what length of line are you guys boarding with

[HS]

Dead Thread

I was interested to learn more about why you increase the line length when you increase ballst...is that because of the shape of the wake at those line lengths and that spot puts you right ahead of the wash and it is the sweet spot of the wake (or because it gives you more air time for your inverts / tricks?)

[fortnox]

HS,
A little bit of both right:
As ballast is increased the weight creates additional down pressure into the water which in turn creates the opposite effect with the wake (more upward force) wake characteristics change and the wake becomes steeper/harder throughout the wake.
This allows the rider to get more 'pop' and air time. Which means if the rope length is not changed riders will land in the flats. So, by extending the line the rider still lands on the downside of the opposite wake. Also extending the line allows for additional speed into wake (longer cuts) which translate into more verticle pop, but not much.

Bottom line, its really about going W2W rather than wake.
I'd rather save my knees, 1 ACL surgery was enough for me.
If you want to see a good example of line length, watch Randall Harris ride.

From my expericences its really more of the indian than the arrow. Everyone is so caught up on adding ballast, when they should be focusing on technique. At some point more ballast is necessary and will help instantly but, I can ride 1500 and someone else could ride 500 and prob get better pop than me.

[ers906]

I ride at 80-82.5 at 25.5 mph behind an 02 SAN. Ballast 750 in V-drives, 350 in belly, 650 in bow and about 10 50# lead sacs to fine tune the wake on the fly (I have a very good crew who can get the perfect wake with one sac moved here or there). Huge pop off the wake going wake to wake with only about an 8 foot approach from outside the wake. Any further and clearing distance into the flats. But I second the knee injury thing. Going far into the flats is not nearly as much fun after blowing a ligament. Now I am primarily working on as much pop as I can get.