Surfed for the first time last night

[walb0244]

Went surfing for the first time last night. We are still trying to figure out what to do. I have stock ballast. Filled the back left (400) and the center full. And then loaded two people (400 total) in the corner seat. One of them was actually sitting on the sun deck to get the weight more toward the corner. I

Sometimes when we start the person ends up on top of the wake right behind the boat so you have to go over the wake and down to get in the pocket. Are we doing something wrong to end up there? I didn't have trouble with this but my buddy did. I think he just isn't leaning away from the boat enough to stay out from right behind the boat when starting.

Also, can you still steer the boat like normal or do you have to make circles? He thought you had to just make circles. I tried that for awhile and then decided to try making laps around the lake. It seemed to work but didnt' know for sure if I was messing the wake up or not.

Wakeplate: I thought I would want the wake plate all the way up so that the back of the boat is sitting the deepest in the water. Well I ended up running with the wake plate all the way down. Maybe we are doing something wrong again here.

[walb0244]

Here are two vids of my buddy giving it a go. Keep in mind no one in the boat has every wakesurfed.

http://www.facebook.com/v/1370143215516

http://www.facebook.com/v/1370145855582

[deafgoose]

Sometimes when we start the person ends up on top of the wake right behind the boat so you have to go over the wake and down to get in the pocket. Are we doing something wrong to end up there? I didn't have trouble with this but my buddy did. I think he just isn't leaning away from the boat enough to stay out from right behind the boat when starting.

Also, can you still steer the boat like normal or do you have to make circles? He thought you had to just make circles. I tried that for awhile and then decided to try making laps around the lake. It seemed to work but didnt' know for sure if I was messing the wake up or not.

Wakeplate: I thought I would want the wake plate all the way up so that the back of the boat is sitting the deepest in the water. Well I ended up running with the wake plate all the way down. Maybe we are doing something wrong again here.

Those 2 videos don't work.

You need to lean away from the boat and edge on your heels until the boat gets up to speed and then you can get into the pocket.

Just steer in a straight line. I only turn to help out the rider when he is about to loose the pocket. With the amount of ballast you are running, I would put the wakeplate 3/4 up.

[walb0244]

Hopefully the vids work now. I changed the security settings.

[Sled491]

Man you seem to be going awful fast. What is your speed. Wake looks nice and clean. When you start you sometimes have to drop into the pocket no big deal.

[walb0244]

Pretty sure we were running between 8 and 10. Not 100% sure. Gonna have to check the perfect pass with the GPS. Biggest problem is that my buddy wake boards regular and I wakeboard goofy. Well now that we are surfing I hate dealing with the ballast switch so I have just been riding regular so that we don't have to move ballast back and forth.

[Sled491]

I have a similar problem. Every one but me is regular and I'm goofy. I usually set up for everyone else first then after every one has had there fill (wife, sister in law, and 3 kids) I let the kids swim while I switch for my set up. I then get to go until its time to go

[cab13367]

Went surfing for the first time last night. We are still trying to figure out what to do. I have stock ballast. Filled the back left (400) and the center full. And then loaded two people (400 total) in the corner seat. One of them was actually sitting on the sun deck to get the weight more toward the corner. I

Sometimes when we start the person ends up on top of the wake right behind the boat so you have to go over the wake and down to get in the pocket. Are we doing something wrong to end up there? I didn't have trouble with this but my buddy did. I think he just isn't leaning away from the boat enough to stay out from right behind the boat when starting.

Also, can you still steer the boat like normal or do you have to make circles? He thought you had to just make circles. I tried that for awhile and then decided to try making laps around the lake. It seemed to work but didnt' know for sure if I was messing the wake up or not.

Wakeplate: I thought I would want the wake plate all the way up so that the back of the boat is sitting the deepest in the water. Well I ended up running with the wake plate all the way down. Maybe we are doing something wrong again here.

Walb,

That's a good looking wave especially for stock ballast and just three people on the boat. The speed looks right as well (about 10 mph). And just go in a straight line, no need to drive in a circle. And experiment with the wakeplate and go with whatever setting gives you a nice clean wave. Generall, wakeplate up means steeper wave but shorter pocket, wakeplate down means smaller wave but longer pocket. But experiment with it.

As far as getting up, have your buddy edge hard on his heelside as soon as he gets up on the board and before the wave forms, just like cutting out heelside when wakeboarding. Or pull him up while he is on the port side instead of directly behind the boat.

As far as surfing the wave, he is getting slack but you can see that he goes back and forth from slack to a tight rope. Remember that to drive down the wave and get closer to the boat, put more weight on your front foot. To slow down, put weight on your back foot. It's a very subtle weight shift. You guys just need to spend sometime figuring it out and once you do, you can maintain that slack and toss the rope in. It's generally not something you can do your first time out so you are not doing anything "wrong". You just need some time to figure it out. Keep at it!

Al

[cab13367]

Here's me surfing behind the same boat as yours but with no ballast and only the wife and two small kids on board. Hopefully, it gives you and idea of what I am talking about as far as surfing in the pocket and learning to use proper weight distribution to stay there. Again, it's very subtle weight shifts - if you do it too drastically, you will definitely drop off the pocket.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBcJkVk4x80&sns=em

Keep working on it, you'll get there before you know it.

Al

[you da man]

Pretty sure we were running between 8 and 10. Not 100% sure. Gonna have to check the perfect pass with the GPS. Biggest problem is that my buddy wake boards regular and I wakeboard goofy. Well now that we are surfing I hate dealing with the ballast switch so I have just been riding regular so that we don't have to move ballast back and forth.

If you have the 750 or 1100lb sacs, the fastest way to switch ballast from side to side is to get the Tsunami 1200 pump that plugs into the 12v and you can connect the v-drive sacs together thus emptying one sac while filling the other. I use my regular ballast pumps to assist in filling/draining the desired sacs but by using the external pump I can fill/drain the 1100lb sacs in about 6-7 min.