Surfing with no ballast

[bolsonAA]

So I just received a 6'4" mini nose rider a few days ago which I posted pictures of in another thread. The pictures posted below are of some of the worst wakes we could create just to see if the board would work. I am 6'4", 210 lbs and I was easily able to surf behind my parents 24ve using no ballast. This board was so fun and actually really responsive. Airs would be tough but hanging 5 and cruising was unbelievably easy. I was able to start on my belly, pull myself into the pocket, toss the rope and then get to my feet both frontside and backside. So much fun. The pictures I have are of the bad wake as my camera ran out of batteries before we filled our sacks. With about 2500lbs of ballast I was able to move forward and back in the pocket more than I have ever been able to. I will still ride my shortboard when we have a packed boat with tons of ballast but I will definitely be riding this board much more. I also had my buddy who has never participated in any board sport up and surfing with no rope in 2 tries. He's hooked and now understands the "feeling". For those of you who are ballast challenged, or are bigger than 180lbs you might want to consider this type of shape.

[da.bell]

We have done some ballast free surfing on my 24Ve and RZ2. Not that big of a wake but works well.

[evil0ne]

I have yet to actually surf behind the boat, but at 11mph my 24V makes a much larger wave.

[NICKYPOO]

We started surfing my tige back in 01 with a Bear 8'10" mini tank and no ballast. We didn't even know to stick everyone on one side. No worries. Dropped the handlel my first try and have been hooked ever since. If you have enough board it's pretty easy.

[chpthril]

I surfed a Z1 with no ballast on my 4.9 Tsunami. Only 2 people in the boat to boot