Show me your crappy wake

It recently came to my attention that some folks outside the wakesurfing community are of the feeling that in order to wakesurf, (not just to step up your game, but to ACTUALLY be able to wakesurf) you have to weight your boat beyond Coast Guard recommended limits. These pictures are behind our Tige 23V - no ballast, 300 pounds of people and gear (lunch, sodas, anchor and snacks )

A little floater on my Shred Stixx JaMako. This is my small wake board. Rides in anything and I can take it up to 13.5 mph with a decent wake.

Wake hop? With little or no ballast I can alternate sides, practicing my backside. A sweet trick is a 3 over the spine, where you wind up riding backside on the starboard side.

Hey Ed, you are probably unfamiliar with those, in CALIFORNIA men have things in the front of their suits.

One last in the sequence.

oops, I have something out of sequence on the #2 photo...but you get the point.

Nice Stix Jeff, Now aren't you glad you got the Ja Mako?

It really is a sweet board Jerry, I started yesterday just testing the speed, went from 10.5 up to 15 mph!!!! at .5 mph increments 14+ was hard work, and 15 was where I blew out the back (although it took several minutes for the pocket to pass me by ), but that thing will allow you to literally BLAST from the back of the pocket up off the lip at 13.5 to 13.8. Great fun! I'll be ready for you at the next contest! Judy rode it also - all 100 pounds of her. She would glide into the flats almost 4-5 feet past the boat then float back in.

Here is our Enzo with NO ballast (not even factory), one driver, one spotter

Heres the wake on my Tige' 22 ve with no ballast. Haven't been able to let go of the rope yet. Does it look like i am to far back?

Uhmmm Jeff, you mean the string thing on your shorts?

I've had my Mojo XL up to 13.5 mph but 15mph dang, I'd like to see that on this wake.

Tony,
Yes you are way to far back for that wake. I would be happy to meet you at Sly Park and help get you surfing. Send me an e-mail.
Dennis

Hey Ed, I was talking to Ed G before he deleted his post. Crazy guy that he is. I'll be shipping that Shredd Stixx to you for the Scioto Wake Fest, give that a try on your wake, you can ride it close to 15. I don't know if Inland Surfer is sending you any additional boards beyond what I have, if you get a Red Tide that will surf that at close to 15 also.

Jeff, Right, I kind of knew the demo boards were coming through you. I can't wait to give those boards a ride

WoW 15 mph on two different boards, do you have to work and pump to keep up on he wake, I bet you do.

On my Tige, the boat was struggling trying to plane at that speed and so the wake diminished quite a bit, so yes, pump like mad to TRY and keep up, but eventually I lost the wake. Down at 14 to 14.5, while we still had a wake, no pumping really...and I could literally rip from the back of the pocket forward. It's amazing the difference having a properly sized board makes.

That gives me an idea for a type of contest for the Scioto Wakefest. I already was planning to bring a 2x12 with a fin on it and have a "Surf This" contest. You could have a speed surfing contest. Starting from 10 mph and using perfect pass, bump the speed every 10 seconds (longer?), record how long and at what speed riders can stay in front of the wake, what do do think?

I love the title! Surf This! I have your surfboard here I like the idea, Ed, I think it would be a fun addition to the Scioto wake fest. I also think that in a true surf contest, you need to have folks surf backside also, if all you can do is surf lefts, you are a wimp!

Assuming we get less than 20 surfers. I had already planned for a two run event, plus a just for fun stuff like "Surf This".

So Jeff, what you proposing is two run event, one ride on each wake. That would even the score between regular and goofy riders.

Hey Jeff!

Well I went to Discovery Bay yesterday and hooked up with Jerry and picked up the Ja Mako. Jerry can ride dude!!! We do not know what went wrong but we could not seem to get a decent wake on that day but Jerry was ripping it anyhow. I could not seem to get any momentum but then Jerry gets up and kills it (kind of depressing but it showed me where I want to go). So after seeing Jerry absolutely tear it up on a crappy wake, I know that it is all about the rider and the board. The Shred Stixx rock!! I truly believe that they are the best boards out there. XBC, Hyperlite, Liquid force, Inland surfer and the others do not even come close.

Hey Ed, yeah, if you only surf one side, then if one side is better than the other, you create an unfair advantage. Folks that surf in the ocean, or at least that compete, have to be prepard to surf left and right. I think you equalize the competition AND determine the truly best all around surfer if you require folks to surf both sides. It would take quite a bit of time, however.

So Tom, I wish you'd be more direct, do you like the Shred Stixx or not? Jerry kills it doesn't he? I think the most amazing ride I have witnessed behind the boat was when Jerry was riding and the wake started to disappear so Jerry starts to hang 5 to gain speed then he tucks (still hanging five) to get more speed and THEN actually pumps the board toes hanging over and all crouched down. The boy knows a thing or two about riding. I'd give myself a hernia if I tried that!

Jeff, he did the same thing on my boat, the bastaaaaaaaaaard. Wake seems to fade to almost nothing he walks up the board like a long board and hangs five and tucks down, pumps the board from somewhere down under and waits until the wake forms again. I am biatching that the wake has no push and can't seem to ride and he just kills it behind the (on this day)same crappy wake. Anyhow, I am sorry that I was not clear enough about my opinion in regards to Shred Stixx.LOL Here it is again in clear terms,

"Shred Stixx Rock!" They are the only Surf style board to consider. As another rider said after riding the Shred Stixx: "Any other board should just be used a coffee table!" I hope that this makes my opinion and that of others that have tested these boards clearer. LOL

Hey Ed, this is the Ja Mako at 14. It's hard for my Tige at this speed, we get a great deal of cavatation, but 12-13 is a reasonable speed with a properly sized board.



Tom, thanks for clearing up the misconception. I sensed your apathy before!

Hard on your boat as in your having giving the engine a lot of gas/throttle, or cavitation driven pitting on your prop and other hardware?

If I set up my boat for wakeboarding and use all my ballast I can't plane so I only fill the side locker tanks 1/3 to 1/2. However for wake surfing I completely fill one or the other 750 lb side lockers. I don't recall any problems on my boat making the wake I posted above at 13 mph, which looks a lot like yours at 14 mph. I suspect my rooster tail would fall over a bit more at 14 mph.

Hard in the sense that the boat struggles maintaining that speed, the cavitation is so severe that you'd think the boat was going to shake apart. If you watch the tach it jumps almost 1K rpm with each event and it happens maybe every 30 to 40 seconds. I haven't continued to run it for any length of time with th cavitation, but I'd suspect we'd do prop damage at some point. Dropping down to 12 or 13 still provides a pretty substantial pocket length and speed without the cavitation issue. I dropped the pitch on my prop last year, which helped us getting out of the hole, but we also were surfing mostly at 10'ish mph. The change in the prop pitch may be what is affecting this cavitation at a slightly higher speed.

Hey Ed, I don't want to hijack this thread any further for a competition discussion, so I'll start a new one. Would love your input.

OK your right to get us back on track here's a crappy wake from early in the season - many improvements since then.

How did I get involved in this? Whattya talkin about Jeff?


Had my ocean surfing buddy come out on Sunday to try his hand at inland surfing.

He has had a couple of vertebrae fused together and he can't get into a crouch position to do a normal wakesurfing deep water start.

He starts out like riding a knee board and then does his surfer thing and stands up on the board.

He uses a long board to surf in Daytona and hates my Blue Lake Board. Says it's like "learning how to drive in a Ferrarri".

He gave me some great stance and weight distribution tips. I can know free ride for about 20 seconds and everytime I go out it's getting longer (my free ride that is)!

Well... maybe due to my excitement, that too.

Nice to see. I wont be the only one trying to learn on a crappy wake.

im gonna try to ride without ballast tonight and see how my wake is

here is my wake with no ballast and 4 people on the boat, it wasn't huge but it was surfable, i surfed for about a mile, i had to ride the 5' board, man is that thing slow to carve on