Wakesurfing an I/O

[Surfdad]

Actually Dog, I think I was responding to Konaking's post...but maybe a bit of background. The guy that posted that is Tim Lopes. Tim, I believe, is currently running the design and production for Calabria boats - if they are still in business. Prior to that he ran the west coast plant of Fineline Industries manufacturers of Centurion and they also build for Supreme and at one time Tige.

Tim has credentials. If it were just some layman like the rest of us, I'd be first in line to chew him a new butthole, but this guy has maybe 40 years of expereince in building and designing boats. You can't dismiss him as a whackjob BECAUSE of that experience and credentials. He was talking about a huge 28 to 30 foot I/O in lieu of an Enzo.

He's an industry insider, he designs boats and supervised the production facility. It makes it hard to ignore his comments that the issue is fabricated. I wouldn't want to be the guy testing that theory , but I find his accusation that inboard manufacturers plant that sort of stuff to scare consumers, very eye-opening.

[TeamAllen]

Good point Dog.

The danger is more during starting that while riding.

[LovinPowell]

yes the is was from surfing. the story was very clear about how it happend

The "deal" is that if it were from wakesurfing an I/O you could find a published report on it in a heartbeat. Also the guy who posted it said he got it second hand and started his post with "semi true story" and never produced any other cooborating evidence yet he has that picture?!

I'm not advocating wakesurfing an I/O - just advocating verifing your data rather than assisting folks that may wish to promulgate garbage - just like lovinpowell suggests - ask and verify.

I really would like to see documentation on that. I think that if it has happened that we are justified in speaking out against it, but that if it hasn't happened we are possibly setting all of us up for disappointment when wakesurfing is deemed illegal based on "factless" statements made by people and heard by others who make such decisions. I am in agreement with surfdad, lets see if the there are facts that support the claim and if not, then let's be careful who we are pointing fingers at. The bottom line is to make sure that people are being safe and that the sport does not get undue blame and hence undue regulation.

Just my

[mtnsmith]

I have been digging on several local news channels and newspapers websites and can not find the incident I was talking about. I know someone that works for Florida Fish and Wildlife Control and will e-mail him tomorrow to see if he can search their incident records and find anything for me.

[dogbert]

Actually Dog, I think I was responding to Konaking's post...but maybe a bit of background. The guy that posted that is Tim Lopes. Tim, I believe, is currently running the design and production for Calabria boats - if they are still in business. Prior to that he ran the west coast plant of Fineline Industries manufacturers of Centurion and they also build for Supreme and at one time Tige.

Tim has credentials. If it were just some layman like the rest of us, I'd be first in line to chew him a new butthole, but this guy has maybe 40 years of expereince in building and designing boats. You can't dismiss him as a whackjob BECAUSE of that experience and credentials. He was talking about a huge 28 to 30 foot I/O in lieu of an Enzo.

He's an industry insider, he designs boats and supervised the production facility. It makes it hard to ignore his comments that the issue is fabricated. I wouldn't want to be the guy testing that theory , but I find his accusation that inboard manufacturers plant that sort of stuff to scare consumers, very eye-opening.

I wasn't knocking Tim. But, now that you mention it, maybe that's why we're seeing the 21' rope rule.

[LovinPowell]

We used a 21' rope on Saturday and IMO it is more dangerous than the carbon monoxide "danger" because of all the slack that is created when we get into the pocket to surf. We had so much slack that we had to coil it up in one hand so that it doesn't get in the way bouncing around on the wake. Then if you fall back the rope runs through the hand and we end up with rope burn. I am coming up with ideas to work around this issue, hopefully they work.

[dogbert]

We used a 21' rope on Saturday and IMO it is more dangerous than the carbon monoxide "danger" because of all the slack that is created when we get into the pocket to surf. We had so much slack that we had to coil it up in one hand so that it doesn't get in the way bouncing around on the wake. Then if you fall back the rope runs through the hand and we end up with rope burn. I am coming up with ideas to work around this issue, hopefully they work.

I agree. We have a longer rope for faster speeds (>11 MPH), but it's a real liability at slower speeds (< 10 MPH).