In this article I'll take you thru getting the biggest sickest wave out of a Malibu Wakesetter VLX. In this article the boat will be Loc & Wakechick's 2006 VLX equipped with Malibu cruise, wedge, and stock ballast. Not must-haves, but nice to haves for quick and easy surfing. First let's review the boat, let's try to grasp why this boat is one of the first picks for wakesurfing. See below for the VLX specs.

Overall Length: 21' 6"
Beam: 98"
Draft: 24"
Seating Capacity: 11 persons
Weight: 3600 lbs.
Fuel Capacity: 46 gallons
Hull: V25 Wake
Standard HP: 320
Max HP: 400

You can see above a few things that stand out for this model. A 46 gallon gas tank + the award winning V25 wake hull, a 98" beam, 10 of your closest friends and a dry weight of 3600lb makes this boat easy to sink and creates a ferocious wave to ride. Let's begin.

Let's start with picking a side. There are two sides of surfing, the right side and the weird side. You'll often hear of "goofy" and "regular", this is starboard and port respectively. For future reference, everyone on the "goofy" side is doing it wrong & the "right" side is the port side. We take the stock ballast and fill for the appropriate side, this means fill the bow, the midship, and the rear locker. This order is critical, if you fill lockers first, or sacs, you'll never get the midship and bow 100% full due to the lean. After we have the base full we add the following fat sacs, for this article we are using BI's Pro-X sacs and Tsnuami pumps to speed the effort up, total prep time for this load is around 12 minutes. We'll add the following: 1 400lb v-drive sac to the bow, 1 155lb brick to the observer seat, a 750lb sac on the port bench, a 400lb sac on the rear bench, and a 750lb in the rear locker on top of the stock ballast.

The important part of this article is to understand that it's all relative. This configuration worked as we apply the following logic. Take the vessels weight capacity; subtract your people and equipment, your sacs or dry ballast, stock ballast and then make sure you are safe. There is a point in diminishing returns, if you put too much weight in the boat is hard to maneuver, if there you are seriously overweight you can sink the boat! Be smart on the water and don't make that picture everyone is sending around on Monday morning of the 50k wakeboat sinking in the lake. To get the most out of your boat you need to people able to adjust on the fly. Depending on how many people and gear you have you may need more or less. If you don't like the shape of the wave ensure you have a solid lean, front to back. Too often new surfers slam the back of the boat and then the crazy bow rise sets off the wave creating a short, lean sweet spot. You want to balance the boat down and create a long and fat sweet spot with a nice curl and height for recovery and tricks. Experiment and find a consistency for head count.

I'll take advantage of this article to leave some important points when slamming the VLX. The first and probably most obvious is surf safe. The manufacturer has provided the capacity limits for a reason. Not only will you invalidate your warranty, you could kill everyone doing it. The next point is your driver, teach your crew how to drive with this weight, take time out with no crew and just ballast and get comfortable with the difference in handling. The difference between a loaded VLX and a empty one is night and day. You as a driver need to be able to safely navigate out of chine lock and avoid chili-dipping as both scenarios create an unsafe condition and can cause death or serious injury. Know the body of water you're in, anything under 10 feet is dangerous for riders and drivers alike, riders can hit the bottom or other obstacles when bailing out, you may hit something and cause expensive underwater damage. Lastly, the deeper the better, a shallow lake will create less than desired wave have you rethinking the entire weight configuration. Be safe, be smart - Surf's up.

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Article Provided By : Loc