surfing

Larry, you should just stay off those site's.Conspiracy theorists might have you believe you are being set up for the day when Nautiques are displacement hulls due to fuel prices and no V8's How else are you going to enjoy watersports with an electric boat

75 Tique wrote: Kind of a fuss yesterday and today over on PN that "Nautique" just announced a new "surf system". I know its the "latest craze" and that many of you are into it, and thats fine, I have nothing against it, I just dont get it. Maybe I'll take it up around the same time I take up knitting, when I am in my 80's or 90's. Just seems boring to me. I see pics and to really step it up a notch, the surfer will hold a can of beer while surfing (snore). I much prefer the exhilaration, power and speed of slalom and footing. Hard to believe the industry is catering to and engineering for surfers. Surfers are going to become the next jet skis. Ballast and short ropes are already banned on our lake, but it is an exceptionally small lake. Maybe not a big deal on bigger lakes.

G0lf = spam Larry, so I fixed it for you.

I have no problem with surfing. We'll give it a go when the conditions get blown out or there is a bunch of boat traffic. Same goes for the disc, hydrofoil, etc. When the conditions are unsuitable for slalom or barefooting, whats the harm? It beats tubing, thats for sure.

We're on a very small lake as well- the only people who have figured out how to surf are the people into watersports... its the tubers and jet skiers that are the problem. Surfing (at least the basic standing up and catching the wave type) may be "low skill" but its not "no skill" like tubing. Nothing wrong with having another excuse to get off the lawn and get behind a boat on a nice day.

I like to surf, but it is dangerous because the surfer is a sitting duck when they fall. It takes awhile to turn around our ballasted boat without swamping.

We often see a PWC follow & jump our wake, sometimes they forget to watch where they are going :(

Surfing, weather you like it or not, is the way the whole water sport industry is going. The number one boat question asked when a possible buyer walks into the store is how is the surf wake. It is something the whole family can do and it doesn't hurt when you fall. CC had to do something fast with the surf gate stuff coming out on the Malibu. Thankfully for 12 and early 13 buyers we can add the system to the boats with Linc Screens. I prefer slalom and foot for the speed but if it's choppy I've been considering the idea of giving it a shot. Can't hurt and your on the water instead of on the land. But early AM wakeboarders and surfers make me .

And how many of these surfer only folks are going to wait for bad conditions to throw a monster wake destroying any all ski able water on your lake?? Like the tubers and jet skiers, they won't!!
One of the biggest issues for me is the impact these tsunamis have on the lake as well as a safety concern for our low riding boats.
Once again, low skill water sport event = popular. Tubing and Surfing 1 & 2.

Hollywood wrote: I guess I'll be the only one on the lawn. I've surfed and I'm sure I will again but really only when going out on a boat already going (@ CCF events).

HW, I bet with a little bit of practice you can tweak/perfect the above position, so you can do it while you are sleeping off those 20 or 30 Coors Lights...kind of like multitasking...why waste good water napping.

phatsat67 wrote: Surfing, weather you like it or not, is the way the whole water sport industry is going. The number one boat question asked when a possible buyer walks into the store is how is the surf wake.

Sad, but I am sure it's true. Kind of like how the first 47 pages of the Overton's catalogue is towables, except a towable doesn't cost $80,000.

quinner wrote: Once again, low skill water sport event = popular. Tubing and Surfing 1 & 2.

I agree completely with you Quinner. As a secondary sport I don't mind it but I would only consider doing it when the water was too rough to Slalom or Foot. Thing about footing and slalom and even good wakeboarding it takes time to get good and not everyone can do it.

I agree that I'd much rather be skiing slalom or footing. With that said, I love surfing. It's a great time, especially when I'm all skied out - a lot like tricking.

The other factor for me is that it's something we can do when we're out with a boat full of people. With our 'new to us' Sport, we're often maxed out with nine people in the boat, out on the water for the day. With a boat load like that, serious slalom is hard and footing in out. No to mention, that most can't foot and are only average skiers. We will typically pull all the kids skiing, one or two adults skiing and then load up the ballast and get out the surfboard. It's pretty easy to get people up and no one gets sore, never mind hurt, and we can pretty much surf until we run out of day light.

In addition, I had a handful of nights last summer where I took out a bunch of my non-skiing buddies to the lake near our house after work. Surfing was the perfect pastime.

In my experience, surfing without the rope is really only easy for accomplished water skiers / boarders. It seems hard for those less experienced behind the boat.

Last season I was recovering from knee surgery and was only able to surf and not until Labor Day. I can honestly say that after an entire season of only being able to drive everyone else, I thought surfing was amazing.

In general, I think surfing is a blast. It's never going to replace slalom or footing for me but it has it's place behind my boat especially when it gets more friends out on the water with my family.

Nautiques new system seems like a great innovation, specifically because of the ease is setup, ability to tweak the wake and the reduced the need for ballast (which can be unsafe). I think a large part of the market is looking for the all around boat - like the new Sport 200 - that has great performance and suits the family. The new Nautique Surf System would only make a boat like the Sport 200 that much better. I know it makes me want one even more!

-Keith

Larry, this is for you

5 months post ACL reconstruction to my left knee:



-Keith

With recent changes to teaching techniques barefooting can be "learned" in one outing by anyone at any age. I can easily teach anyone to foot in the swing, without falling, day one.

Granted: you need smooth water.

In the California Delta you deal with ships, tugboats, large cruisers throwing huge wakes so somebody's surfing wake is not really anything to complain about. Pretty sure one surf boat can ruin a whole lake with it's surf wake.

Yawn, except for the part about the bikini clad observers. Surfing just isn't that much fun. IMO. There was a time when I felt otherwise, but it just feels that the possibilities are pretty limited.

You Senior CCFans should know better in that 95% of us here are not going to ruin perfectly good water to surf. It's ski or barefoot FIRST. When the water is ripply the wakeboards usually come out. When the water is rocking, it's time to surf like we've mentioned above.

I've been to many CCFAN events and have yet to see anything different. That being said; I believe you'll find just the opposite on the OTHER website.

To hell with gun control! We need wake control!

I'm with Keith on this, and my kids have the same rule. Slalom goes first (we haven't learned to foot... yet), then wakeboard, then kneeboard (if the kids want) and then surf when the water is no good.

But if you think surfing is just going straight or sitting down, then that's like someone saying that footing is just going fast. I've watched some people much better than me on a surf board and they can do some amazing tricks.

To me it is just one more watersport to learn and get good at. The next thing for me to add is a boom so that my daughter and I can learn to foot and we can teach the other kids to ski at a young enough age that they never want to tube.

I'm waiting for a Sport 200 with NSS... or I need to McGyver one onto the back of my SV.

Yeah you can drink a beer while you surf just as much as you can drink a beer while slalom skiing. It takes a little extra thought but it's by no means difficult. If you put a cup holder on your vest, I bet you could run the slalom course and take a sip at each ball with your free hand.

This is the problem with ALL sports. No one respects anyone else. "My sport is best and yours is stupid." Fisherman hate skiers, wakeboarders, etc. and vice versa. Snow skiers hate snowboarders and vice versa. In my opinion, everyone needs to get over their idiotic bigotries. If you don't understand the other activity, it's probably because you've either never tried it, are too scared to try it (this included scared of what people think of you), or you aren't creative enough to figure out what to do to make it fun. Slaloming skiing is my preferred sport by a long shot but you know what....I happily welcome wakeboarders and surfers on my boat and participate in all 3 if time and energy permits.

I'll also happily ski on the lake with a bunch of courteous wakeboarders/surfers over even one inconsiderate slalom skier who does power turns and unnecessary turns in the middle of the lake.

Oh one last thing...I can usually teach someone to get up on a slalom ski faster than they can learn to stay in the pocket on a wakesurfer. Just saying...