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Wakesurfing Water Depth


Raleigh

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What is everyone's minimum acceptable WakeSurfing depth for a 23 or 25 LSV? I saw an old post where @The Hulk said anything under 25' is garbage. The reason I ask is I am looking at doing some weekly rentals at some lakes this summer and a few of them are at 20-22' where others are 30' and others are 50'+. Is there much of a difference between 20' and 30'? My home lake I surf is ~35' and it seems great. Just curious. Thanks.

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we struggle where we mainly boat and the deepest we can get is around 10-14 feet. we get a decent wake, but there's a small patch where it drops off to 20 feet and you can see how much better the wave gets. I would say minimum acceptance 10 feet but you arent getting a very dialed wave. 20 feet plus and you are solid

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I would say its a very noticeable difference at less then 20 ft.  We watch people try to surf where the bottom comes up from 20-23 to 15, almost everyone loses the wave right there. Generally we look for 25 as a minimum depth.

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ahopkins22LSV

Even with our VTX we shoot for 15+. I can say that Hulks 25 is not garbage in anything less than 25 feet because I drove his boat before he bought it for a dealer event on my lake and the average surf depth is 15-20 feet. Maybe a super short stretch of 25 feet and the wave was phenomenal everywhere. Best wave I’ve surfed to date. 

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ahopkins22LSV
4 minutes ago, 808jaymakoa said:

I’m curious on the science behind this. Anyone know? 

There has to be enough water under the boat to have water have enough depth to be pushed down and then form the wave. At least that’s my understanding. Someone can probably explain it further. 

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2 hours ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

Not garbage, sorry lol. 

Gotcha! Makes sense. I’m gonna try and see if I can do a test comparing to find a 20’ to 30’ transition this weekend and see what the difference is! 

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17 hours ago, asnowman said:

I would say its a very noticeable difference at less then 20 ft.  We watch people try to surf where the bottom comes up from 20-23 to 15, almost everyone loses the wave right there. Generally we look for 25 as a minimum depth.

We see the same.  More from ~25-30' to 10'.  Wave falls off instantly.  

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You can surf in water depth of 7' do it all the time on the river.  Like most have said though the wave decreases in size the more shallow it is.  I can tell when I hit spots that are 10'+ because the wave increases size and the pocket enlarges.  I would say 20'+ you won't really notice any difference in size of the wave from my experience.  I look at it this way. . . if you can surf in 7' of water just think of how much better you will be when you get into the deeper water. . . 

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13 hours ago, 808jaymakoa said:

I’m curious on the science behind this. Anyone know? 

http://labman.phys.utk.edu/phys221core/modules/m12/Water_waves.html

Basically, if the water is much deeper than 1/2 the wavelength of your wave, the bottom does not affect it, and your wave propagates at its natural speed due to its wavelength.

If you are in water much shallower than 1/2 the wavelength of your wave, the bottom compresses the wave and it no longer propagates at a speed related to wavelength.  The speed is then controlled only by water depth and gravity.

Around 1/2 wavelength you get properties of both, so it really depends on your particular wave whether you might find it acceptable.

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below 15 is garbage.  15-20 is mostly fine.  20+ is all good.  that's for a 23 LSV so depending on boat size those numbers will slide up or down a bit.

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1 hour ago, wilster said:

below 15 is garbage.  15-20 is mostly fine.  20+ is all good.  that's for a 23 LSV so depending on boat size those numbers will slide up or down a bit.

This has been my experience as well.  At a small lake we go to from time to time, there is a spot that goes from about 25 to 15 feet.  We lose push there most every time, unless you're ready for it.

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1 hour ago, wilster said:

below 15 is garbage.  15-20 is mostly fine.  20+ is all good.  that's for a 23 LSV so depending on boat size those numbers will slide up or down a bit.

i would argue with that

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3 hours ago, camcruiser13 said:

i would argue with that

If possible, find deeper water and give it a try. You'll find that your wave is significantly better in deep water versus only 9 feet of water. 

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2 hours ago, Kojak said:

If possible, find deeper water and give it a try. You'll find that your wave is significantly better in deep water versus only 9 feet of water. 

oh for sure, im just saying that everyone is saying cant get a good wave in less than 15 feet.   i dont disagree with deeper the better (thats what she said)

i have plenty wave in a lake nearby thats shallow

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On 5/21/2020 at 9:29 AM, camcruiser13 said:

i would argue with that

facts are facts, happens all the time at the delta in CA where levels fluctuate from 5 to 35 ft and change in wave performance is very noticeable.  if you're always on utah lake, you won't notice much change.

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4 minutes ago, wilster said:

happens all the time at the delta in CA where levels fluctuate from 5 to 35 ft and change in wave performance is very noticeable.

I just hate the mud that churns up at 5':rofl::rofl:

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1 hour ago, wilster said:

facts are facts, happens all the time at the delta in CA where levels fluctuate from 5 to 35 ft and change in wave performance is very noticeable.  if you're always on utah lake, you won't notice much change.

maybe i got a special boat i guess

 

not always at utah lake  maybe there 10% of the time   

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