Guys,
Thanks for your responses - definitely cannot wait to get this school going (especially since it's a balmy 1º outside as I type this, overlooking a half-frozen bay!). It will be interesting to see what type of action we'll get, but I'm betting we'll attract enough attention to stay busy a few days out of the week? I want to get some brochures to put in the local hotels "What to do when you're here" section, along with tap into some local business partnerships (there's a big paddleboard retailer that comes to mind).
I've been checking out various surf school sites, using http://boardersmag.com/articles/top-wakesurf-school-in-the-usa as a guide. Then I started to find some closer schools like http://www.adkwaterski.com (2.5 hours south on Lake George), http://www.lakelifelessons.com (3 hours southeast on Lake Winnipesaukee) and said "OK, if they can run a surf school in this same climate but still far enough away that I won't have to compete with them, I'm making this happen!" >>> as far as the garage height goes, sounds like my best bet is changing from 2 smaller bays to one larger bay (9' is going to be my max height, otherwise it will begin to interfere with the ceiling height on the second floor, compacting it to 7', OR flattening my roof pitch in a very snowy area which isn't going to happen!).
@Cdifranco - you got it my man!