What is wakesurfing? The sport of wakesurfing is no longer an activity to perform when the wind is up and you are done wakeboarding. With the World Wakesurfing Championship and US Nationals amongst many grass roots wakesurfing events; wakesurfing has emerged as it's own sport that deserves it's own recognition forcing boat manufacturers to push the limits in design and hull modifications specific to wakesurfing, new shapers and board manufacturers arising, wakesurfing is coming into it's own.
The basics of wakesurfing. Let's start with what it takes to start wakesurfing. First you need a wakesurfing boat, a wakesurfing board and a crew that understands the safety necessary in wakesurfing.
First let's start with safety, at anytime you are not safe you are jeopardizing your life and your crew as well as the sport itself. Please see this wakesurfing safety article before continuing.
What kind of boat is it safe to start wakesurfing behind? The short answer, an inboard boat. Inboard boats are the safest for wakesurfing simply based on the location of the propeller. On a regular inboard/outboard, stern driver, or outboard the risk of falling while wakesurfing is greatly increased as the propeller is exposed and falling into is inevitable. Please see this safe boats to perform wakesurfing behind article. We also have a wakesurfing idiots guide, like the book for a safe, start on the sport. See Wakechick's wakesurfing guide by clicking here.
What kind of wakesurfing board do I need? This is a much more difficult question to answer. The two different types of wakesurf boards are skim style and ocean style. When it comes to wakesurfing, it's your preference, ocean style is usually a thicker, more buoyant surf style board while skim board styles are thinner slicker boards. The ocean style boards have larger fins and usually come to a point at the top making them directional and purposed for wakesurfing with the front facing at all times. Skim style wakesurfing is often shaped to be ridden bi-directional and encourages surface tricks like shuv-its and 360's or 720's since the board has small fins and a low profile, and under 1" it is the choice for real skim wakesurfing as it emulates skimming at the beach. There are hybrid type wakesurfing boards that are a cross between the two styles. These boards usually are shaped like skim boards but are thicker and the rocker is influenced by ocean boards giving it a skim appearance and footprint but the impression of ocean inspired wakesurfing. See the links to the right for board options in both styles of wakesurfing.
So you have the boat and the board, how to wakesurf? We start by selecting a rope. A common mistake when learning how to wakesurf is reusing an old wakeboard handle and shortening the rope. This is a mistake the two most common accidents in wakesurfing are:
#1) Falling thru handle (when oversized)
#2) Throwing any rope/handle to the opposite wakesurfing side
The second point is so dangerous, new wakesurfing crews just toss the handle over as soon as they get the "Sweet Spot" and risk landing on/in the rope and handle if they fall on that side. This is so dangerous and should never be performed. Falling thru the handle when oversized is even more risky as a limb or your head can go thru the handle and while being pulled by the boat you could die or at minimum cause serious injuries. The absolute best handle is a wakesurfing specific handle, this is 12-18 foot rope or line with a small handle like a dog leash. This design prevents you from getting a limb thru the handle, but throwing it on the opposite side still presents the same risk of getting tangled in the rope or line. The best way and minimal risk is to get up, wakesurf into the sweet spot and throw the rope into the boat for your spotter to catch.
So you want a bigger wave, enter the ballast question. This is relatively simple, ballast is achieved it one of the few following ways, V.A.B which is "voice activated ballast" in short is people. It's voice activated as you can tell people where to sit. The next ballast option for wakesurfing is gear and the boat, the boat may come with built in ballast which is comprised of water tanks, hard or soft or what is commonly fat sacs. The concept of putting in ballast is to weigh the boat down and creating a wave, you accomplish this with the 60/40 rule, 60% of the weight in the boat and 40% in the front. Splitting your weight typically gives you the most of your boats hull. Some people even go as far to put lead or lead shots to further weigh the boat down, this is not recommended as water weight versus solid weight maintains the boats buoyancy and will not sink the boat. Solid weight in the boat will take it down. Read more into ballast as the most important thing is to not exceed your manufacturers recommended weight and capacity limits for your vessels.
The next option is speed and consistency. This is short but the first thing is to ensure your boat has it's speedometer or cruise control accurately calibrated. When you have it right, tested via GPS or slalom course you should maintain a speed between 8.5 and 13.0 miles per hour depending on the boat and the weight. Adjust this for your total gross weight, boat + crew + ballast and watch the wave, when wakesurfing you want you to go slow enough where the boat is leaning and you have a surfable wave and it cleans up nicely. Adjust and play with your speed to find the optimum wave.
So how to get up when wakesurfing, if you have the boat, weighted correctly and your board choice it's time to get up. There are many wakesurfing articles to help you start this process. Wakesurfing how to get up, is a great article.
There are many more steps to take after you get up. Get comfortable and start progressing and expirementing with your foot positions and start introducing tricks and the sky is the limit. Check the press for more wakesurfing articles.
Wakesurfing on an Inland Surfer Red Tide Wakesurfer
