Course buoys all slashed up.

[Wish]

Well, we went 6 uninterrupted years since the last vandal destroyed our course, cables and all. Same resident on the lake (no proof) chopped up all the buoys accept a few air filled boat guides (had short course buoys as well). I'm a skier on a budget and looking to see if any club or ski sites change out buoys year to year, or perhaps went to Walley buoys and still have the regular ones sitting around. I'll pay for shipping...deflated of course and in ok shape ...Or point me to the best deals on air filled boat guides and turn balls. I'm the only consistent skier on the lake so the financial burden falls on me. Thanks.

[aupatking]

For cheap it’s Bart's or Overton’s. Haven’t found anything cheaper. $6.95 a ball, or something there about. Plus $3.99 for a big-ass box of rock salt. No proof, no problem. No grass

[Edbrazil]

Never tried it, but I've envisioned making explodo-buoys filled with propane, triggered by when the tension band was cut.

[lpskier]

Brian, I have an assortment of buoys. Maybe not all you need but at least a start. I don’t have any trips to Sanford planned but if you want to drive down to Otown I’ll let you have them. We may also have some at LaPoint Ski Park. I’m doing safety at Drew’s today (Saturday cancelled due to wind), so give me a day or so.

[markn]

Wish, Sorry to hear of the damage to your course. A few years ago, raised our second course, spent several hours making repairs and replacing all new buoys. Next morning drove over to the course....every buoy had been cut off. ( over $230 worth of new buoys) These vandals suck. Even went so far to call the police....not much help. In terms of replacement buoys, we use MIami Nautique. Best price unless Overton's is having a sale. I do have 4 new, never used yellow (old style) hard foam boat guides you can have if you want them.

[DavidN]

If you take the trip to Clermont to pick up Mark’s boat guides - I have a set of 10 Polyform turn- & gate buoys we took out last year to replace them with Wally buoys. They had been installed for 1.5 seasons and are a bit faded and a little deformed, but still very usable, especially when you are on a budget. I can’t deflate them because I’m too afraid to damage the valves. (Rubber got pretty soft around the valves.)

Just come and pick them up ... :)

 

 

[BraceMaker]

@Edbrazil - I like that! At one point I was considering if you could make an alarm system where pressure switches that were "closed" so long as there was a minimum tension would be strung under the balls - but that was so you could sneak out there with a paintball gun and get the bugger.

[Jody_Seal]

@wish sorry to hear.

A number of years ago we had our course on a public lake vandalized , one of the gentleman that installed the course was a member of the local bass fishing community and was reading a local interweb forum where some one boasted about taking care of the waterskier problem. That very next week the local bass club was having an evening shotgun start. Well he entered the event and during the pre tournament meeting he stood up, introduced himself and told the group that his course was vandalized and that the cost of repair and replacement was going to be over $2k and that a investigation was underway by local sheriff and fish and game and that if and when the perpetrators were caught they would be charged with a felony.

The buoys showed up a couple days later tied to a tree on the bank in front of the course..

[OldboyII]

In one of the films about wild tigers, filmmakers used motion activated cameras with night vision option. Battery works for week or more, camera camouflaged and virtually invisible.

Not a budget solution but having that movie it may be possible to give those bastards lessons with long lasting aftereffect.

[Than_Bogan]

@Wish So once every 6 years this fellow goes on an epic bender and ends up taking out the frustrations of his life on your buoys!?

 

I'm asking because this sounds like a much more serious than just replacing buoys -- I'd expect the war to continue and require police help? But if it's really been 6 years between incidents, maybe you figure you can another long unvandalized period?

[Wish]

Police were involved the last time. And it was a felony crime. Individual knows they were involved as I sent notice of vandalism to every lake resident with police contact numbers. I believe that's why it took 6 yrs for him to have done it again. You cannot fix crazy. Or rationalize with it. Police are involved again (zero proof) and notice will be sent out. Every lake has one crazy or another. This one seems to tip the scale to batshit crazy though. So yes, hoping for a long stretch of peaceful existance.

 

[Than_Bogan]

Interesting. GOOD LUCK!

[Wayne]

@Wish where is your course located? Any way to isolate the traffic that comes and goes or viewing spot? Do you have any deer hunting friends? If they have a trail camera, the device @OldboyII mentioned you could have it set up for the ski season (which is mostly out of hunting season) to see if they come back this season. Based on your comments, I’m guessing that just using the course is enough to provoke them especially if you can get it back up again quickly.

[Wish]

Wouldn't a cam like that require it to be close?? Like really close.?

[DaveLemons]

@Wish trail cameras are set off by a motion detector. I would guess a 50’ radius. Some of the newer ones have cell service and send a picture to your phone.

[Wish]

Ya, that wouldn't work unless it was tied to the buoy...haha. The lake is to open to catch anyone leaving their dock. But thanks for the info. May help someone else ?

[OldboyII]

Budget solution :

Why not attach to the tree or any other post Dummy Surveillance Camera which has blinking red/green LED, Aerials etc.?

Something that looks serious and located intentionally visible.

))

[skinut]

Send out your notice of the vandalism to the neighborhood. Let them know you have installed a camera to capture future problems. That might scare them from doing it again.

[Horton]

Cost of any camera > cost of new balls

[MISkier]

Buy camera once < buy buoys frequently.

[Wish]

Don't want the lake residence to feel they are being watched (even though there's 2 houses with cams). But will be sending out a notice of vandalism and a number for local police if any info is known. Unfortunately even good cams cannot capture decent images at night 100 yards away. They know I have cams on my dock and that's why they only destroyed balls at the far end of the course. No homes at that end. I will probably put up a dummy cam on the last house/dock boat house along the lake which is closed at to that end. I know the guy well and I'm sure he'd be ok with it.

[JackQ]

6 years is not bad. I just sucked up the vandalism as cost of skiing. Until recently I skied on a tributary of the Potomac river. I would always keep a complete set of buoys in the boat as I never knew how many would be missing. More than a few times, every buoy was cut out is was a challenge to find an anchor to two to start replacing buoys without any visual references, really sucked when the water was cold! One time the perpetrator was nice enough to tie a bag with a dead skunk to my sole remaining buoy... Don't miss those frustration.

[Wish]

@horton. Air filled boat guides are not cheap. Foam ones do not last long in FL.

[Jody_Seal]

Electrify one! Somebeach grabs it to cut it out will be the last time he does it!!

[Not_The_Pug]

@wish we put up fake solar camera's with light on top in our neighborhood and a few neighborhood watch/camera signs. Have had a lot less problems with people stealing mail since they went up. Not expensive at all, I think they were around $50 for two.

[Horton]

@Krlee now that I know those cameras are fake....

[Ed_Johnson]

@Krlee..Do you have a source listing for those..Sounds like a good idea.

 

 

[Hockdog]

Burn the bad neighbor's house down.

[jjackkrash]

If you are lost for a remedy, just ask yourself: what would Keyzer Soze do?

[Not_The_Pug]

@Ed_Johnson here is the link to the camera's https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D4PVVWT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_v8hWCbJDXAM3N

 

[Rednucleus]

Go hi tech and rig it so when a ball is cut it triggers an alarm alert sent to your house or phone. I'll bet some smart baller could engineer that for you

[Orlando76]

I hate to say it but I go through 3-4 sets of buoys per course per year. It is what it is. Weather, vandalism, supposedly Gators.... I just figure it into annual budget of skiing and I’m probably the poorest skier on BOS.

[Wish]

@Orlando76 we should compare incomes ?. The thing is, I'm blessed to not lose any. They just wear out after yrs and yrs. So to all of the sudden lose that many over night is disturbing and tough to budget for when your just about the only skier. The last hit was over 1k 5yrs ago. Lived on a public lake in MN and put on a new buoy about every other set. Easy to budget for. Really cannot complain in the big picture of things but man does it suck and feel like a punch to the gut. Id like to return that favor. ?

[76SS]

I know it would take more time but, how hard would it be to remove the buoys after you ski and then just reinstall them when you go back out.

[Wish]

That would need to be ALL the buoys and then the cable float course sinks to the bottom. Which half of it did after. PITA getting it back up.

[aupatking]

what about instead of going cheap on replacements, you go expensive? Bubble Buoys would give you plenty places to hide the little tracking device “Tile”. Turn on the “Notify When Found” and either when you get in Bluetooth range, or any other Tile user does, it will email you with the location. It could be your vandal buddy’s own Tile app that notifies you (if he has the app).

Just thinking, did the jackass have the time, prior to sunrise, to ditch the buoys? You could get close enough for Bluetooth just by walking your dog right past his house as soon as you see the buoys are gone. If you get a ping on them, you call the cops. Even if he did ditch them, maybe some other user gets close enough to the dumpster where he ditched them. Even if you don’t catch him, you get your buoys back.

I used bubble buoys just because I couldn’t think of any other buoy that would lend to hiding a tracker. Anyone know of another way?

Also, this does not help, at all, for vandalized, but left in place buoys, like slashed buoys. It also makes 2 assumptions 1 assumes that you find some way to waterproof what you put the Tile device in. and 2 the vandalism happens soon enough that the Tile batteries are not dead

[gregy]

My renters were having problems at a rent house I have. House got broke into a few times and cars as well. I put out some of those dummy cameras. They look real and have a LED light ring so they can be seen easily at night. We haven't had a problem since. It be worth a try.

[Wish]

@aupatking no, they cutm open enough to fill with water and sink to the bottom still attached to the lines makeing it more of a PITA.