Tige Surf Commitment

[ragboy]

While we were in Texas Danny showed us a video he was working on. This is very exciting to us, because this is all of the stuff we have been saying for so long, and its extremely cool to see them as a company really buy into wakesurfing. They are heading into 2012 with a huge commitment to wakesurfing, so if you love to wakesurf, you are going to see more and more from them pushing the sport further and making the best damn boat possible for the sport.

I really think they knocked this one out of the park with the Z3, and the proof was in how tough we were on them to get even the smallest details right, and they DID it at great expense. Can't wait to get the new Z3 and really show it off. Here is the video Tige just did, awesome stuff.

[NHarp1]

How cool is that? If that does not want you to get winter over as quickly as possible and get back on the water. I am having boating withdrawl!

[Iwndr]

Sweet Video I'm ready too!!!

[WakerideN]

put me in that column.... ready for spring now

[IDBoating]

The only thing getting me from last summer to next is a good skiing season. (It would help if we'd get more snow.)

[skippabcool]

Very nice. This will be very tempting to upgrade to.

[jbort]

two words - Florida roadtrip. Gee, Dom - when does the Z3 arrive?

[duffymahoney]

Any ideas on hull angles etc...? I don't think the wave is as good as our "dialed boat" are.

[ragboy]

We didn't get a chance to spend hours on it to dial it in.

If you watch this video:



And read this writeup:

http://wake9.com/community/content.p...ed-to-Wakesurf

You will see what we did get a chance to do. I also mention you in the write up, I thought of you when we were shown the secret R&D area in the factory with the test rig. You would have never gone home. ;-)

If you read our write up, you will see we went out on 2 different boats, and all together went out on 3 different Z3 configs. The first was the boat they sent us in September. This is the boat we sent back because although it could surf recreationally, it was no RZ2. Then we got asked to visit Texas and we rode/tested the same boat, but it was altered significantly based on their testing R&D with the rig. The Tige PSA video above was done with the 2nd setup, the altered Z3. The altered Z3 was MUCH better, but we still didn't think it was what it could be, and not as good as RZ2. We told them it was good enough for us to have fun, but not good enough to tow a competition in our opinion. That was tough, but we resigned ourselves to be completely honest, and Tige was disappointed, but very attentive. They were committed to seeing this through. So they told us they made some further mods that may resolve those issues. They had a boat in the line we could test the next day, they would just have to pull it out early so we could get on it.

So we went out again, and that was it. So the video you see RJ and Dennis riding is behind the final boat that will be entering production with one final addition we didn't see. They are still finishing a special taps plate and exhaust tip to remove that extra wash.

The first ride RJ and Dennis took was with the 2000 lb pro stock system, not the new 2300 lb system this will come with. We had hard tank (250) filled in port rear and starboard rear filled all the way (650) and full up front (800), me in the corner and 2 other people. Normally, Dennis would not be able to ride in stock config on RZ2 unless taps is way up and speed is down. Shortens the wake but gives more push. This boat had more push than either RJ or Dennis had ever felt. At taps 2 with that small stock wake, Dennis could ride in the back without issue. He was shocked.

Then we filled up entire system, 2000 lbs, added 400 lb sac under my seat (prob only filled with 300-350) and me in corner. That is the last part of the test in our video. The wake was almost waist high on dennis, beautiful shape, and super adjustable from taps 1 - 6. 1 giving what looked like a nice shallow skim wake with a bit of a table top, and 4-6 giving a good surf style wake with a clean face and nice lip that really launched RJ. He was giddy, he loved it. He was freezing, but wanted to keep surfing.

One of the amazing things, is that this boat was engineered to make this wake with only about 7 degs of list. So you filled up both sides. In the 2350 or so setup above, we still had 5 inches before the rub rail touched. What will this thing do with 3000 lbs of ballast? I can tell you it will probably be extremely safe even at that weight. I don't see any need to make mods like we had to in our 24Ve, just custom sacs and go, like the RZ2. To weight this, we just downloaded a clinometer app on our iPhone and got it to that magic 7 deg list, and bam. Easy, safe, and makes a ton of push at stock and above, and wake didn't really shorten as you put the taps up, it stayed long.

This is just the beginning, there will be a lot more to show as we get one in our hands and start really playing. You are welcome to come down when we do and surf with us.

Here are some pics that I got up on flickr.

Here is dennis at taps 2 or so, stock ballast, and you can see that long wake with the skim table top shape.


IMG_8022 by wake9, on Flickr

Here is a good one of Dennis, this is now at the 2350 lb setup, taps at I think 3, and you can see the smooth transition.


IMG_8064 by wake9, on Flickr

Dennis hanging out at the back at 2350 setup. He had more room to go if he wanted. You can ask him about the push.


IMG_8122 by wake9, on Flickr

One more of Dennis. This was a funny pic, he can't wait to get more time and try a bunch more 360s. He said when he threw his 360, it just spun him around much faster than he expected. You can see the look on his face, and he yelled "whoa".


IMG_8157 by wake9, on Flickr

RJ had the same exact thing to say about throwing the 360.


IMG_8400 by wake9, on Flickr

RJ couldn't get over the combination of the push, length, and position of the curl that he felt gave him TONS of room.


IMG_8268 by wake9, on Flickr

And a couple of RJ boosting, remember the water was like 60, it was cold.


IMG_8237 by wake9, on Flickr


IMG_8326 by wake9, on Flickr

All of the video was taken at 720P60 wide, which is the same as all the go pro shots we always take, and the photos were taken on our Canon 60D with 18-200 lens, almost all at focal length of 18, same as we have been taking recently at the polar bear event and recent outings on 24Ve.

Look forward to when we get to dial it in more, have no wind, and blue water.

[jbort]

Great input and pics - thx for sharing.