G23 Surf Set Up

[blueroom]

There are a bunch of different posts with surf recipes - external weight, ballast, settings, etc. I thought maybe we could start a comprehensive thread where people just post what they have found works for them.

Our current set up:

'16 G23
Surf System: Stock surf setting
Factory Ballast: 100% all around
Extra Ballast, 12 bags - 100 pounds nose. 200 pounds sub compartment against rear wall, 150 pounds under port flip up bench seat, 150 pounds under starboard flip up bench seat.

We also swing the Acme 3345 prop with the supercharged engine - lower surf RPM.

Blueroom Set Up (50 pound bags):

[JGordon210T]

My "go to" has been ballast full, 3-4 people, 11.2-11.3mph and starting the rider at NSS 0 then moving to 2 within a few seconds of the wake cleaning up. My 17 has a mind of its own on the next pull after a rider falls where the wake goes flat and no push if left in NSS 2 or higher. If I start at 0 every time then move it up, the wave duplicates itself. I've been running 150lbs under the port bow seat and 50 in starboard. 100lbs under the port passenger seat (near sub), 150lbs in the rear port locker, and 150lbs in the starboard rear locker.

[blueroom]

The Hockley's, both accomplished surfers, shared their G23 recipe on Instagram last year:

NSS - 0
NCRS - 2
Speed - 11.4 to 11.7
100% in all ballast tanks
Extra ballast, 10 bags (500 lbs total) - 2 in sub compartment against rear wall, 5 under port flip up bench and 3 under starboard flip up bench. When riding goofy they shift 1-2 bags from the port bench area to the floor in front of the starboard bench.

They mentioned that the reason they use extra weight is that there is typically only 1-2 people in their boat while surfing, so the weight helps with the empty boat. They don't feel that the G23 really needs the extra weight.

Hockley Set Up (50 pound bags) - shift two port side bench bags to starboard for goofy wave:

[greggmck]

As requested here are my surf configuration/settings: After feedback from many pros, and good friends with extensive competition experience, I moved to an 800 lb configuration to simulate a competition quality wave (driver, caller, judge 1, judge 2, camera man + 500 lbs lead ) when I am surfing with only my son, daughter, and wife. If one regularly runs with a 5+ women/man crew, less weight is sufficient. It is very possible to over load the boat which will result in a washed out wave. If I have a large crew, I will remove ballast as appropriate.

Here is a wave level video of our wave: https://youtu.be/JTpKtG0SAyE
All ballast full. Speed 11.3 to 11.5 depending upon water temp. Colder = slower, warmer = faster. This video was at 11.5 MPH, NSS 0, NCRS 2.

[all2matt]

2014 G23
100% tanks
160lbs lead under observer seat
usually around 600lbs in my 750 bag port side
ncrs: 5
nss: 3 or 4
speed: 12.0

I like a lot of lip plus I’m 6-4 260 and riide a phase 5 trident, so with riding the bigger board I need more speed to pop some airs and build speed. I just am getting more 360s locked in and the lip really helps drive the 360 into place.

[robertsmcfarland]

tried all the new recipes that have been listed but went back to my original setup ..grew up ocean surfing since the sixty and still do...to me the closeness of a tubing 2and 1/2 wave on my boat is using a 4'6'' liquid force custom board, which you can't find a replacement from any company,must have 10 other boards friends have given me to replace the my ageing board but dont come close to the ride or pop.....full ballast always 150 pounds under observer seat 150 lead to move around 800 pounds of friends, if not a 800 pound fat sack on rear seat,10.9 mph ncrs 5 nss 2 ..for whats it worth....

[euro2012]

As requested here are my surf configuration/settings: After feedback from many pros, and good friends with extensive competition experience, I moved to an 800 lb configuration to simulate a competition quality wave (driver, caller, judge 1, judge 2, camera man + 500 lbs lead ) when I am surfing with only my son, daughter, and wife. If one regularly runs with a 5+ women/man crew, less weight is sufficient. It is very possible to over load the boat which will result in a washed out wave. If I have a large crew, I will remove ballast as appropriate.

Here is a wave level video of our wave: https://youtu.be/JTpKtG0SAyE
All ballast full. Speed 11.3 to 11.5 depending upon water temp. Colder = slower, warmer = faster. This video was at 11.5 MPH, NSS 0, NCRS 2.

Thanks for all the help with explaining your surf setup. Theoretically, with the combination of weight, ncrs and speed, you are trying to manage the attitude or pitch of the boat (nose up and down) as well as the total displacement of water. I get that. I’m just wondering if, since you are running some ncrs (at 2), would it be a better wave still if you added even more weight up front, and ran less (or no) ncrs? Would that have the same effect on the pitch of the boat, while displacing more water and not “lifting” the rear of the boat with ncrs? Does that make sense at all? Thanks again!

[ST3]

Check out the video


Sent from my iPhone using PLT Nautique

[euro2012]

That is a sweet wave, for sure. I was not questioning that. Just wondering if there was a correlation between nose weight vs ncrs and its effect on the wave.

[greggmck]

Thanks for all the help with explaining your surf setup. Theoretically, with the combination of weight, NCRS and speed, you are trying to manage the attitude or pitch of the boat (nose up and down) as well as the total displacement of water. I get that. I’m just wondering if, since you are running some NCRS (at 2), would it be a better wave still if you added even more weight up front, and ran less (or no) ncrs? Would that have the same effect on the pitch of the boat, while displacing more water and not “lifting” the rear of the boat with ncrs? Does that make sense at all? Thanks again!

You raise an interesting point. My objective is to level the boat and increase the weight at the center of mass so the boat displaces a greater volume of water without raising the bow. Displacing a greater volume of water generates a stronger wave with greater push. The G23 has that C shaped wave and with NCRS 5 the wave is too steep to easily land most spin tricks so we ride NCRS 2 or 3. When I pull Skim style riders they usually prefer NCRS 0 or 1 at most. The only skim/surf style rider doing advanced spin tricks with NCRS at 5 is Keenan Flegal and he can do that on the goofy side where the wave is steepest. But he is a beast.

Here is a video of Keenan on my wave at NCRS 5. https://youtu.be/xXYeDpBqDOQ
You can see the well defined C shape that Keenan rides without much trouble. Not many riders can do this level of riding on such a steep wave.

I don't think I could put more weight in the bow of the boat. It sits slammed in the water as is with full ballast and a crew of 4-5. One has to be careful when turning into waves so as not to put water over the bow. Also with more than 4 people sitting in the rear of the boat and full ballast it is possible to sink the stern so that water flows over the NSS resulting in a washed out wave. The 2016+ hulls can only take so much weight in the rear. However your point is interesting and I will try experimenting having people sit in the middle of the boat (none in the rear) and run the NCRS at 1 or 0 to see how that works out. Thanks for the discussion.

[GMLIII]

You raise an interesting point. My objective is to level the boat and increase the weight at the center of mass so the boat displaces a greater volume of water without raising the bow. Displacing a greater volume of water generates a stronger wave with greater push. The G23 has that C shaped wave and with NCRS 5 the wave is too steep to easily land most spin tricks so we ride NCRS 2 or 3. When I pull Skim style riders they usually prefer NCRS 0 or 1 at most. The only skim/surf style rider doing advanced spin tricks with NCRS at 5 is Keenan Flegal and he can do that on the goofy side where the wave is steepest. But he is a beast.

Here is a video of Keenan on my wave at NCRS 5. https://youtu.be/xXYeDpBqDOQ
You can see the well defined C shape that Keenan rides without much trouble. Not many riders can do this level of riding on such a steep wave.

I don't think I could put more weight in the bow of the boat. It sits slammed in the water as is with full ballast and a crew of 4-5. One has to be careful when turning into waves so as not to put water over the bow. Also with more than 4 people sitting in the rear of the boat and full ballast it is possible to sink the stern so that water flows over the NSS resulting in a washed out wave. The 2016+ hulls can only take so much weight in the rear. However your point is interesting and I will try experimenting having people sit in the middle of the boat (none in the rear) and run the NCRS at 1 or 0 to see how that works out. Thanks for the discussion.

As you discussed in prior posts couldn’t you run only 70 % ballast fill in left and right ballast and 100 % in bow ballast to elongate wave and smooth out wave at 1-2 NCRS . That is what we are doing when we are skimming vs surf style boarding. I have same lead set up as you in your diagram

[greggmck]

As you discussed in prior posts couldn’t you run only 70 % ballast fill in left and right ballast and 100 % in bow ballast to elongate wave and smooth out wave at 1-2 NCRS . That is what we are doing when we are skimming vs surf style boarding. I have same lead set up as you in your diagram

Yes we do that all the time for skim style riders. I was thinking the suggestion was to increase the push yet retain a great surf style wave. My guess is this could be the outcome of adding more weight to the center of the boat while reducing NCRS to 0 or 1. Our skim wave (70% rear ballast, 0 or 1 NCRS at current weight) does not have sufficient push and a lip we love for airs when riding a surf board.

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[euro2012]

I was thinking more of retaining a skim style wave, without reducing weight on the boat. When ncrs is at 0 or 1, it is fully extended or almost so. That lifts the rear of the boat, and lowers the nose, which I believe is the goal in attaining a skim style wave (lower nose), making the wave less steep on the face, and probably a bit longer too, but losing overall height of the wave. My thought was, rather than extending the ncrs (at 0 or 1), would it be a similar effect on the attitude of the boat (lower nose) to add weight to the nose instead. Run ncrs at 5, with more weight in the nose. Maintain the lower nose, without losing displacement, for a larger skim style wave. I believe greggmck has tried this, but to achieve the same result, the nose would have too much weight, making it more difficult to drive, yes?

[greggmck]

I was thinking more of retaining a skim style wave, without reducing weight on the boat. When ncrs is at 0 or 1, it is fully extended or almost so. That lifts the rear of the boat, and lowers the nose, which I believe is the goal in attaining a skim style wave (lower nose), making the wave less steep on the face, and probably a bit longer too, but losing overall height of the wave. My thought was, rather than extending the ncrs (at 0 or 1), would it be a similar effect on the attitude of the boat (lower nose) to add weight to the nose instead. Run ncrs at 5, with more weight in the nose. Maintain the lower nose, without losing displacement, for a larger skim style wave. I believe greggmck has tried this, but to achieve the same result, the nose would have too much weight, making it more difficult to drive, yes?

I don't think this would work. It is probably not possible to put enough weight in the bow of the boat to lift the stern as effectively as the NCRS plate does. Like I said, with 200 lbs in the bow one has to be very careful when driving over surf waves as it is very easy to take water over the bow. Even if it were possible to add more weight the boat would probably handle very poorly with significantly greater weight in the bow because that weight would always be there at all speeds. The force generated by NCRS is only applied when the boat is on plane.

[euro2012]

That’s what I figured. It was a good theoretical thought, that doesn’t work in the real world. Thanks for all the info, most helpful.