"No wake zones" may prohibit wakes in marinas, near moorings and within some distance of shore in order to facilitate recreation by other boats and reduce the damage wakes cause. Powered narrowboats on British canals are not permitted to create a breaking wash (a wake large enough to create a breaking wave) along the banks, as this erodes them. This rule normally restricts these vessels to  or less.
Wakes are occasionally used recreationally. Swimmers, people riding personal watercraft, and aquatic mammals such as dolphins can ride the leading edge of a wake. In the sport of wakeboarding the wake is used as a jump.  The wake is also used to propel a surfer in the sport of wakesurfing.  In the sport of water polo, the ball carrier can swim while advancing the ball, propelled ahead with the wake created by alternating armstrokes in crawl stroke, a technique known as dribbling. Furthermore, in the sport of canoe marathon, competitors use the wake of fellow kayaks in order to save energy and gain an advantage, through the practice of sitting their boats on the wake of another, so their kayak is propelled by the wash.