You've got hardly any weight. I mean seriously, 950 pounds in ballast? That's it?
I run more than that in just one of my bags. I've almost always got 3000 pounds of ballst +/-.
I have a 2008 Moomba XLV.
That said, there's 3 things that will influence your ability to ride w/o the rope:
- Wave
- Board
- Skill
The wave is influenced by your boat, your speed, and your ballast.
The board you have will impact how stable you are, but more importantly how fast the board goes and how much energy in the wave it needs to keep you going.
And your skill level will determine a lot. Any two of the 3 items can help make up for the 3rd, but If you're lacking in more than one area you will struggle.
For example, I've surfed a Tige 22v with NO ballast and just 3 guys in the boat. It was tough but I have a really fast board and I've been doing this for a few years.
I've also went ropeless on my son's 3'6" phase 5 scamp. that thing was TINY! lol. but I was messing around and wanted to prove I could.
The ronix is okay. Not incredibly fast, just middle of the road. so the biggest thing you can do to help yourself out is get more ballast. Because a clean wave with no power (push) behind it isn't going to do you any favors...
You should be able to slack the rope consistently. holding on with almost 1 finger. you should be making VERY subtle movements with your feet to move forward and back in the pocket. Not burying your back foot and yanking on the rope to keep yourself from falling off the back. Before you have any business trying to ride ropeless, you should be able to maintain control with the rope slacked and in one hand while exploring the front and rear edges of the pocket. and when the time comes to drop the rope, do just that DROP IT, don't THROW it. if you throw it, your body positioning completely changes and you're likely to fall out of the wave because you messed yourself up trying to toss it. just drop it lightly to the other side of the wave and have someone in the boat pull it in.