Wakesurf board in the ocean

[Surfdad]

So...how crazy am I? Ok, ok, ok you don't have to answer that! I have done a bunch of work with Eric Roush down in Santa Cruz and Stretch Ridell down there also. Eric in particular makes inland skim boards that they also winch with. Eric told me that for shits and giggles they winch into some waves with those tiny inland skimmers and it struck me that I wanted to do that with our 4'5" wakesurfers. Josh Sleigh and the folks from the MoB group winch a bunch, so...why not me?!

So the first step is we've acruired a winch. The boys will wakeskate with it, but I'll probably just learn how to get up on the wakesurfer in shallow water.

Next on the agenda is spooling up 1,000' of line!

[KonaKing]

Looks like fun SD you " Wild and CRAZY guy"

[Surfdad]

Thanks Kona. I think the getting up part is going to be a challenge. When these guys do it in the ocean they start in about mid calf deep water so they are standing up the whole time. I can imagine I'll do LOTS of falling learning that!

[Fiveflat]

So you gonna remove the fins in that shallow water? I need a video... I'm having a hard time imagine how you'll winch in the ocean. Why don't you just get a surfboard and paddle in?

Not sayin' it's a waste of time, sounds interesting for sure and I'm followin' this.

[Surfdad]

It probably is a waste of time! My ultimate goal is to ride my little 4'5" wakesurf board out in the ocean. At my age and physical condition I'd never be able to paddle that little board into a wave, hence the tow assist with the winch. There are folks that do this and HUCK themselves at the waves at 30 mph, literally they go 15 feet in the air I won't be doing that, but I am sure James will.

I just want the freedom my wakesurf board affords on a big a$$ wave. Ok, maybe not overhead, but shoulder high and powerful would be great fun.

I hope I can give you a visual of how these folks get up on the board in the ocean and I'll hopefully learn the technique on a local lake and can post some vids or pics of it. Think of those Capitan Morgan commercials - NO you don't have to be drunk, although...

They have that one leg up in the ads, imagine a wakesurf board under that foot, fins still in but in about a foot or so of water. The other foot in on the ground and, of course, in the water.

The winch operator takes the slack out and then sort of guns it. Once there is some tension, the rider is leaning just a bit back and pulls the off leg up and on to the board.

The board has to be pointed out into deeper water and they sink just a bit on take off, but not enough to grab the fins. Or so it's supposed to happen

[Fiveflat]

Ah, I'm gettin' it now.

I'm almost to the point where I can't paddle in anymore myself... I need to get off the beer and onto the Capt'n Morgan's - think I'll lose a little that way?


I'm workin' on a winch system in the creek behind my house for my boys and nephew to do rails on with their boards and skates. We definately need to try it out there!

[Surfdad]

I'm sure that Morgan is a diet aid if consumed liberally. James and Mitch wakeskate all the time and I'm sure MOSTLY that's what this will be used for.

[TeamAllen]

Is there any place, maybe Mexico, where you can tow in, on a PWC?

[NICKYPOO]

It probably is a waste of time! My ultimate goal is to ride my little 4'5" wakesurf board out in the ocean. At my age and physical condition I'd never be able to paddle that little board into a wave, hence the tow assist with the winch. There are folks that do this and HUCK themselves at the waves at 30 mph, literally they go 15 feet in the air I won't be doing that, but I am sure James will.

I just want the freedom my wakesurf board affords on a big a$$ wave. Ok, maybe not overhead, but shoulder high and powerful would be great fun.

I hope I can give you a visual of how these folks get up on the board in the ocean and I'll hopefully learn the technique on a local lake and can post some vids or pics of it. Think of those Capitan Morgan commercials - NO you don't have to be drunk, although...

They have that one leg up in the ads, imagine a wakesurf board under that foot, fins still in but in about a foot or so of water. The other foot in on the ground and, of course, in the water.

The winch operator takes the slack out and then sort of guns it. Once there is some tension, the rider is leaning just a bit back and pulls the off leg up and on to the board.

The board has to be pointed out into deeper water and they sink just a bit on take off, but not enough to grab the fins. Or so it's supposed to happen

It's the old beach start. That is how the cool kids used to start their ski runs back in the day.

[Surfdad]

@ Teamallen - James Harold said that down at Ocean Beach in San Francisco they use PWC for Tow Assists, but I don't know of anyone that has a PWC in salt water. That's also a nasty area to surf, there have been some deaths when the surf has been heavy...so I'm not thrilled with that idea. There used to be a company somewhere around Santa Cruz that would take folks out for the day and do just what you suggest on a PWC. They'd pull you up and back in. Lazy rich man's surfing

@ Nick - is that how the skiers did it? Did any break their necks trying to learn?!

[Fiveflat]

I was on a beach in Oman during the war. We had a down day so we took our inflatable mattresses off our cots and went down to "body surf".


A dude broke his neck that trip. I packed some sand around his head until we got a medic there and he got lifeflighted to Ramstein Germany. He's not paralyzed - thank god!

[Fiveflat]

Buddy of mine at work goes to OB almost weekly to surf that. It's a bit big for me. I surf, but I'm not that good...

[Surfdad]

Yeah...the surf can get heavy there, but it's the riptide that's so nasty. Folks drown there every year, in fact the signs leading to the beach say that "people drown here", sheesh.

That beach is also so steep, 2 feet in your waist deep Maybe not quite that bad, but it's really steep just off the beach. I'm thinking I'll need a more gradual drop off to start this MORGAN way.

[TeamAllen]

I use my Jet Skis in the ocean. I belong to a group, similar to this one, for PWC. I'm sure I could find someone able and willing, near you, and give you a pull, if you want.
I just didn't think it was legal going that close to the shore.

[Surfdad]

Oh, I don't know about the shore stuff. I think the law for boating here in California is 200 feet from land/boats/people if more than 5 mph, so that might be an issue.