Who wants to go surfing?

Andy? I know you're in for a pull...

Tablerock Lake, MO!



(please no one post the garbled hand picture...)

HOLY Crap is that an I/O?????? WILD!

It's so much more fun when you can die!!

hes pretty far back... is there any risk there?

uh ya he's not farr from the prop really. When i wakesurfed i usually feel forward.

Let alone all the people looking back inlc the driver not watching were their going.

wow...

ive surfed behind out I/o we have a huge swim deck. it goes way over the prop. plus out surf wake is really long, you ride way the hell back. Most I/o's it would be really dumb to surf behind, but it depends alot on the boat. and look at that picture up above. even if he caught an edge and flew forward. he still wouldnt hit the boat

I've seen ads in the back of Wakesurfing magazine for a cage that you can put around your outboard prop to make it safe to surf behind an I/O. Who knows.... maybe they have one of those on theirs? I doubt it, but it's possible.

Look at the dude sitting on the back. Maybe I am blind but is that him laying there? Is that his knees?

richard, ive seen that to. it looks really cheap. anything over like 30HP looks like it would blow it offf. and yes the guy on the back is an idiot. haha

You know the sad thing is that when somebody gets chopped up, new laws and stickers will be mandated. I am sure it will be something like "no rider may surf the wake or be towed at less than 25'"
Maybe we should just enact the new law now on Sammamish to be ahead of the curve

Yeah, he's waiting to slide of the sun deck and get his sausage ground a little more

eff that ish!

Crazy! I dont care how far back you are. Lets say the driver has to pull up on the throttle and you are looking down while surfing. He speeds back up and your in the prop. Surfing behind an I/O is an accident waiting to happen.

Im gonna say this only once and get bashed but I dont care. Surfing is for the ocean go there if you want to surf. It looks very boring to watch and I can't really see how it can be fun to even do. Ok Now Bash

IMHO its very fun rick! After you get super tired its fun to take a wakeboard break and just surf a little. But i dont know about surfing with an I/O. I have seen pics of davids sea ray and their boat actually looks safe to surf though

I'd hate to go out the front behind an I/O... head first into the prop would not be fun. I don't surf behind mine, no way, don't care how big the swim step is.

I don't know if wakesurf boards have less rocker than ocean boards (depending on the board obviously) but if I'm too far forward on my board it basically stops and I go over the front on a wave. If you're 6ft tall and 6ft back from the boat you're gonna get blended for sure if you bail out the front.

I don't care how far the swim platform goes back, that is super dangerous. Surfing is fun, but it is not worth risking my life and limbs.

yeah.....on second thought....i dont know if i would surf behind any I/O i just went and dug up some pics from some I/O pride forum to look at some I/Os that people say they surf behind....they are crazy. But who cares how many forums has this been on?????

I don't know why uou guys are freaking out. He's obviously safe. He's even wearing a lifejacket! What a winner!

He's behind a Cobalt so it's all good....

adding consiquence. thats what its all about. its kinda like putting stairs on a rail in the middle of a mountain for snowboarding. maybe it makes you better..ha prob not

hey man that ME!! hahaaa just kidding, would never do that

Rick if you ever went surfing in the ocean you would realize how hard it truly is and would appreciate it a lot more, I use to think the same way you did till I went on a few surf trips, Nothing but respect for surfers way more intense than anything in wakeboarding

no man i ment behind an i/o.. i wakesurf and have been surfing several times in hawaii, its awesome nothin like mother nature givin u afree ride.. as a matter of fact im flying out this afternoon to go surfing

Contender for the Darwin award

Surprised nobody noticed he's so far back because he's still holding the rope.I'd like to see how far back he is without the rope.Swim platforms are not going to stop you underwater.It's not the swim platform on inboards that makes them safer,it's the fact that the prop is 1.5 to 2 feet under the boat with a rudder blocking it and sometimes a Fresh Air Exhaust also.I work on a 2007 Sea Ray 220 SEL and unless they were changed since 2005 it doesn't look too safe to surf to me.

Ok, hold up. I know surfing behind an I/O seems stupid, but let's hear some facts. Has anyone ever heard of someone going into the prop while surfing? With the amount of water force that prop is putting out, could you even get close to the prop? I think the only way you might get caught in the prop is if you fell in the tiny area between the transom and the prop so that you would get sucked in. Is that even possible? I'm just looking for facts and not opinions.

BTW, I surf behind an Epic, so I'm not trying to justify I/O surfing. I just want facts.

I have a feeling I know what pic is gonna be posted after tunemans question lol

Ok good, surfing behind an I/O is kinda dumb and dangerous (but so is a lot of stuff we do as wakeboarders), but true surfing is the beez neez...and i am very jealous your flying out today to go surf

Ok, Honestly, the guy should be fine. He's a solid 8 feet out. Even if he falls forward, the boat is still moving forward.. Right? So it's moving away from him as he's moving towards it so he's really in no danger.. And when an I/O's prop is down it's not like it sticks out 5 feet.

Richard, that classic pic you're referring to is from a machining accident. I have yet to hear of anyone getting caught in the prop from wakesurfing. Has it happened?

he is more then 8 feet back. say that guy is 6 feet tall. use that as a scale in the picture. that makes him about 14 to 15 feet back

Does it appear to you that he's not holding the handle? Maybe he's riding an O'Brien Jimmy Jam where the rope is attached to the board.

I say someone on the 4th of July weekend wakesurfing on an outboard... a little fishing boat.... it was insane.

My buddies parents have a 24' Sea Ray with the extended platform. We went down to Powell and his sister and boyfriend were already there, and told us they had tried to surf but couldn't get the wake right. They had asked me for my help, and I told them that there was no way in hell that I would have any part of trying to surf behind an i/o. They tried to use the justification of the swim platform as protection. My response was to hang on to the swim platform and feel for the prop with their feet. Once they realized that it was only about 10-12" from the swim platform they saw my point of view. That, and the fact that there are two counter rotating props made them see the light (at least I hope and they weren't just saying it around me). I have slapped the transom on my buddies Maristar with my head falling forward and I don't want to be anywhere near a prop falling. Just my $.02 but there should be absolutely no justification for trying to surf behind an i/o, like I said just hold on to the swim platform and feel for the prop with your feet, you'll be surprised where it actually is.

Wakesurfing and I/Os with platforms.
When an inboard boat is set up properly, the swim platform on the surf side is at or under water level. When you surf into the boat (and you WILL) you end up on top of the swim platform. Its a cool trick when you do it on purpose or in cold water.

On most (if not all) I/Os, the swim platform is never in the water; so when you surf into the boat, the board will go under the platform and place the rider in grave danger.

BTW, I'm glad the "garbled hand picture" has gotten the visibility it deserves. When an I/O idiot manages to lose a foot or whatever we will see all wakesurfing outlawed.

Larry Mann
HowToWakeSurf.com
Fresh Air Exhaust
asylum Boardz

You will have a tough time convincing me that surfing behind an I/O is some how more dangerous than what goes on in this vid.



I find it ironic that shredding without a lid and jacket around all kinds of concrete and rock is celebrated as Bad A, but surfing behind an I/O is considered stupid dangerous. A mangled head is a lot worse than a mangled appendage. I guess most of us can be smug with our inbords. Not condoning either, both are stupid risks IMO.

key difference: those are professional athletes, who are basically signing their safety away in order to get paychecks/get sponsorships/etc. the guy surfing wasn't a professional athlete, but instead a misled consumer surfing under the premise that what he is doing is perfectly safe.

Riding around rock, concrete, rails, etc. without a lid is not limited to professionals though. There are no shortage of amateurs doing the same.

Not knocking the riding BTW, just the needless risks.

it's a good point. I would probably post a picture of that with little arrows if I saw it as well. Pretty surprised they didn't have any helmets on in that vid you posted, actually.

Cool video and has absolutely nothing to do with wakesurfing or even boats; but nice try for trying to divert attention away from I/O wanna be surfing idiots.

^^ Don't think it has much to do with pros either.

Interestingly enough when you Image search Google "wakesurf accident" you don't see anything nasty. Hopefully that won't change, but with people surfing in such an unsafe way it probably will eventually.

(Message edited by jtnz on July 20, 2009)

Well, still no concrete proof that wakesurfing behind an I/O is dangerous. Maybe someone with an I/O should conduct an experiment. Jam a stick down to a spinning prop and see if it catches. My guess is that the propelled water won't let you near the prop.

Ya, 14-15 feet is closer than my 8 foot guess. ha. This guys really in no danger unless he did something before to the driver and the driver wants revenge. when you fall the boat does not instantly stop moving so as you fall forward the boat continues forward lessening the risk.

-Tuneman - "Does it appear to you that he's not holding the handle?" He's not, most wakesurfers I watch don't hold the handle.. It's just for starting..

Ha! Good one...you got me there

Tuneman- Nice profile pic! Haven't seen somebody kneeboard, especially like that, in a long time!