A group of wakesurfers believes that the town of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin unconstitutionally banned wakesurfing boats from its 292-acre lake. They’re seeking to nullify the ordinance and $4 million for the loss of not being able to use their boats, docking fees, and emotional damages.
The town passed an ordinance in November 2025 that banned boats that “employ ballast tanks, ballast bags or fins to cause a boat to operate in a bow-high manner, or which increases or enhances a boat’s wake.” Ballast tanks, or bags, hold water and add weight to the back of the boat, creating a bigger wave ideal for wakesurfers.
The town claimed that the larger wakes cause environmental damage by disrupting sediment patterns that threaten aquatic life and can result in algae blooms. Offenders will be slapped with a $500 fine for the first offense, and $1,000 for a second offense.
The president of the town’s Board of Trustees, Lynn Shovan, doubled down on the ordinance.
“We are confident in our ordinance. We do not believe the allegations have merit,” Shovan told TMJ4. “We are trying to protect the health of the lake.”
The plaintiff, a group of 14 people who wake surf on Lake Elkhart, called the Elkhart Watersports Alliance, Inc., claims that, while the town can restrict boating activities, they do not have the right to outright ban them. The ordinance does not have sound scientific backing, they assert, adding that it also does not accommodate people with disabilities. They highlight a previous compromise proposed by wakesurfers on the lake that would restrict the boats to operating at least 300 feet from shore in waters at least 20 feet deep.
The group’s attorney, Anders Helquist, criticized the town’s actions, saying that the ordinance was excessive.
“Well, the village had repeated opportunities here to compromise and accommodate all lake users, but with these bans, which remain the most extreme in the country, the village has shown it can’t be trusted,” Helquist told TMJ4. “Elkhart Lake is Wisconsin’s fourth deepest lake, and our lawsuit became necessary to protect the rights to legally recreate on a nearly 120-foot-deep lake.”
The environmental impact of wakesurfing boats has been the subject of ongoing debate nationwide. A 2024 NPR report noted that the popularity of this style of boat increased during the pandemic, with about 13,000 units sold in 2020, and it highlighted research from the University of Minnesota suggesting that wakesurfing boats should stay at least 500 feet from the shoreline to reduce their environmental impact.
Another study published in the Journal of Water Resource and Protection found that the environmental impact is negligible if the boats operate 200 feet from shore in water at least 10 feet deep. Other scholars took issue with the study and published a rebuttal, claiming that it was not a technically sound paper.
As towns pass their own wakesurfing ordinances, Wisconsin lawmakers are also weighing statewide legislation that would determine a safe distance for the boats to stay from the shore.
