Pre- 07 SAN Surf Guide: Building a Wave

[bowvan]

Thanks to all for the positive comments.

ers906- That's ahell of a wave! Way to go... I have had success like that only a few times.

That was sort of the point of this thread. It seems that my "epic" wakesurf wave had become as elusive as an "epic" ocean wave. Inconsistency had become the name of the game. Passenger weight, fuel weight, water depth, cooler weight,... ect, had led to a huge amount of frustration. It wasn't until I started to use the "build a wave" concept that I started to achieve some sort of consistency. I have abandoned the idea of just repeating what worked the last time.

I don't think most people realize what a small amount of weight it takes to completely change the characteristics of the wave. As for the idea that "less is more", I don't think it means that you can produce a larger wave with less weight. I think it just means that the window of opportunity for success is greater, with less weight. The more weight you add to the boat will always produce a larger wave, but the window for success drastically narrows. This is especially true when building the opposite side wave.

Anyways, back to the comments...

[ers906]

Reliability is the key, I have had pretty good luck with building a wave it seems. I typically move the weight and people to the surf side, and fill the ballasts that need manual pumps. Then I actually go the the typical speed I usually pull surfers and start filling the automatic ballasts while driving. When hit the size and shape I am looking for, I fill one of the ballasts (usually the belly or V-drive sac) a minute or two longer to account for the person that is going to be surfing (during the adjustment I am not pulling anyone) and off we go. Takes a while and can be a bit of a pain as people want to start as soon as we get the manual ballasts filled, but the extra time to tune the wave in has never gotten a complaint once it is ready.

[gride300]

i've had success as have others in less than 10' with no issues. granted nobody is airing out or anything, but you don't need a handle.

[Bimmerboyz]

Curious if people with all this weight turn slightly or just drive straight? If you turn how much 11 o clock for port side?

[ers906]

I actually drive straight, but I can use the rudder to angle the prop wash away from the wave.

[ers906]

Off the port side

Here are some pics of the wave off port side of the boat (2002 SAN). We had quite a few people on board so I didnt have to use the L shaped wake sac, but I still loaded up the V-drive sac (prob close to 900#), 200 # of lead on the surf side, 650 sac in bow and about 150# of lead (plus a girl who about tipped the scales at maybe 100#). Two guys (prob about 200# each) and two girls (prob 120# each) on the surf side. Running at about 10.3 according to PP. Most of these guys are just learning, but to give you an idea of how far back we are from the transom, the rope is a 25' attached to the tower.

The weather also was pretty bad, so the face of the wave wasnt as clean as it normally can get.

[ers906]

And some off the stbd side just for good measure. the rope is 25' off the tower for reference how long the wave was. good but not great. Didnt use the surf sac today, but if memory serves, had 650# (under the seats) + 750# (on surf side) sacs in the bow, 300# of lead behind the driver on the surf side, 900# in the V-drive locker surf side. about 900# of people as close to being on the surf side as they felt comfortable with. Did not fill the belly bag or the extra 750# bag for this wave, with the wind and chop it was hard enough to drive as it was listing over so far. plus surfing into the headwind...

[AirTool]

.... good but not great... ...

That is one big wake.

[ers906]

Port or starboard? I have no idea of what to expect so I keep playing around with it

[bowvan]

ers906,

The starboard wave looks big, but what's up with the rope? Are you not getting enough drive from that wave to ride ropeless? Are you riding goofy? Also, what boards are you using?

[bowvan]

ers906,

Sorry, I just re-read the part about the riders being beginners. How is that side for you?

[ers906]

The rope was for two reasons. To gauge how far back the pocket was. I was sick of hearing on WW website, etc that we couldnt surf ~20 ft off the back of a 210. Plus I had a few beers that day, and the weather was turning crappy fast (**** Arizona thunderstorms seem to come out of nowhere) so I didnt want to drop too far back that I fell off the wave without a way to get back on. There was a ton of chop and didnt trust the gf to turn the boat around numerous times to pick me up without taking on water. I rode earlier in the day for a long while with the same set up.

I am goofyfoot. I think that day I was riding an 06 or 07 liquid force venture 5'6", and this years liquid force venture fish 4'11" or 5'1" (cant remember exactly).

Definitely got a much better starboard wave, but the port seemed to set up nicely as well. Some of the other guys in the pictures have only surfed once or twice. Most went without the rope by the end of the day, but I tried to put the best pics of the waves up online. We will see if I can duplicate the port wave this weekend, although it may be a bit crowded over the holiday weekend. It may be blasphemy, but I am going to go out on some other brands of boats (supra, tige) and see how those waves stand up to the SAN. I will post pics for the comparison.

[intrlaz]

I realize this thread is pretty old, but I wanted to continue adding to the knowledge base for surfing on older boats.

This weekend we had a successful port side session on my 2002 san with a 750 in the vdrive, 750 in the bow on the port side, and 2 vdrive sacs (which I believe are 400 each) end to end on the port seats. Also had the center about half full. There was a hard current so it's difficult to know the actual speed, but it seemed to be around 10.5 mph. Only person in the boat was the driver.

Has anyone else perfected their setups since last year?

[johnboyy7]

eric... where are the pics from the other boats?
great thread.

mine is an 04. set up is 200lb lead under bow cushion, 400 on bow seat, 300 lb in observer seat, 400lb on gunnel seat, center full, 750 in locker. 1 person on seatin on top of locker. wave is very clean, lots of drive, water line is right at the rub rail. im 185lb, ride a 4'2'' LF custom with ease. for port side i will sit in jump seat (driving) to help out.... really makes a difference. my buddy is 235 and surfs a 5'0'' board very comfortably.

i dont really feel comfortable with much more weight. we ski on a narrow river with bulk head, plus other boats. you MUST be on your game to keep water out of the boat.

i really want ride behind a tige, supreme, centurion, new 210, 230 to see how they compare.

ps. i have the new IS flyboy on order. cant wait to try it on my wave.

[Jeffsullj]

Addition to the old thread

Here's a vid from yesterday... 2003 SAN 210 TE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOshFIirSxM

Used info from Ers906 on previous posts to get that wake, although I have some work to do. Had integrated port/belly full. Added 4 sacs -- 300 lb in port compartment, 500 across port side bench, 500 across rear bench (more to the port side), and another 300 lb in front, along with driver, one passenger in front, and one sitting on very rear corner of port side (recording that vid.) Ran around 10-10.5 mph. Got the board stuck under the platform there at the end.

5'1" props with 2 fins... I'm 5'9 & 155 lb.