learning to wake surf

[MJB]

I'm taking my wife out Saturday in a friend of mine's '97 Super Sport (which has basically been converted to a Super Air 210 by way of very high end ballast install, tower, etc.

My friend is NOT into surfing as he will only ride. My wife and I on the other getting to the point of giving up the riding and trying the wake surfing. We both surf (ocean) but have never wake surfed.

Any tips on the following:

1. How should we weight the boat?

2. Can we use a regular fun shape surf board. I was thinking a bigger board would make it easier for her. Plus she's use to it in the ocean.

Any tips are appeciated.

thanks.

You can email me directly if you like mbarker@barker-law.com

[wakecrashin]

RE: learning to wake surf

All weight should me on Surf side. Empty ballast on other side. Put all people on surf side.

Speed should be 9.3-9.8 mph and it should have a real nice curl to it. Bigger the board the easier to ride a wake.

[MJB]

learning to wake surf

thanks wakecrashin One more thing. When you say surf side, which side should that be with a Super Sport. Not sure about prop rotation figuring in.

[MNSuperAir]

RE: learning to wake surf

Surf side is whichever side you feel comfortable on. For me facing the wake is easiest so I ride on the port side (left foot fwd). But the wake is bigger as a result of prop roataion on the starboard side. Good luck.

[phantom268]

RE: learning to wake surf

Yeah what they said. Definitely focus the weight on one side. We just weighted down the left side of our 98 Air as much as we could (without swamping that side) haha and it threw a killer surf wake. Very clean, plenty of size, etc. I don't think our speedos are correct in our boat most say 9-11mph but I assume that might depend on boat/weight/etc.

Never had good luck with boards made for the ocean, but we're riding a CWB Ride wakesurf and it serves us well as we learn the technique. Here is a pic of the wake we managed last weekend. Gonna invest in some ballast soon enough I hope for when there aren't so many people in the boat. This is just our direct drive 98 Air with stock ballast (400lbs) but with probably 6 adults in the boat.

Check the wake not the rider haha. I hate that you can't see the full wave and that the pic is cutoff, but it's better than nothing for now. Rider is 6'2" tall for a reference point.

[Sbt3]

RE: learning to wake surf

Like they mentioned either side can be surfed starboard is going to be better but I surf port side cause I am left foot forward. It is easier to surf with your toes into the wake. I can go backside but can't do much besides hang in the pocket. My 97 super sport I run 200lbs in the nose 500 in locker and 700 in port locker and everyone on that side. 10mph. It should be alot easier than ocean surfing cause you don't have to paddle in no real timing issues just get up and find the push in the sweet spot then toss the rope back in the boat.

[peterkarlsson]

RE: learning to wake surf

A newbie question from someone who never tried this, how do you get up to start with?
Is it like a wakeskate start or something different?

[Andrew]

RE: learning to wake surf

just like wakeskate

[jrivera1262]

RE: learning to wake surf

If you go to www.wakeside.com in their media section it has instructional videos on how to wakesurf.

[MJB]

better yet, go to www.inlandsurfer.com and they have FREE instructional video on how to get up, finding the sweet spot, etc.

[Fast351]

Steps for getting up:

1) lay board flat in water, put your heels where you think your feet should be (start with where you wakeboard, you'll learn plenty quick what works for you)
2) have driver put boat in gear but stay at idle to put some tension on the line
3) with tension on the line, push down with your heels
4) the board will flip up from the push of the water
5) allow your knees to bend all the way up to your chest so your butt is on your heels, let your arms extend around your knees
6) have driver slowly roll into throttle, focus on keeping the board parallel to the back of the boat
7) when you hit 4-5 MPH you will simply roll up onto the board. Stand up, and spin the board so the tip is facing the rear of the boat.

tips:

-shifting your weight forward towards the tip of the board speeds you up
-similarly, shifting your weight towards the tail slows you down
-bend your knees
-point board between center of boat and the corner of boat on the side you're surfing on
-optimal speed is around 10 MPH, and varies slightly depending on boat/weight/current/side of surf

Have fun!

-Mike

[Canuked]

surf wake on our 01 Air 750lbs in the back plus 3-4 people concentrated in the corner.

I think we could get it bigger but it very much surprised me on how big it gets

Rider is about 5'4 for reference

[92Excel]

the 220 has a seriously awesome surf wake on the starboard side. We used to do it on a 210 but the 220 is much better. The starboard wake is so much better that I learned to ride goofy just for the surf, surprisingly easy.

[nautique06]

So due to the prop rotation, the surf wake on a 2006 220 should be better on the starboard side...is this correct????

[Fast351]

From personal experience, the prop rotation makes VERY little difference in surf wake. Moving a mere 50# to the surf side will make more of a difference than prop rotation.