question about wake size and progression

ok...so my buds and i have a small 17' logic marine...the thing only weighs 1,000 lbs. and as you all can imagine, the wake isn't very good. we can still get wake to wake pretty easy, but nonetheless my question is this...would progressing to a bigger wake make attempting tricks easier?? any input at all would be sweet

a bigger wake can give you more hang time to try and attempt new tricks. So yes, it would.

A larger, well shaped wake and the higher tow point of a tower will help as you progress. It is still important to learn the fundamentals and proper edging technique and you can work on that behind any boat. Ask around and see if you can get a pull behind a boat with a tower and a bigger wake, there is a "find a third, be a third" section here on wakeworld.

More time in the air makes everything easier. Think about it, say with your wake the highest you can get is 4 feet off the top, now get into a boat that allows you to go higher, farther and float longer. Tricks are much easier to control when they are slower. Granted the best thing you can do is learn fundamental technique so that when you do get a nice wake you can maximize it's potential. There are a lot of kids out there that went straight to a monster wake and have essentially been cheating their whole riding life. Learn the basics and go from there.

A couple weeks ago I was stuck on a private ski lake riding behind a closed bow Mastercraft slalom boat. It had a tower but it was the smallest wake I've ever seen. Wake inverts were really tough but I could do 3's and all grabs etc. For the inverts I taught the lady to drive double ups around the islands, riding is what you make it and you can make it a ton of fun even with a bitty wake. Shred and be happy.

Yes it would help but it is far from being needed... Someone post up that Scott Byerly video.

Or the Vandall riding in Thailand in Natural Born Thrillaz, he is killing it behind a small boat with a 5 foot pylon.

the question about the Scott Byerly and Vandall videos, are did they learn everything they do in the video behind that boat, or did they learn and progress with a bigger, firmer, nicer shaped wake?

i think that good wake can play a huge role in how fast you progress. as said above, bigger wake = more hang time = more time to slow down and do the tricks correctly.

Back when Byerly and Gator were shredding on the early Wake Techs (before the Flight 69) they used Gators dads Mastercraft closed bow ski boat and would stack as many people as they could in there for weight. You cram ten in there and the wake is still very small. Byerly was doing switch mobes on a directional board with that teeny wake!!

It is all about the cut. The pros still tore it up with small wakes back in the old days. The larger wake will definitely help you. While riding behind the smaller boats I would try to get as comfortable as possible riding/landing/jumping switch if you are comfortable with your heel and toe W2W jumps.

Hell I learned wake to wake and fs 180's behind a seadoo. Once I got behind a real wake boat I had those same tricks in no time. Now with 2000 lbs in the boat theres no turning back. I seriously believe that ballast is addicting

We have been riding with less ballast this year and everybody is still sticking their tricks. We loaded up this weekend and I was quickly reminded of the difference. With the same amount of effort, you get a lot different results.