Surfing a Small Wake

I have a few wakesurf boards, and had opportunities to ride quite a few last year and this. Among the boards in my quiver is an Inland Surfer Red Tide. With the Mighty Centurion totally sacked out, and running at WOT, I’ve ridden the Red as fast 14.5 mph. We normally ride with over 2,000 pounds of ballast and at speeds ranging from 8.5 to 11.5 mph. At those speeds and with that much ballast my wake can get reasonably long but little steep, too steep to enjoy riding the Red.

This Saturday I thought that I’d like to roll the clock back about two years. Back when I only had stock ballast and my wake was much smaller. The Red Tide rode very nicely on a fairly small wake. I wasn’t trying 3s, Ollies, and airs, but I did carve up and down the wake. I fell back and pushed forward back in to the pocket. I weigh about 220 pounds and was able to ride very nicely on stock ballast, a crew of two, plus 350 pounds of weight in the bow. This little experiment verified for me that the Red Tide is a good board for the smaller wake and the larger guy.

Later that afternoon another boat flagged me down. The folks in the other boat were displaced Californians and were absolutely excited to see my crew wakesurfing. They had a great looking d-drive Nautique but they were having trouble surfing a Broadcast 5.6 on a small wake.

I gave two of them a few quick wake surf sets behind the Mighty Centurion. Then I loaned my Red Tide for a few hours. We went back to surfing while they worked on surfing the Red. I’m planning on inviting them on board the Mighty Centurion for a few more sets.

Short story, if you’re having trouble building a big wake or finding the pocket then you might try a big board like an IS Red, a SStixx, Ja Mako, or maybe a Trick Boardz Mojo XL.

ed, do you know where i can pick up a red tide???

Joshua, I saw your other post. I like having the Red Tide in my quiver, mine is not for sale. Wakesurf board shipping costs are kind of high so for me horse trading does seem attractive unless you really don't care for a particular board.

I ride with a lot of first timers and I like having the Red Tide as an option. After this weekend I'm convinced that the Red is a good learning board, but I have to dial down my wake.

Unfortunately you missed a deal that Jeff Walker posted some time ago. Inland Surfer was over stocked on Red Tides. My best suggesting is to get a hold of Inland Surfer.

Good luck.

Joshua, I just got email from IS. They've modified the Red. The video that Jeff Page sent shows some pretty aggressive riding on a fairly large board. The fin boxes are different, the vortex channel is wider, and the nose is more tapered.

(Message edited by Bigshow on May 28, 2007)

thanks --jeff page e-amailed me and i will see what he can do... i currently ride the yellow and love it.. but one of my clsoe friends is wanting the red....

i just watched the videos on the inland site. Jeff does a 360 on the red tide. thats impressive.