Greetings. Allow me to share a few words of support for the proposed changes from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation to rules pertaining to wakeboats.

I am a landowner with shoreline on both lakes Sunset and Sunrise in Orwell/Benson. I am a former member of the Vermont House of Representatives and served on the Natural Resources Committee. I am also a director of the Sunrise, Sunset and Perch Pond Lake Association (though I am speaking strictly for myself in this letter).

When rules were created for the proper use of wakeboats in 2023, very little attention was paid to safety. The new proposal attempts to address this, and I am very much in favor.

I recently travelled on a motorboat from Shelburne to Burlington on Lake Champlain when a wakeboat passed by. We turned into the oncoming wake, but even doing so on a boat with a 351cc inboard motor, we were rocked significantly by the ensuing wake. The boat was roughly 300 feet away at the time. I canoe and kayak almost every day. Needless to say, if I was in a smaller craft I positively would have been in danger of capsizing.

The erosion, noise, interference and safety concerns that these boats cause is severe. There is no place for such craft on a lake the size of Sunset!

I urge others to make their voices heard as DEC goes through the process of amending the rules pertaining to wakeboats.

Andy Snyder

Orwell