Wakesurfing
The first time that I heard about Wakesurfing I was not a believer. How do you surf behind a boat in a freshwater lake without a rope. Well let me tell you, it is absolutely one of my favorite sports of all time. Once you understand the physics behind how this is done is it easy to understand. Fortunately, I have some awesome friends that live at the lake and have the boat for this sport. This is much easier on this old bones when you fall off.
Equipment needed
Most wakesurefing boards are about 32 inches long. There are no boots on the board like on a wakebroad. The board is designed much like a surf board used at the beach. There is a non slippery pad built into the top of the board to keep the top surface from being too slippery. You also need to have a boat that is designed for this sport. The boat needs to be an inboard board boat only. You can NOT use a outboard or an inboard/outboard boat for this. The reason for this is because the propeller on the inboard boat in under the boat and can not get in the way of the rider. The outboard or inboard/outboard propeller is out the back of the boat and could endanger a rider. The boats used for wakersurfing has ballast tanks on the boat and allows weight to be added to either side of the boat to help make the wake behind the boat larger on one side. You need a lot of weight in the back of the boat to get a wake you can surf behind.
Procedure to Wakesurf
A rider starts in the water on their back and their feet are laying on the board. The rider holds onto a very short rope to get the rider out of the water. Once the boat takes off the rider is pulled up on the board. The rider then gets positioned in the wake behind the boat where the power behind the wake is pushing the rider forward. The rider then throws the rope back to the boat and they are surfing. You can surf that wake until the boat stops or you fall down. You can even make turns in the boat and the rider can continue to surf. Many of the experienced riders do tricks off the top of the wake. Some of the newer boats can make a wake that allows a ride to surf from one side of the wake to the other side. The boat pulls the rider at 10 mph.This is much slower than water skiing or wakeboarding. This means when you fall off the fall does not hurt.
Safety
As in any sport you must practice safety. Always wear a life vest. And as I said before, never surf behind a boat that has an outboard or an inboard/outboard engine. If you are safe, you will have a much better day at the lake. Happy surfing.
That looks like fun. I really enjoy water sports. I was always very solid on water skis. Hum. I wonder how I'd do on a board? Maybe I could rent one first and see. Loving all your fun ideas.
ReplyDeleteMuch easier than you may think. If you can ski I bet you would be good at surfing. The falls are much easier on the body. The boat is only going about 10 to 15 mph. I hope you get to try it some day.
DeleteThat looks like it is really fun. The video gave a interesting take on the way to do wakesurf and how to balance and how hard it is.
ReplyDeleteYour right about the balance. It is also about finding that sweet spot in the wake to drive you forward.
DeleteNice post and good video, I'm not so great at skiing but this looks really neat.
ReplyDeleteThe falls are much easier than falling when you are skiing. Surfing the boat is only doing about 10 mph
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