What do you need to get started with wakesurf?

[dansshin]

Just placed my order. Hopefully I'll have it by next weekend so we could try it out...

 

[RightStuff]

Cool, good luck with it. Let us know how it works out, always good to hear reviews of different boards, I'm always looking for my next board!

 

[jasoraso]

We have a big board (Red Rocket) and until the younger/littler people master the skill of getting up (flipping the board) when deep water starting, it helps to have someone in the water with them to hold the vertical while they start. Usually that ends up being me in the water. I take an extra ski flag and stick it through my life vest, so after I'm left alone in the water, I'm not invisible to my boat or other boaters (if I was in a busy lake, I wouldn't do this, though).

 

[dansshin]

I just received my Hyperlite Broadcast board and the rope that I purchased through Amazon. I tried and confirmed that Hyperlite Broadcast still fits nicely into the stock 212x rack so thank you @RiverRat for the information. Now if I can figure out how to carry around the kneeboard I'd be all set!

However I'm noticing very small chip on the bottom-side of the surfboard and that chip removed the small piece of the outer shell. I put my fingernail over it lightly and it catches. I'm not sure if this will cause more of the outer shell to peel off as I use this but I sent an email to the seller asking what his exchange policy is.

 

[dansshin]

Seller, Steve, replied and he was very nice and offered me all the option including return and exchange. He also informed me that way the Hyperlite is constructed it won't take any water and that I could put some epoxy coat over that small chip if I wanted to and offered compensation for the epoxy and the trouble. I was afraid he wouldn't even reply but I'm very happy with the customer service he offered. I've listed Steve's contact information below if you are interested in purchasing anything from him as he owns ski and surf store in California called Sports Ltd. He shipped very next day and his price also was the best on Amazon.com with free shipping but I think you may get better deal buying direct. If you do call tell him Dan who bought Hyperlite Broadcast with small chip referred you!

Steve @ Sports Ltd. aka Board Dealer on Amazon.com
22642 Ventura Blvd
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
Email: skidealer@aol.com
Website: www.skidealer.com
P: 818-225-7669

Amazon Store
https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_pg_1?me=A18C9EG1SUAXV4&rh=i:merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1468626946

I'm planning to purchase below and put a small drop to cover the area before heading to the lake tomorrow to try this out with my family.
http://www.lowes.com/pd/LOCTITE-Epoxy-Instant-Mix/3218845

 

[KXCam22]

We have racks that fit a hyperlite and a kneeboard. I am hesitant to put our new surf style boards in them, although they might fit. Right now I am building a surfboard/kneeboard rack that fits on the top of the tower. We have carried kneeboards strapped on top of the tower with bungies. We have the AR230 which has 2 top bars. You may only have one which would make that difficult without adding a bracket of some kind. It did work well and keeps them out of the way, hence the new rack I am building. Cam.

 

[redthumper9]

@KXCam22 ......interested in seeing what you build. I have the AR240 which has the two top bars as well. We have racks on both sides of the tower for wake, surf and knee boards, but I've been trying to figure a way to carry our SUP boards.

 

[dansshin]

We have racks that fit a hyperlite and a kneeboard. I am hesitant to put our new surf style boards in them, although they might fit. Right now I am building a surfboard/kneeboard rack that fits on the top of the tower. We have carried kneeboards strapped on top of the tower with bungies. We have the AR230 which has 2 top bars. You may only have one which would make that difficult without adding a bracket of some kind. It did work well and keeps them out of the way, hence the new rack I am building. Cam.

I did buy few bungie straps to try putting on top. Im going to try that out today. There is way to put it on top on my boat using the tower and Bimini when Bimini is not deployed. We put it up there couple times during breaks to lounge around the boat and while that worked nice we kept forgetting to take it down when we started to do activities and it would fall down. If I can secure it using bungie straps it may work for us until we decide to deploy the bimini.

I was also trying to figure out if I could use the top (not between the rack slot since kneeboard doesn't fit) of the existing racks to hold the kneeboard. You may need a bit of extension but I think there is way to leverage that with some straps. You may not need extension if straps can hold it securely with existing rack top finger.

 

[KXCam22]

I put tigon tubing (1" clear) over my rack tines for extra padding. It might serve to lengthen the tines a bit. Cam.

 

[RiverRat]

@KXCam22 ......interested in seeing what you build. I have the AR240 which has the two top bars as well. We have racks on both sides of the tower for wake, surf and knee boards, but I've been trying to figure a way to carry our SUP boards.

For our SUP I just use two ratchet straps to secure it to the top of the tower/bimini. Kind of a pain, but it works.

 

[dansshin]

I tried the bungee rope to secure the kneeboard on top of my tower and it did the trick. When we were done using it I just put it up there and took couple minutes to secure both ends and it stayed put through all our other water sport activities including bandwagon tubing at ~30mph. It never budged until I took it down when we were putting all the boards into the MDX.

 

[dansshin]

Back to wake surfing.

So we had couple friends from my work and their kids join us today for total of 8 people so we were busy doing all of the water sports but found little bit of time for my wife and I to try out the wake surfing. No one else wanted to try probably because they saw us struggle.

My ballasts worked much better today then when I tried previously. One push and few minutes later and there was a lot of water in the bags. I didn't do anything different so not sure what the issue was before.

Well even though we watched some wake surfing videos on YouTube (and it looked so easy looking at those videos, LOL) before we went out there but it was obvious both my wife and I didn't know what we were doing with the wake surf board at all. We each tried for ~20 minutes each and neither of us got any where close to getting up. When we tried to put the heel on the edge of the board and try to get up board just turned sideways so we couldn't get up. I tried the deep water start where you put the whole board in the water but I couldn't keep my balance since board tried to keep pushing me up. I think I also tried it like you do with kneeboard too...LOL. I'm pretty sure I tried some other things no one else has ever tried just to see if I could get up but nada, LOL! Sooooooo..... let's hear it, What is the trick!!!???

Overall it was fun day none the less.

 

[KXCam22]

Dannshin,
We are not exactly pros at wake surfing but we take a lot of newbies out and they always get up. We use the Broadcast as well. Great starter board and easy to get up on. My technique may be different than some. I am usually the driver. I found that it generally takes 3 tries for a newbie, mostly since the position, angles, board etc are all new. Some get up but then crash since it feels so weird. What length is your rope? We start with the board nose pointing out, 90 deg to the board, board is exactly sideways and flat in the water. Back foot is about 12" up and front foot is about 2/3 of the board up. I put a sticker on the board (orange FMF sticker on Rh side of board in first pic) for the front foot position to help. Rider lays in the water with heels on the board, positioned so that the arch will eventually end up about the centerline of the board when standing. I pull my riders up fast. It takes about 3' of forward boat motion to have them up. One thing with newbies is that the wake/wash makes the board unstable. With the Yamaha I put them up in a tight turn so that the rider is up and surfing before coming near the wake. My ideal board position behind the boat would be (description assuming RH side since my whole family surfs goofy):
- board pointing exactly 90 degrees out to the RH side and floating about 3' behind the boat
- rear end of the board about lined up with the RH jet nozzle. The further out to the side the better but since you are doing a turn with the boat, the board is naturally pulled away from the turbulence
- I use a lot of throttle to get going and I pull them up fast. The rope and tower pulls the rider straight up to standing, the heel weight and board naturally dig into the water holding the board, and then with the boat turning the board ends up pointed and following in the same direction as the boat.
- what I see happen lots it that without the boat turn the rider gets pulled off the back of the board before they are fully up since the wake pushes the board/rider outward but the tower/rope pull is still centered. With the boat-turn the rope pulls the rider/board forward into a natural position.

Keep trying. We started out with a description printed off the internet and then modified it to suit what worked for us. Hope this helps. Its tons of fun and once you start all the water skis will collect dust. Here is a little sequence of how to pics. I will try to post a short video clip we took with a go pro mounted on the board. I need to edit it to be way smaller. Cam.

 

[dansshin]

@KXCam22 Thank you for the information.

My wife and I both tried that way to get up but I think what we were doing was we were directly behind the boat when trying and board seems to spin out from under our feet not allowing us to get up. Based on your picture, it looks like you guys are to the (right) side of the boat. And are you saying you steer your boat to the left to pull the person up? You mentioned using a lot of throttle. How much is a lot? We definitely wasn't doing all these....

We are using this rope so 20' is the length.
https://www.amazon.com/Proline-Surf-Rope-Package-Orange/dp/B00GYZ49R0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1468806122&sr=8-2&keywords=wake+surf+rope

 

[KXCam22]

I made a short video but not sure how to post it. I will try as a .pdf that you can download and rename. From the video it takes 2.5 sec to get up. From my pics you can see that we start on the right side, to one side of the boat, and as you start off the boat does a fairly sharp 50 degree turn to the right. Otherwise the surfer get pulled into the wake before they are balanced and fully up. I use maybe a 2/3 throttle blast and then back off when the perfect pass takes over. If you try the turn with the boat it will pull you forwards. Without the turn the rope naturally tries to spin you off the back of the board. Pushing in with your heels helps the board grab the water and you might be a bit too far back on the board. With a 20' rope you may be too far back as well. I think mine is 15'. I will measure. Cam.

PS you can also start off from the platform, while at surf speed, if you have someone hold the board tip. Its way easier than it looks.

 

[KXCam22]

Also dont forget that you can just play back there and get used to the surf. We kneeboard anxious newbies on the surfboard in the surf spot, kneeboard there with reg kneeboard and body surfing there (I'll get roasted for saying this) is ridiculously easy and fun (need a shorty wetsuit so you don't lose your swimsuit. We pull all kind of dual combos when surfing, surfer on one side and kneeboarder on the other etc. Main thing is to have big fun. Let me know if the video works. Cam.

 

[dansshin]

@KXCam22 Thank you again. I downloaded the video. All your information will be huge help next time we are doing this again.

 

[Dieselmore]

@RiverRat What is your ballast setup like in your AR192 to be able to surf ropeless?

 

[buckbuck]

Cam, I couldn't open the video.

 

[RiverRat]

@Dieselmore we haven't gone completely ropeless yet, but I know others have on a 190. I generally have a 350 lb bag under the port seat, and a 540 lb bag on top of that seat. I'm sure as we get towards the end of summer my buddies who want to surf with me will have more free time and we'll play a lot more with placement. I think having some more weight up front will help with length. My go to guys on ballast placement would be @ar240owner and @jcyamaharider . I know they went ropeless in a SX190 with just one 750 lb bag.