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TrickBoardz
08-24-2009, 11:15 AM
There was a discussion on a Fresh Air Exhaust group buy; unfortunately that discussion got deleted accidently. Within that discussion, someone wrote that their son was freaked out because his surfboard went under the swim platform. Here is my response:

I am not dissing minimalist surfing (and I hope I didn’t come across that way). I agree, there is a point of diminishing return with ballast (or stereo amplifiers) and that the biggest challenge we have as a wake surf community is the size of our waves pissing off everyone else (and law enforcement). I do not agree about ballast being a crutch though. At some point, you need to build an adequate wave for your weight, board and skill level. I can get on an 8’ surfboard and surf behind an un-ballasted boat (BORING). I can also add 200 more pounds of ballast to what I already use and not improve the wave, actually might make it worse, yet be more of a nuisance. It takes trial and error to figure out the best ballast amount and location for your boat, gear and people.

If a board can go under a swim platform, for safety purposes, the platform needs to be lowered, or the ballast increased or shifted more to the side. When wakesurfing, please assume that you will run into the boat; therefore it is imperative that your surfboard land on top of the swim platform.

Larry Mann
FAE

sandm
08-24-2009, 11:55 AM
I can't see a swim platform being high enough for a board to go underneath one, especially on a skiers boat, as most tend to run in the water empty already, but good point to always plan on running into the boat...

the minimalist surfing idea is something for everyone to try, and I will be the first to say I did try it, running 1/4 of the ballast we normally run, but the wake was crap, couldn't drop the rope and spent the whole time trying to keep up with the boat. granted there is excess and like you said the diminishing return point. we run 2000lbs in our launch20 with 4-5 people in the boat and 1600lbs with 6-7. we have found that to make the best wake for surfing. is it too much for our boat, we don't think so. there are some with more, and some with less. buddy with a enzo runs almost 3k, and his boat does just fine. another with a tige 22ve runs 1200 and is fine. every boat is different