Equipment for Wake Surfing - Boat

    As with any sport, the right equipment is necessary for safety and to make the sport more enjoyable. Wake Surfing is no different although the list is not that long albeit expensive.
    Let's talk about the boat first. As mentioned in a previous post, you need a v-drive wake board boat. The previous post talked about safety but there are performance reasons a v-drive boat makes sense. First, the engine is in the back of the boat which helps to weigh the boat down in the back causing a larger wake. Secondly, the hull is usually shaped to maximize the wake it creates and ultimately you are looking for that perfect wake. Lastly, it has more pull to get the rider out of the water faster.
    Once you find a v-drive boat, there are several options you should think about to make wake surfing easier and more fun. In my opinion the single most important piece of equipment on the boat (besides the engine of course!) is the Perfect Pass system. This is basically cruise control for the boat as you simply set the speed you need and it will keep the boat at that speed until you back off the throttle. The beauty is even if you push the throttle past the speed you set Perfect Pass, it will not go any faster and stay at the set speed. Using this system, I can teach a monkey to pull me or an advanced surfer surfing although we will get into driving and how important it is in a later post.
    The next essential piece of equipment in the boat is the tower. This allows you to hook your ropes (surfing or wake boarding) higher up in the air which will help get riders out of the water quicker as well as let them perform better tricks. A tower is not essential for surfing but it definitely helps. Also, don't forget this is where you attach the speakers for that killer system which blasts the tunes for your riders. J
    Another piece of the boat which can play a vital part for shaping the wave is the trim or wake plate. This is an adjustable plate at the back of the boat usually under the swim platform although it can vary among different brands of boats. You can adjust this plate up or down depending on how you want the wake to behave. I will cover this in more detail when we talk about setting up the boat for surfing.

The wake plate is right above the propeller and rudder.

The last major piece of equipment on the boat is a built in ballast system. A ballast is essentially a big bag you will fill with water to help weigh the boat down and create large wakes to surf on. A triple ballast system is one of the more common set ups which will have one ballast in the back left and one in the back right as well as a larger one in the front middle of the boat. I would recommend getting the largest sacks you can for these (750 lbs or more) as they are the easiest to fill up and empty. They are also built in so they will not move around or roll over as they are in a compartment fit for them. There are many places which can custom fit a ballast to any area to help fill every area with as much water as possible.

These are the normal placement of ballasts

My next post will cover all the non-boat equipment.