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Wake surf AR 210

JpDodson

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Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2020
Boat Model
AR
Boat Length
21
Hey guys, this might be posted somewhere already but I’m new to Yamaha boats and have 2020 AR210. Wondering if someone could help me figure out what i need to do a little surfing? Nothing crazy since we are all beginners but want to play around a bit. Would like to not permanently install and save my storage space since we mostly tube and just cruise. Any help would be awesome thanks!
 

Scottintexas

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glad to have you onboard,

Where are you located, there may be a member close by that would take you out for a day to try it out,

if you just want to play around and have fun, just go out and buy a liquid force fish or similar board, if you check craigslist you can probably find an inexpensive used one, about anything will do to get pulled around by the rope, it can be fun a great way to get confidence, the kids may actually be able to drop the rope,

If you want to go ropeless that's a different story, you'll need a ballast bag or two and I would suggest a better quality board like slingshot or something with more buoyancy and drive in a slight circle to the side of the surfer to help clean the wave up, if you're still serious at that point you can get a speed control system and a jet wash deflector system (wake wedge, wake booster, wakethruster)



.
 

Scottintexas

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my daughter had a full year of kneeboarding/wakeboarding before she surfed, because she already knew the feeling of the boat pulling her she was able to get up her within her first time or two,

 

RightStuff

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All good thoughts for the basics to just get up behind the boat on a board from @Scottintexas. Exactly the idea to just see if you like it and then go from there...

One thing I would recommend having is a tow rope that is specifically for surfing. One that just simply has knots or a t-bar handle is a good place to start. It's a lot easier to get caught on the rope when surfing since you do get slack at times, and you are not normally at the very end of the rope so you have some dangling behind you (not like wake boarding and water skiing where it's tight). If you find that you have a lot of rope behind you when you are around the pocket of the wave, shorten it up at the tower!

Here are some examples:
Ronix Braided Surf Rope
Proline T-Bar Surf Handle + 20 ft Air Line
 

J-RAD

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Like what has been mentioned above it depends on the degree to which you want to want to surf. Nothing is going to stop you from grabbing a rope and a board and having a good time. Knowing how to get the best wave with a 210 might aid in helping you to know where to start and what your investment will be.

The first thing you need to build a surf wave is displacement. These boats are light weight in comparison to a wake boat. Even the models with built in ballast find they need to add additional ballast to really do it well, all though they do manage. Proper placement of ballast is important. What seems to be the universal rule with our Yamaha's is weight on the swim deck and getting the boat to list (as in lean) surf side. @jcyamaharider & @jcyamahariders wife designed a custom ballast bag that fits neatly in the swim deck and provides the appropriate amount of weight to sink and list the boat.
The bag weighs 750lbs full. With that amount of weight on the swim deck, it helps to have additional ballast in the ski locker to count balance. Not only to provide more displacement, but to level the boat to help plane.

Second to the ballast, adding a shaper to knock down/divert the jet wash. There are 2 in the market that work effectively on Yamaha's.
  1. Gantlin Products Wake Wedge for Yamaha Boats
  2. Yamaha WakeBooster
    • Only for current model hull designs
    • Seems to make the waves of the boats with strock ballast more surfable
    • Produces a good wave
  3. Thrust Vector Wakes
Maintaining an accurate speed is very important to the consistency of the wave and keeping the rider on it. There's ste 2 systems that offer GPS speed control. The Hydrophase @Ridesteady and Perfect Pass. Ridesteady is the one I have installed and I live everything about it.

Lastly, our firstly a great board and rope. I'm actually a watersports dealer and would love to help you or selecting a board. I know what works behind our boats, because I've surfed my own Yamaha with nearly every board we have in our inventory. I've got some additional discounts I'd my happy to offer as well. Shoot me a message and check out our site.
 
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