
300ft from shore to the deepest part of McCullough
Lake. hor
in, and we should be about 26ft.
oes on three other lakes, he
voluntarily grabs water samples on behalf of the
Department of Natural Resources. He tells me the
lake data dates back more than 20 years.
>> So I'm going to be recording the temperature.
>> He checks the temperature in depth of the
water. e top
of the surface of the water, all the way down to 15ft
was very consistent. >> He also checks water
clarity with this Black and white patterned tool called
a Secchi disk. >> So I'm going to pull it
up to where I can just see it, which is right there.
>> Finally, using a six foot pole made of PVC, he
lls a water sample from six feet under. It's then
sent to the DNR for testing. While you'll see loons,
bald eagles and massive fish on McCullough Lake.
One thing you won't see is wake surfers and most
likely wake boats. >> They're wrecking our
lakes and wake surfing needs to be regulated to
the proper size lake. >> Jeff Meessmann and other
like minded lake stewards believe wakesurfing wrecks.
Water quality produces too big of a wake, and they
believe the boats destroy the bottom of smaller lakes
and erodes shorelines. Most importantly to Jeff, he
believes wake boats increase the risks and
spread of invasive species from lake to lake.
Meessmann has led the way, banning wake surfing on
McCullough and more than 60 other lake communities
statewide. >> It's going to stop a lot
of paddlers and kayakers and just people on on
pleasure cruises, on pontoon boats from enjoying
the lakes. We saw one wake boat on our lake four years
ago, and I took it into action right away and we
stopped it. Now, Presque Isle for the last year has
had an ordinance in place and it doesn't ban wake
boats. It bans the activity of wake surfing.
>> 240 miles away in southern Wisconsin, you'll
find Redline Watersports Redline Watersports.
is Mars. >> And a totally different
opinion. of the
story. >> When you step into
redline. Owner Paul Virtucci says.
g to get slapped in the face with
the active water sports lifestyle. We've got gear,
water, skis, wakeboards. We also saw pontoons.
>> More importantly than all of that, Paul Virtucci
tells me he sells bringing families together through
water sports. Inside his office, he has family
pictures in the window, on the wall, on his desk. He
even has a family picture stuck to his computer. But
for him, one particular picture says it all.
>> I think I was probably 3 or 4 years old as my father
and I. It was the first family boat. It's been in
my blood ever since. >> Like Jeff Meessmann Paul
Virtucci loves Wisconsin s and fun on the water.
>> It's what my family did growing up. God gave us
these beautiful lakes, and if we don't enjoy them,
it's our fault. And if we don't take care of them,
it's our fault. t the Marshall
Park boat launch in Middleton. Once he arrives
in the desired spot with a couple of touches to the
screen, this high powered boat transforms itself,
sucking in as much as 3,300 pounds of lake water into
its ballast system. >> Ready now. Here we go.
For the sport of wakeboarding, we just.
>> Use the center plate. And that kind of helps us
get up on top of the water with.
oes. Three generations of
watersports enthusiasts on this afternoon run on Lake
Mendota. >> Johnny Z. Over here. Mid
30 seconds. Outstanding athlete.
ld Kyle Polster, who has been on
the water with family for a long time.
s like six months old, I've been
out on the water. I learned to ski when I was 2 or 3.
>> And then Joe D'Amato, who is on the other end of
things. >> Actually started a
little later in life on the water sports.
>> To be able to do this well into your 60s and 70s.
>> One by one they ski water board and wakesurf,
which requires the boat to produce the largest wake
artificially. >> So right now, through
all the engineering, we've just created this beautiful
wake from the running surface of the boat and the
devices, and we're going t 11.3, 11.3 miles an
hour and just cruising down a lake.
glide on water?
y freedom. Hopefully, the camera
picked up the big smile on my face and I wanted to
shout out, to be honest with you, but it just felt
so good for my age at 67. It's just it's just a great
sport. >> Unlike Jeff Meessmann,
Paul Virtucci and his crew believe banning work
surfing wrongfully punishes families because of a few
bad boaters. >> It's so easy just to say
that's bad, that's bad without really getting all
the facts and understanding who you're affecting.
>> It was more the fact that it was something that
we could all do. I want to have the opportunity to do
this my whole life, and I want to be able to have my
grandkids or great grandkids out on the water.
It hurts. >> The access for people
who might own a house there, or that's where they grew
up vacationing, or it's the closest lake that they have
available to them. >> While most only see the
beauty in the surface of the lake, Jeff Meessmann
cares about what's happening all the way to
the bottom, which is why he worries about the potential
damage wake boats can do. Both sides believe it's
time for state lawmakers or the Department of Natural
Resources to step in to create a statewide standard
on where wake surfing is allowed. Paul Virtucci
believes 200 to 250ft from shore, in a minimum of 20ft
of water, is far and deep enough to protect the
environment and others on the water. Jeff Meessmann
wants three times that distance in a minimum of
30ft of water, on lakes, 1500 acres and larger. In a
written statement, the DNR tells me the department is
actively reviewing the latest science and will
continue to review and consider any new
information. They recommend that all interested
stakeholders keep up with upcoming meetings of the
Natural Resources Board for future updates. Back on the
water. Both sides believe they're scientists and not
the others. >> Wake surfing is
scientifically proven to damage the bottom to beyond
20ft deep damage the shorelines make the lake
dangerous for everyone else to use.
om I've spoken with, all are under
the same belief that if we operate these boats in a
little deeper water, we're fine. Every boat that runs
around the lake is going to create a wake, and it's
going to disturb the lake and make it rougher.
>> The battle over wake boats and wake surfing
reminds Paul Virtucci of another battle on the water.
He thinks both sides can find a compromise if they
simply talk and not go off the deep end with each
other. , Jet
Skis came out, and one of the big issues with them is
that they didn't have good muffler systems on, so they
were very. >> Rah rah rah rah. You can
hear them. the lake.
>> I'm a fisherman, I water ski, I enjoy all the water
sports. I'm not. After trying to stop somebody
from fishing or enjoying the activities, the only
activity that I don't agree with is wake surfing.
>> Which represents family and community to so many of
those who do it. >> I don't know if I'd come
out on the water if I wasn't able to wake, surf
and wakeboard. and wakeboard.