Epic demo ride with Raequel Hoffman last night

Last night I got to demo an Epic and watch Raequel ride. It was a great night with good weather, could not have asked for more. I rode like crap but enjoyed the wake. I figured I would post up some pics and my thoughts on the boat overall.

Watching Raequel ride was great, she went huge and rode with a lot of style. She ended up riding for about 10 minutes before she over rotated a whirly and about knocked herself out. It looked brutal, but she was ok.

THE WAKE:
The ballast was only about 1/2-3/4 full and we had 8 people in the boat. Setup how it was the wake was not really any bigger than my 24 SSV, but had a different shape, was more narrow, harder, and straight up. I really did like the wake, but it would take some getting used to. The first few toeside jumps it just THREW my board out in front of me, you really had to concentrate on keeping the board under you or you would end up landing on your back. It did wash out fairly easily, but so long as the people in the boat were balanced out it was not too touchy... My 24 is a little touchy too, so this did not bother me.

The Boat:
Likes: The fit and finish was nice, the materials seemed very sturdy, and the boat rode very well. I loved how roomy the cockpit is in comparison to my 24SSV, and loved the seat cover material. The dash was nice as well, loved the ballast gauges. Really liked that the speakers were in the transom, no hitting your head on the tower speakers. The nose rides much higher than mine so you are not as likely to take water over the bow.

Dislikes:
The boat is LOUD... There is a ton of engine noise. Don't get me wrong, the engine sounds great, but it is really loud. Especially when you pull the rider up the first time. I thought that it would be awesome to have the ballast under the floor and leave room for boards in the rear lockers since we had so many people on the boat... but the locker opening is too narrow and short for me to get my board in the rear lockers.

That is about all that really jumped out at me... I really liked the boat overall, the wake, the people, etc.