Tips For Improving Your Wake

Watersports like wakeboarding and wakesurfing have dramatically increased in popularity in recent years, meaning that the tow boats necessary to carry them have also become more popular. This in turn means that wakeboard boat operators are looking for the best ways to create great wakes for their wakeboarders and wakesurfers. Fortunately, it’s not too hard to improve your wakes if you know the right tricks and tips, and Surfride Marine is here to provide you with those! We’re located in Mesa, Arizona, so if you have any more questions about improving your wake after reading this guide, come chat with us!

Piloting Your Boat

You can make all the adjustments you like and add plenty of ballast to your tow boat, but you’ll never get the wakes you seek if you don’t know how to pilot your boat properly. The ideal speeds for sports like wakesurfing are around 20 to 25 mph, and these must be steadily maintained to give your wakesurfer a good experience on the water. With smaller boats, you may slow down every time your rider cuts in, but you can combat this by opening up the throttle to get up to speed. Just make sure to do it gently and not abruptly as very fast changes will significantly change the consistency of your wake. Many wakeboard boats offer cruise control to help the operator stay at a constant speed to keep from upsetting their riders with inconsistency.

Speed isn’t the only important factor when you’re trying to create a good wake. You also need to aim the boat as straight as you can. This will require you to focus on the way ahead and anticipate changes well before they have to be made. If you can’t possibly avoid an obstacle or craft, then maintain a constant speed up to where you have to turn, then make a hard turn to change direction. Try not to make this turn when the rider is cutting in, and have a spotter signal to them that a change is taking place.

Cleaning Up The Wake

You’ll need to clean your wake up before you can add size to it for your rider. This process begins with trim. You’ll need to adjust the trim until you can see the wake begin to clean up. While you’re trimming the engine, the bow will rise, pushing the stern deeper into the water in order to improve the wake’s size. Be cautious while performing this adjustment, though, since too much trim will make the wake very steep and close to the boat. You should be able to get your trim adjusted with some practice until you’re generating the types of wakes that you want sufficiently far enough away from your boat to be useful to your wakeboarder.

Adding Ballast

Your next task will be to add weight to your boat in the form of ballast to shape the wake and increase or decrease its size. You will want to distribute weight around your boat on either side to make the wake even. There are many forms of ballast that you can use. One simple method is to have your passengers stand towards the stern and at the sides to balance out the weight. You could also use fat sacks, which are large bladders that you fill with water to set wherever you need a little more weight. These can be emptied and filled as needed, which makes them compact to store when empty. Another option is to use sandbags. Just make sure that your boat’s deck is capable of holding the extra weight, and add it slowly so that you can have maximum control over the weight distribution and how much it’s pushing down the stern. If you distribute the weight unevenly, your wake will falter and collapse, so be careful with this process!

In search of a wakeboard boat to tow your friends who love watersports? Come down to our Mesa location to see our great selection of new and used wakeboard boats and tow boats for sale. Surfride Marine proudly serves the greater Phoenix metro area as well as the city of Gilbert, Arizona.