Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011 • City Council approves wakeboarding event

Publisher’s note: This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011, edition of the Lassen County Times.

The Susanville City Council unanimously approved a professional wakeboard competition to be held on Emerson Lake Saturday, Sept. 3.

The idea of the wakeboarding competition was first presented to the Susanville City Council at its Aug. 3 meeting, by professional wakeboarder and former city council candidate Nick McBride and Willis Dow, whose family owns the water rights on Emerson Lake (The city owns the lake itself).

The event is being put together by the Lassen County Farm Bureau, with McBride and Dow as primary coordinators.

“McBride and Dow came before us at the last meeting and asked to do this,” said city attorney Peter Talia. “We were all a little surprised. I have met with Nick and Willis, and Willis met with (Golf Course Manager) Adam Almand, who has the final say. Basically, what they’re going to do is have a wakeboarding competition. There will be one boat in the water and one wave-runner, and that’s all.”

As part of the arrangement McBride and Dow have with the city, they will also be using the recently remodeled old clubhouse building located on Wingfield Road.

McBride said in order to attract more people to the event, he also booked Reno, Nevada rock band Sil Shoda to come and play at the clubhouse. As a stipulation, he promised the city council the music would be over by 9 p.m.

The event is scheduled to start around 3 p.m., and the city has assumed the responsibility of notifying any golfers on the course beforehand.

“The only problem I can see is the older people in the neighborhood,” Talia said. “Pretty much everybody is going to bed at 9 p.m.”

Talia said he wasn’t sure if everybody in the immediate vicinity of the old clubhouse knew about the event or not. Mayor Lino Callegari said if there was to be any staying power for the event, McBride better make sure everyone in the area knows about it.

“You may want to do it again,” Callegari said. “If you run into obstructions this time, the folks will turn it off for next time.”

McBride said he had talked to many of the neighbors when he was out there testing the water on Thursday, Aug. 11.

“A lot of the neighbors came out while we were testing the lake,” McBride said. “We talked to (some residents) and they generally seemed for it. There are still some people we can talk to.”

The council asked McBride to give a brief explanation of what wakeboarding is.

“A wakeboard is a board you put your feet on like a snowboard,” McBride said. “You ride behind a boat. I’ve got a bunch of pro-riders coming up, so we’ll be doing some flips and spins. We’re going to have a slide or two in the water, which are just a couple big apparatuses that we’ll be doing tricks on.”

McBride said it would basically be four hours of people jumping high into the air off the wake of the boat, doing their best tricks.

McBride said he had the event insured through the World Wakeboarding Association, along with the Dow family and the city of Susanville, up to $5 million. When councilmember Doug Sayers said he was concerned about the safety of the people participating in the event, McBride said that was the reason for the wave runner, in the event somebody gets hurt while riding.

McBride said he had also spoken with members of the Susan River Fire Protection District, who would be willing to stage at the event for medical aid.

McBride said he and the Lassen County Farm Bureau haven’t figured out how they’re going to cover the event, they do have costs to cover, and are in the process of collecting sponsors.  Almand said while he had some concerns about security, he would have areas roped off for the event. McBride said they were also working on a beer and wine license for the event.

The opposition
While McBride said he had garnered a lot of support, not everyone is in favor of the council -pproved event.

Elizabeth Norton wrote a letter to the Susanville City Council and Lassen County Supervisor Bob Pyle asking why the event was taking place.

“I do not endorse these kinds of non-golf events without the public and local (county) neighbors having an opportunity to comment on them,” Norton said in her letter. “They are the ones who will be subjected to the noise and people attracted to the event.

“I’m requesting the council provide me with your policy for considering and approving non-golf related events at the golf course and if the public had an opportunity to review and approve an events policy.”

Norton said if the city hasn’t adopted an events policy for the course, she requested they do so prior to approving any non-golf event.

“I believe elected officials should consult with their constituents well in advance of any planned event,” Norton said. “Until then, I do not support the proposed event and am disappointed by the city when this is the first I’ve heard of it.”

City Clerk Debra Magginetti said while the city doesn’t have an events policy for the course, McBride and the other organizers said they were going to assume the responsibility of letting residents know about the event.

Golf course resident Cindie Tamietti lives right next to Emerson Lake, and said she’s worried about the effect the event may have on the local ecosystem.

“I’d understand if the event was for raising money for the golf course, but it’s a quiet, peaceful place,” Tamietti said. “We have had two white cranes nesting in the area. When they came out to test the water, they chased away many of the birds.”