wakesurfing behind an I/O

I was in a Cobalt dealership the other day and noticed they were selling a surf board. Is it possible to surf behind one if you stay a little farther back? I have never surfed so please excuse my ignorance.

It's possible but very, very dangerous. If prop contact isn't an issue, CO is always an issue - you just shouldn't do it. If this Cobalt dealership is marketing their i/o boats as "wakesurf-compatible," they aren't acting very responsibly.

I second what Austin says... it is possible however a very dangerous/dumb move. I absolutley love to surf (maybe more than wakeboard) but i would never, i repeat never surf behind an I/O.

not good idea if you like having all of your current body parts

I love this question.

You can do it if you do not like your extremeties.

I might consider it because I have done it on inboards and I think that I can control where I fall better than when I was new to it, but I think it is a dumb idea even if you were experienced at it. The prop is just not hidden enough.

Hand Vs. Prop: the prop wins every time

I hate seeing posts like that!!!

I don't know if they are marketing the board for their boats, or if they just sell them. I was in a hurry and didn't ask.

I don't see how the Co would be any different behind a V drive or an IO. Both exhasts are under water.

I realize the danger of being right behind the boat, I guess I was asking if it would work farther back on the wake with a bigger boat.

Is that picture really from a prop and what products do you suggest to get vomit off of a computer screen?

Talltigeguy - You sicko!!! Couldn't you have just described the poor guys hand instead???

Oh my God!

I think that the pic is only rumored to be a prop vs. hand thing. Totally unsubstantiated, but it does illustrate the point.

Paul,
my only concern would be that sometimes when you catch the wave just right it will thrust you forward toward the boat. When you are just starting out, it is sometimes frustrating to stop from being pushed onto the swim platform. I've watched several people do it.

whenever the word 'wakesurfing' and 'I/O' are used in the same sentence, just always expect to see that pic of the mauled hand

This story is unrelated to wakesurfing but i guess it could happen if you were surfing behind an i/o.
a couple of weeks ago a guy died on our lake becuase he was getting on the boat with the enging in gear. while he was getting up the back someone accidently bumped it into gear and i cut his leg off (for the most part). and then he died of blood loss before they could get him to a hospital.

moral of the story: dont surf behind i/o 's

Who cares how it happen the fact that someones hand looks like that is sad/scary. I can't even imagine how much pain that person would be in. I think i will be permanately scared with that pic in my brain. Thanks alot.

Dude that would suck, I couldnt imagine the lost of a hand, even if I could recover, it would be horrible.

Point stated, dont wake surf behind any i/o or even outbaord period.

marshallkay
I saw some guys doing this on the river a few weeks ago. They were out trying to learn to wakeboard behind there I/O, I was kewl with that. I had stopped to give them a few pointers on riding/driving, basically asked them to stop doing all the power turning and why! Well they were probally all 18-21 and didnt like what I had to say, or thought they knew better I guess. Well they decide to take off, and the guy starts climbing on the back of the boat with the boat still running...


Well I basically went ballistic and started hollering at them like an old man, they got a confused look on there face, shrugged their shoulders and reluctantly turned off the boat.

Hopefully they continued to shut the boat off when loading/unloading. I still do this with my v-drive!

Please don't surf behind I/O or outboards. If you fall and maim yourself then decide to sue the boat company, the motor maker, the surfboard maker, the surf handle maker, the lake, the air, the water all of our insurance will go up. Then the safety ninnys will get involved and have a law passed banning all riding behind boats period.

Gordon as much as you might bash me Ive been loading and unloading with the motor on for the whole time Ive owned my current 2001 I/O(800+ hours). Yes accidents do happen but people make them happen. We all take risks of differing levels. I just loved the post of how people were bashing the tubers and flying tubers because people were getting knocked out, like no one has ever been knocked out wakeboarding...Danger like beauty is in the eye of the beholder...Bash away.

Oh yea Paul, its definately not recommended to surf behind an I/O, its also not recommended to buy an I/O in the first place

bob
i wont bash you. I had an I/O for several years. but just know you are playing with your family and friends lives and your own livelyhood. All it takes is once. there are enough dangers on the water already, why add to them?

I have never not recommended an I/O, I needed more room and figured what the heck jump into the v-drive!

I did it for the first season or so with my first boat, which was an I/O. My girlfriend at the time, who was a good boat driver, bumped it into gear accidentally while I was climbing up the ladder, and I felt the prop start spinning about an inch from my right foot. I turn off the motor every time now.

Are you People CRAZY????????????

If you cant afford a new surfing boat you can use your wakeboard rope at like 70 feet and ride the surf board... we used to use a real surfboard at that length and you can't surf the wake but... you can carve the heck out of it... not as fun as surfing but if you don't have the boat or friends with one its better that losing a hand or foot... props are nasty...

Actually, I am selling my xstar. I just bought a 30ft Cobalt with twin screws. Thats why I was wondering if you can surf farther back on the wake in a boat that size.

I'll just use my jet for surfing

"We all take risks of differing levels. I just loved the post of how people were bashing the tubers and flying tubers because people were getting knocked out, like no one has ever been knocked out wakeboarding..."

People weren't bashing kite tubes for knocking people out - people were bashing kite tubes because they were causing a disproportionate amount of severe injuries/deaths and the manufacturer was refusing to take responsibility by claiming that if you were experienced, you could avoid injury. I guess they're learning their lesson now as they get bankrupted on the recall. Sure we all accept various amounts of risk for fun, but the kite tubes presented an unacceptable and unclear danger for most consumers - especially the wallies who'd be its target audience IMO.

Regular tubes just catch flak because they're tubes - age old rivalry.

My buddy has a kite tube and it clearly states NOT to fly it any higher then youd be willing to fall from. Guess there are too many idiots out there that dont know how to drive their boats and just send the tube up as high as it will go immediately upon purchase?? Glad these people dont all have private pilots licenses as they would be suing for not being able to fly straight down, must be a manufacturers flaw. Not enough personal responsibility and it only gets worse. Look at the liability waiver required now on all wakeboards due to all the litigation/injuries.

Bob,

You're right about driver responsibility - a large part of not flying too high has to do with throttle control. However, as I understand it, random gusts of wind can easily and quickly take the tube up into the air outside of the control of rider or driver and this is what's causing most of the problems. Once you get up this high, there's no real way of controlling things to avoid flipping over short of just letting go and falling. I totally understand what you're saying, and I'm all about people taking more responsibility for their actions and avoiding stupidity, but honestly in this case I don't believe the rider or the driver are able to have enough control over the tube relative to the potential consequences/conditions on the water at any given time. The fact that the company took so long to re-evaluate their product in the face of such problems doesn't really make me want to fork over $500+ to them either.

There's an inherent risk involved in all sports, but I believe in this case it's fairly obvious that something just isn't right. Either way, you can still pick them up on ebay and many lakes haven't banned them yet. Knock yourself out (pun intended).