Another good day on the lake. I hope you guys are having as much fun as we are!
This trip saw a bit of everything. It was our annual fireworks night on the water, so we got a later start than we normally do. We dedicated more time trying to dial our wave in following advice from Jason. We did see some success, but also ended with a few more questions. We only ran our stock ballast, plus our 350 pound PNP bags in the rear lockers. Nothing else this time. We did whatever it took to get the bow high to 9* and a list to the surf side of 4-5*. To do that I had everyone sit right behind me (we all surf goofy), and with all the bags full we took a reading off my phone. We were listed just a bit to the goofy side and were almost level front to back. This surprised me. I thought we would start off bow high and would need more weight up there. We set the tabs at 4 and 4 and pretty much left them there. I started dumping water out of the bow and a little off the rear PNP. It listed over pretty easily to the 4-5* we wanted. As we let water out of the bow we got as high as 7* bow high before the boat started leveling off again. I kept emptying and we went all the way back to level?!? So I filled it back up to where we were at around 7* and then started playing with the tabs. I know this seems weird, but I believe our best wave came in at 2 and 2. Our speed varied between 10.8 and 12. 10.8 saw the most push and 12 saw the longest wave. That was to be expected.
Overall I would say that this was our best wave, to date. By focusing more on getting the boat into the right position, instead of actual ballast weight, we lengthened the rideable section of our wave 2-3 feet. We may have lost a bit in height without using any extra floor ballast, but overall I would pick this wave. I'm pretty confused at our ballast situation not being able to get the bow higher. I thought for sure we were going to have a problem getting it down, but that was not the case. In any case I look forward to more "testing".
Let me just get my picture out of the way, so we can focus on the real stars of our boat:
002 copy.jpg
Ashlee, who just turned 12, really found the wave this trip. She is now constantly getting up every time. Our focus was helping her get her feet into position so the board would become more stable. That paid off well for her and she had no problems at all getting a slack rope. She'll be tossing it next week for sure.
011 copy.jpg
Livy, our 13 year old is starting to play with a skim board that is clearly too big for her. But she likes it and really wants to start spinning.
016 copy.jpg
She is totally at home on the Chaos. Trying to get her to spin it, and do BIG turns.
020 copy.jpg
Our first sunset on this boat. All the forest fire smoke made for an interesting one.
024 copy.jpg
Lucas, our 6 year old, is tearing it up on the knee board. He always rides for a bit and then stands up on it to "practice surfing"....then quickly falls off.
028 copy.jpg
My wife, Mary, was all ready to try to surf for the VERY first time this trip. She was going to try right after Lucas was done kneeboarding. At that point we came across a boat that was broke down and needed a tow to the marina... the one on the opposite side of the lake! By the time we got there the sun had set and we couldn't get back in the water. Huge disappointment. I really wanted her to try surfing. But, hopefully we got some good boat karma and the tow in provided a great dance party that was pretty funny. They put on a good show for the people we were towing in.
033 copy.jpg
None of the fireworks pictures I took showed up very well, but it was a good show. Afterwards we rushed back to the marina to get home. We all liked the blue lights in the water. It's the first time we have seen them.
037 copy.jpg
On a side note, the bugs were so bad after the sun went down! We knew it would be bad and came prepared for it, but it was worse than ever! When we got home, there was literally 1000's of dead bugs in the boat. I could scoop up handfuls of them. It's going to take all week to get ready for the next trip.
This trip saw a bit of everything. It was our annual fireworks night on the water, so we got a later start than we normally do. We dedicated more time trying to dial our wave in following advice from Jason. We did see some success, but also ended with a few more questions. We only ran our stock ballast, plus our 350 pound PNP bags in the rear lockers. Nothing else this time. We did whatever it took to get the bow high to 9* and a list to the surf side of 4-5*. To do that I had everyone sit right behind me (we all surf goofy), and with all the bags full we took a reading off my phone. We were listed just a bit to the goofy side and were almost level front to back. This surprised me. I thought we would start off bow high and would need more weight up there. We set the tabs at 4 and 4 and pretty much left them there. I started dumping water out of the bow and a little off the rear PNP. It listed over pretty easily to the 4-5* we wanted. As we let water out of the bow we got as high as 7* bow high before the boat started leveling off again. I kept emptying and we went all the way back to level?!? So I filled it back up to where we were at around 7* and then started playing with the tabs. I know this seems weird, but I believe our best wave came in at 2 and 2. Our speed varied between 10.8 and 12. 10.8 saw the most push and 12 saw the longest wave. That was to be expected.
Overall I would say that this was our best wave, to date. By focusing more on getting the boat into the right position, instead of actual ballast weight, we lengthened the rideable section of our wave 2-3 feet. We may have lost a bit in height without using any extra floor ballast, but overall I would pick this wave. I'm pretty confused at our ballast situation not being able to get the bow higher. I thought for sure we were going to have a problem getting it down, but that was not the case. In any case I look forward to more "testing".
Let me just get my picture out of the way, so we can focus on the real stars of our boat:
002 copy.jpg
Ashlee, who just turned 12, really found the wave this trip. She is now constantly getting up every time. Our focus was helping her get her feet into position so the board would become more stable. That paid off well for her and she had no problems at all getting a slack rope. She'll be tossing it next week for sure.
011 copy.jpg
Livy, our 13 year old is starting to play with a skim board that is clearly too big for her. But she likes it and really wants to start spinning.
016 copy.jpg
She is totally at home on the Chaos. Trying to get her to spin it, and do BIG turns.
020 copy.jpg
Our first sunset on this boat. All the forest fire smoke made for an interesting one.
024 copy.jpg
Lucas, our 6 year old, is tearing it up on the knee board. He always rides for a bit and then stands up on it to "practice surfing"....then quickly falls off.
028 copy.jpg
My wife, Mary, was all ready to try to surf for the VERY first time this trip. She was going to try right after Lucas was done kneeboarding. At that point we came across a boat that was broke down and needed a tow to the marina... the one on the opposite side of the lake! By the time we got there the sun had set and we couldn't get back in the water. Huge disappointment. I really wanted her to try surfing. But, hopefully we got some good boat karma and the tow in provided a great dance party that was pretty funny. They put on a good show for the people we were towing in.
033 copy.jpg
None of the fireworks pictures I took showed up very well, but it was a good show. Afterwards we rushed back to the marina to get home. We all liked the blue lights in the water. It's the first time we have seen them.
037 copy.jpg
On a side note, the bugs were so bad after the sun went down! We knew it would be bad and came prepared for it, but it was worse than ever! When we got home, there was literally 1000's of dead bugs in the boat. I could scoop up handfuls of them. It's going to take all week to get ready for the next trip.
So it's pretty unique.
Comment