The Adirondack Park-wide debate about wake boats and their impacts on shorelines, lake beds and wildlife has reached Lake George.
This summer, the Lake George Park Commission’s boat inspectors will start counting the number of wake or surf boats trailered by visitors to the lake, Justin Luyk told the Commissioners at their March 24 meeting.
“It seems we are seeing more wake boats coming to the lake, but as of now, that’s anecdotal. We don’t have the information necessary to quantify that,” said Luyk, who manages the Park Commission’s program inspecting boats for invasive species. “So, starting this summer, our boat inspectors will be collecting data that will give us a baseline for assessing how many wake boats are coming year over year.”
Across the Adirondack Park, the popularity of wake or surf boats – vessels designed specifically to generate large, surfable waves for wakeboarding and wake surfing – has reportedly surged in in recent years, growing by roughly 20% annually, according to some estimates.
As interest in wake boats grow, environmental groups are becoming more vocal about risks which they say the boats pose to water quality and wildlife.
“These are not just bigger waves — they carry more energy and travel farther,” Scott Ireland of the Adirondack Lakes Alliance said during a January 14, 2026 webinar titled “Wake Sports in the Adirondacks: The Hidden Impacts and Dangers to Our Ecosystems.”
A coalition that includes the Adirondack Lakes Alliance, the Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation and Protect the Adirondacks has urged municipalities to adopt local laws regulating the use of wake boats.
Among the proposals: limiting wake surfing to deeper areas of lakes — generally in waters at least 30 feet deep and 1,000 feet from shore.
Advocates say measures such as these are necessary if lake ecosystems are to be protected, arguing that the boats’ larger wakes churn up lake bottoms and release nutrients that degrade water quality and might contribute to the development of harmful algal blooms. They say the larger wakes can also accelerate shoreline erosion and disturb loons’ nesting sites.
Opponents of the proposed regulations argue there is no evidence that wake boats have caused loon populations to decline or have degraded the environment.
The Lake George Park Commission’s Justin Luyk said the data to be collected this summer on the numbers of wake boats brought to the lake will enable the Park Commission to start assessing their impacts.
Dealers: Education, Not Regulation
Although little or no attention has yet been paid to the impacts of wake boats on Lake George, Lake George is actually one of the most dense wake boat markets in the northeastern U.S.
Three Lake George dealers currently sell wake boats not only on Lake George but throughout the region: Boats By George; Yankee Boating Center; and Adirondack Marine.
Dealers argue that wake boats occupy a tiny percentage of the recreational boating market and that wake surfing can coexist with other lake uses if conducted responsibly. They say education and enforcement of existing boating laws, rather than outright restrictions, can address many concerns and note that wake sports represent a small share of overall lake traffic – perhaps as little as one half of one percent.
According to Andrew Brodie, owner of Yankee Boating Center, the manufacturers of wake boats are well aware of the proliferation of local restrictions across the country and have responded with recommendations for enjoying the sport responsibly. Among them: remain at least 200 feet from shore, minimize repetitive passes, turn the music down.
“There is room for compromise between those who want to eliminate wake boats altogether and those who want no restrictions at all,” said Brodie.
Castaway Marina recently ceased selling wake boats and other dealers appear reluctant to enter the market.
“We are concerned about the wakes they put out and we think restrictions on the use of wake boats are a distinct possibility,” said Fran Sisca, owner off Mountain Motors.
Andrew Brodie acknowledged that he has concerns that local restrictions on the use of wake boats within towns with smaller lakes could affect Yankee Boating Center’s sales.
Charter Operator Adds Wake Boat to Fleet
As of 2025, only one Lake George charter boat company – Adk Boat Tours, operating from the Flamingo resort in Diamond Point – offered wake boarding as an option. This summer, another operator – Lake George Village’s True North Boat Tours – will add a 22’ Mastercraft wake boat to its fleet.
A wake boat will allow the company to “better meet the expectations of modern visitors to Lake George… it represents the next step in delivering a premium memorable experience for visitors to Lake George,” said True North owner Vito Caselnova. “Wake surfing is an activity that I value. When controlled, it enhances the charter experience.”
Caselnova and his attorney, Greg Teresi, said wake surfing will only take place 500 feet or more from shore and in waters at least 20 feet deep.
By abiding by those restrictions – which regulate wakeboarding on Vermont lakes – “we can minimize impacts while providing the experience that tourists are looking for,” Caselnova told the Lake George Park Commission.
The permit issued by the Lake George Park Commission to True North Boat Tours prohibits the operation of the wake boat within the congested waters below Tea Island, off the waters of Lake George Village.
Decontaminating Ballast Tanks
The Lake George Association has taken no formal position on the environmental impacts of wake boats or the need for new regulations governing their use, said the organization’s vice-president for communications, Tim Behuniak.
However, the LGA has concerns about the boats’ ballast tanks, which may become vectors for the introduction of invasive species to the lake, Behuniak said. According to the Lake George Park Commission’s Justin Luyk, it is difficult to thoroughly wash a wake boat’s ballasts without additional time and effort.
Decontaminating wake boats not only requires more time, but more hot water – more that 75% of all the hot water available to one decontamination station for one day, said Luyk.
The Park Commission’s inspection program may seek equipment better suited to cleaning the wake boats’ ballast tanks and changes in its inspection and decontamination protocols, said Luyk.
“We have been in talks with program managers from western states, which are ahead of us in modifying decontamination equipment and setups. As our equipment starts to reach the end of its service life, we’re starting to plan for what we will need when the day comes to replace it,” said Luyk.”
LGPC: No Plans for New Regulations
The Lake George Park Commission has no plans to promulgate new regulations governing the use of wake boats on Lake George, said its chairman, Ken Parker, and its deputy director, Joe Thouin.
“We’re looking for people to follow best management practices, but we’ll continue to collect the data on wake boats to determine if and when something else is appropriate for Lake George,” said Thouin.
