Wakesurf newbie

[Weil Thing]

Hello all. We're skiers and wakeboarders at this point, but the rough water the last couple of times out has made us think more about adding wakesurfing to our outings. We have a 22 Ve', and I have a question...do we need to add ballast sacs in order to be able to surf? We don't even have a board as of yet, but I see athread on helping to pick that out. Any help is much appreciated!

[Timmy!]

Technically you don't need ballast but it does make it a lot easier to get the boat to list. If you have a lot of people on your boat, just make sure that you have them all sit on the side that you are surfing on and that will get you started for the first weekend. With no ballast, start out at around 10mph with taps at 8 and see what your wave looks like, increase speed and decrease taps until it looks like a nice ocean wave with a curl on it.

My guess is that you will be so hooked that you will be purchasing ballast to make a bigger and better wave within just a few outings! Good luck!!!

[dogbert]

You don't really need ballast if you have enough people on board. They just need to be positioned correctly. In fact, I'd highly recommend using people first to figure out your ideal wake.

Here's a picture of one of my kids surfing behind a 22Ve without ballast. We did have a few people on the boat. Here's the link to my gallery that shows where we were all positioned.

Use TAPS to adjust the wake shape once you going. You can really clean up some of the inevitable wash you get.

[Weil Thing]

thanks guys!

[chpthril]

Weil,

We are surfing with this config. Less then $600 for just the bags and 1 pump. Hope to finish the install (over the winter) for a complete auto system for less than $1k.

Fly Hi bow sac = 500#'s (under bow seats)
Fly Hi surf sac = 700#'s (in port side storage)
Fly Hi V-drive sac = 400#'s ( along port seats if only the wife and I)
Speed = 10.5
TAPS = 3-4

This set up is for just the 2 of us. If you have more peeps, you wont need the extra weight, but you will need a good board. We ride a LF Venture right now which is a SLUG I believe a better board will require less ballast to surf I rode CP3's CWB Tsunami, and found it to be quite a bit faster then the LF. He has ridden my LF and agreed with me that it sucks.

With a better board, and If I were a little (ok a lot) lighter, I think I could surf my 22Ve with out ballast @ 10 mph and TAPS @ 2

[Weil Thing]

Thanks, chp!

Something else baffles me...how do you NOT get your boat smacked by the board when a rider falls? I might have to see if I can get cp3 to go with me and demo his board for me!

[dogbert]

You should be riding about 10' behind the boat, so that really shouldn't be an issue. I always worry that someone's going to hit their head on my swim platform, but when you're back there you see how hard it is to do that.

[chpthril]

Thanks, chp!

Something else baffles me...how do you NOT get your boat smacked by the board when a rider falls? I might have to see if I can get cp3 to go with me and demo his board for me!

We have a leash on the board.......I got tired of chasing the darn thing

[dogbert]

We have a leash on the board.......I got tired of chasing the darn thing

Good idea. Are you worried about the rope getting tangled with the leash?

[chpthril]

Good idea. Are you worried about the rope getting tangled with the leash?

I usually just toss the rope in V's dropping to the other side of the wake. Haven't thought about that, hmmm.