Study: How Far Wake-Sport Waves Travel Before They Fade
In 2015, engineering firm C.A. Goudey & Associates measured the wakes produced by a typical wake-sport boat (a ballasted 23-foot Nautique G-23) on Florida's Conway Chain of Lakes. The team ran 94 tests at cruising, wakeboarding and wakesurfing speeds, at shallow and deep sites, using a line of wave sensors running out from shore.
Key findings:
Wakeboarding and wakesurfing waves lose height sharply in the first 100 to 150 feet from the boat.
At 200 feet from shore, wake-sport waves fall below what the authors consider exceptional heights. The exception is wakesurfing in deep water, where it takes about 300 feet for a 26-inch wave to drop by half.
Wind waves carry more shoreline energy than most people expect. A 10 mph wind over one mile of open water delivers as much energy as a wakesurf boat passing 110 feet offshore every 270 seconds.
The study was commissioned by the Water Sports Industry Association (WSIA).