Longer line = bigger?

Does riding on a longer line really help going bigger? I tried it the other day and it did not seem that helpful.

If you have a large wake and ride a faster speed a longer rope 1) Puts you at a larger spot of the wake 2) Gives you more rope to build momentum and edge into the wake and 3) creates a larger distance that you have to cross to get wake to wake.

You can't just lengthen your rope and expect to go bigger, you have to modify the speed and weighting of the boat to facilitate it. But think about it, you do all that and then there is simply more time in the air.

A longer line will help with more air time, but the rider also needs to ride at a higher speed... AT 80' I normally ride at 24 mph'

Ken Land
Bullet Lines
www.bulletlines.com

For sure. There's a reason that the riders that go the biggest ride the longest lines / fastest speeds.

Lyman, Randall, etc...

Running more weight means you have to go faster to get a clean wake and the faster you go the further back the meaty steep part of the wake is and hence a longer line length. An extra long line on a normally weighted boat at 22MPH may be hurting pop not helping it.

(Message edited by bmartin on September 25, 2008)

I ride at 87 feet 27.5 mph with 5k in the boat thta would never work at a slower speed or with less weight in the boat.

A longer line, faster speed, and bigger wake will point out ALL the flaws in your riding technique. The margin of error is much less so you need to be a lot more "spot on" with your technique.

Its kind of an evolution moving to longer lengths. What generally happens is you start going bigger and into the flats. When this happens you speed up the boat to lessen the impact (since the slower you go the more your board "sticks" to the water). I know it sounds weird but faster speeds make the landings a lot smoother (but the falls can be harder). Once you up the speed the wake gets narrower and smaller. Then you add weight and lengthen the rope.

well put.

That's the problem with a lot of new riders I see these days. Everyone wants to ride 80 feet before they have solid fundamentals. Guys trying to get a consistent TS jump at 80 feet of rope.

i got to thinking. randall rides at what... 80 or 90 ft and around 30-35 mph.

will there be a use for even faster and longer lines in the future?

will we one day see someone riding at 40 mph and 100 ft line? maybe more of both

with that said... i'm stoked about 25mph and 70 ft rope

30-35 mph?!?!?!?!? are you talking slalom here? no chance that anyone (even randall) rides a wakeboard much faster than 28 mph even on a 88+ ft line. There is a point to where goin faster and longer will be worse for the wake and riding will suffer. the wake flattens out that high of speeds. not trying to flame but you can't be serious and think that you can always increase the speed and lengthen the rope.

No, we will not see 40+ mph with a 100 ft line. It might sound possible on paper, but not in real world physics.

uh, maybe add the superflyhigh into the equation.
14 feet up to the the towpoint.

tom, no i'm not talking slalom. notice i said "what" and "around"... meaning something close to that. so i agree 35 was pushing it... but 30 wasn't a long shot whatsoever... so "around 30-35" is a factual statemenet

http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65919/606705.html go to the bottom and work your way up. i think randall changes his setup, because Thane Dogg (and i've heard others) claims he rides 30 mph into a double up. and if you scroll up more you'll see people mention 28 and 29.

and i appreciate your opinion. but at the same time, i never could imagine a boat with a nice wake at 30mph. randall has shown me it is doable. i wouldnt doubt what the future holds in store. maybe we'll see 35 mph and 100 ft line. afterall boats can always get bigger and hold more weight making that setup possible. just a thought

I can't imagine the pain that would happen catching an edge at 35 mph...

Randy definetly rides 29 and so does Ricky. They ride 85 to 90ft as well. Ricky was talking about it at a D-up contest this year.

last time i heard he was 29mph at 93ft

For fun we've pulled guys (usually my little brother, because he's nuts) up to fast speeds just to see what it is like. We've been over 40, but I can tell you that you are going to need a lot of weight and even more cajones to try very many tricks at speeds like that.

How do non-pros pay to ride boats that are so heavy everyday? What does a day at the lake for a v-drive with 5000# run?

I can't afford to go big.

It costs me around $150-200 for 6 hours on the lake.

I typically pay 20 bucks a set for a weighted boat. You figure 4 guys all getting two sets in that's 160 bucks... which usually covers most of the gas.