What is the secret??

I've been trying to wakesurf for the last year now but haven't been able to do it w/o the rope yet. I've been trying behind a '08 Malibu V-Ride entry level wake and on both a Hyperlite Broadcast and Landlock w/ no success. My brothers (who are a little smaller than me) both can ride w/o the rope. I'm 6'4" and weigh 195lbs so I don't know if I'm too big, if the wake is not big enough or what. We fill the left and middle ballasts, put the wedge down, and throw everybody on the back left corner of the boat and I've moved all over the board and tried to find the groove all over the wake w/ no success. Any suggestions/tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

More weight is the secret--ok, its not really a secret but its the answer. You should be able to get a good wake out of that boat and you are not too big, especially for the Landlock--that thing is huge.

The first year we tried surfing we did what you did--fill the stock ballast on the surf side, put all the people on one side and go. We struggled a long time to ride ropeless. I could barely do it if I stayed right next to the swim platform. My brothers are smaller than me and they couldn't ride ropeless at all. Finally I bought a 600 lb fat sack and a pump, put that in the rear locker on the surf side and the wake got tons bigger with more push. We still had to learn technique but it made all the difference.

Hi Daniel,

Do you have any fat sacs?

We fill up the back locker with a partially full 750 on top of the stock tank, then another partially full 400 sac on the surf side and sometimes another 300lbs in the front. Wedge is down.

This is on our 06 Vride.

P.S. I'm about 200lbs and this is on my Wombat -- 4'8" With some sacks, you should be able to ride ropeless with the Broadcast and Landlock for sure.

At your size the V-Ride should be plenty. /here are two sizes of HL Broadcast. The 5.6 should be plenty. How about details on you ballast setup.

I used to surf behind a 21.6 foot Centurion Lightning with stock 180 pound ballast. I added more ballast and the wake got better.

My boat has 200lb ballast tanks. Sounds like I need to invest in some fat sacs. The broadcast is a 5.6

Daniel-

Like the others are saying...

More weight, More weight, more weight...the more weight you add especially in the mid to rear of boat, the bigger the 'face' will get which is what creates the 'push' that helps hold you in the pocket. I'm 6'1" and weigh 260lbs and also ride the 5.6 broadcast. We have a Supra 21v, so different boat than yours, but for the longest time, I thought it was my board that was the problem, once we figured out that it was a ballast/weight issue (ongoing experimentation of adding more and more weight over 3 full summers), I can ride and somewhat rip LOL, without the rope just fine now.

That being said, we are putting a RIDICULOUS amount of weight in our boat, the wake is HUGE, but this is what it took in order for the wake to 'hold' me without me having to 'pump' like hell the entire time.

Our set-up for Goofeyside (most of our peeps ride goofey)

750lbs in rear locker
580lbs on top of rear locker on sundeck
680lbs on seat behind driver
1180lbs in middle stock ballast locker
600lbs in bow on goofey side

So basically 3,790lbs on one side of my boat plus
4-8 peeps on average.

As you can see, a RIDICULOUS amount of weight, but that's what it took in my boat. Those that weigh less than 215lbs are/were able to ride and rip with less ballast weight, but I was tired of the normal peeps (less than 215lbs) being able to rip behind my boat, then when I got back there, not able to ride without pumping the entire time.

You may want to see if your dealer or Malibu knows what the best set up is for the VRide, www.themalibucrew.com will probably have some good info too. Good luck

My family has an X-10.

I ride goofy, we load the one rear ballast, and center ballast. maybe 750 total? Then have whoever is in the boat on the rider's side.

I'm 6 feet tall, around 200 pounds. and basically ride forever. It took a while to get the touch of it, but i just put a lot of weight on my front foot to keep me going.

I think it's the hyperlite landlock.

(Message edited by wakemandan on September 04, 2008)