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Wake Surfing


jdiaz78

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I went surfing for the first time ever on my A24. I had all the ballast including pnp in the rear and front. The wave was damn nice, but I wasn't able to go ropeless. I figured with a big wave like that, it would be easy. I didn't have the wedge down, so I'll put it down next time. Are there any hints to going ropeless beside just more practice (because I plan on a lot of that)? I was surfing goofy foot.

BTW, I did enjoy watching the fishing boat get rocked by my wake as he was fishing near the bank. I'm sure he wasn't happy!

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A lot of it takes some experience. Some of it is being on an appropriate board. And, just because the wave "looks" good, doesn't mean it is. In my LSV, I can create a monster wave if I slow the boat down. But, it has a really small pocket that is hard to stay in. Post some more details on your setup, and your board.

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I used a Koal Fish 5'6" with 3 fins and a Byerly Volt 4"10" with no fins. The pnp in the rears are 750 a piece. I'm not sure what the "V" bag size in the front is, but it fills the entire front compartments. I tried 9.8 and 11 mph.

I'm 5'8" 175lbs, so pretty average size.

There were times that there was a lot of slack in the rope, but that quickly went away. I think I was back leg heavy. I tried to over compensate for this and dug the nose into the water crashing. Luckily it doesn't hurt when you crash!

Edited by jdiaz78
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It will take practice both riding and dialing in the wave. The tough thing is if your not experienced at dialing in the wave it will probably have a smaller pocket making it more difficult to go rope less.

As far as surfing it's all about SMALL corrections and thinking ahead. If you let yourself get too much speed and start to catch the boat you will panic and lean hard on your back foot slowing down too quickly and fall too far back to stay on the wave and vice versa.

Start by finding a spot on the wave where you can feel the push and concentrate on keeping at the same distance away from the swim platform using small corrections to hold your spot. Then from there work on slowly moving closer to the boat and backing off.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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One of the things that helped me while I was learning was to move your weight by rolling your hips instead of leaning with your shoulders. I hope that makes sense.

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I surf my A20. My kids learned to surf on wakeboards. So I'm sure the A24 can make a monster wave. I would make sure you're in some deep water. Like 20' deep. Also make sure you have a large enough board. It's pretty hard to learn on the little 4.5 footers. Get and 5'+ to start with.

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Advice I always give people that seems to help is to keep the board pointed at the boat. Most first timers tend to point the board the direction the wave is rolling, not toward the boat. When you do that the wave pushes you out and away from the boat. You must point your board at the boat to follow the boat.

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One I did when I was learning was I would focus/stare on one particular point on the corner of the swim platform. This helped me to judge the distance from the boat quicker and helped me to make small adjustments quicker.

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One thing which is hard when you are surfing with the rope is trying to surf without using it. Could look crazy but it makes a lot of sense. Well it did for me and my friends at least.

Usually when you are surfing for the first time, you are pulling on the rope too strong and then you are surfing but going fast on the boat. As a reflex, you will put your weight on your back leg and then the wave will pass you. And you will do it again, again and again without finding the sweet spot.

The best thing (and it is what I do with newbie) will be that somebody in the boat take care of the rope length and bring you slowly in the sweet spot. And once you are here you can start balancing your weight and see how the board reacts. After 2-3 times people are usually able to surf rope less (except my father in law ah ah ah). And then the fun part begin :-))

Good luck.

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I went surfing for the first time ever on my A24. I had all the ballast including pnp in the rear and front. The wave was damn nice, but I wasn't able to go ropeless. I figured with a big wave like that, it would be easy. I didn't have the wedge down, so I'll put it down next time. Are there any hints to going ropeless beside just more practice (because I plan on a lot of that)? I was surfing goofy foot.

BTW, I did enjoy watching the fishing boat get rocked by my wake as he was fishing near the bank. I'm sure he wasn't happy!

All good advice above. Get a picture of the wake with you riding. Then we can tell if it's your stance, direction of the board, the wake, etc. Makes it a pretty quick diagnosis.

On the fishing boat - remember they are out there to have a good time too. Be a good boater, don't enjoy pissing people off. I've got good friends that know nothing about watersports, but are avid fishermen, and really fun guys to hang with. Just sayin'.

  • Like 3
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I disagree with some of the others that like to look at the boat. IMO it's a bad habit and best to look out in front of the boat so you FEEL the wave. Pointing the board at the boat is a good tip. I use the description of digging into the wave with your toes. This will probably take shifting your front foot more towards the toe side of the board. It's all very subtle movements to control speed. Don't over react to needing to speed up or slow down. Another big distraction is throwing the rope in when you try to let go. This will make you loose your balance momentarily which will cause you to have to fight to regain the sweet spot. When you're ready to drop the rope, give it a slight toss to the opposite side if the wake, trying to maintain perfect speed. One of the things I have noticed with my boat (vlx) is when someone in the boat gets up to retrieve the rope, the shift in weight will affect the wave enough to cause a newbie to loose it. I don't remember what boat the op has, but if it's a smaller one, have your passengers stay seated and let the rope bounce around on the opposite side of the wake. It won't hurt anything out there.

  • Like 1
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^^ yup, Looking at the boat makes you turn your shoulders. Your hips follow your shoulders and ultimately points the board slightly away from the wave. This is bad for maintaining speed.

Keep your shoulders/ hips square to the wave.

Hold on to the rope until you can maintain slack in the rope without much effort.....then you can throw it in.

To gain speed, weight the front foot. To loose speed weight the back foot.

Another less known way to gain some speed is to lift the heal of the back foot. It works!

Edited by Lance B. Johnson
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The A24 can be huge if you do it right. You definitely need the wedge down. I've surfed guys 270-320lbs ropeless. My one friend surfs my boat fairly often and he's 280lbs. My friend in the pic is 6'04" and 210lbs

image_zps7c931177.jpg

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I used a Koal Fish 5'6" with 3 fins and a Byerly Volt 4"10" with no fins. The pnp in the rears are 750 a piece. I'm not sure what the "V" bag size in the front is, but it fills the entire front compartments. I tried 9.8 and 11 mph.

I'm 5'8" 175lbs, so pretty average size.

There were times that there was a lot of slack in the rope, but that quickly went away. I think I was back leg heavy. I tried to over compensate for this and dug the nose into the water crashing. Luckily it doesn't hurt when you crash!

At your body weight/size it sounds more of a technique and put the wedge down issue.

Don't know what size crew goes out with you on a regular basis but IMO and owning an A24, you should've gone with 900-1100 rear sacks. The Sumo 900's fit nicely and no re-enforcement needed for the divider walls. If you run with 8 adults your 750's will be fine. IMO people should keep in mind that you should get the biggest rear sacks possible that will fit your boat. The 900-1100 fit and you don't have to fill them all the way with a big crew but if you go out with 2-3 one day the extra weight will help.

Edited by AJWest
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The A24 can be huge if you do it right. You definitely need the wedge down. I've surfed guys 270-320lbs ropeless. My one friend surfs my boat fairly often and he's 280lbs. My friend in the pic is 6'04" and 210lbs

That wake looks sweet!

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