Monday, September 6, 2010

Wake SUP Surfing

We live near a large lake. We love waves but don't get to the coast nearly as often as we'd like. The fall winds haven't kicked in yet, so still haven't windsurfed since last June. Bored? Nah...we took care of that...





Rob and I hit the water a little after 7am. It was still a little chilly from the colder overnight temps so I wore a shorty wetsuit. My boat is not made for wakeboarding or water skiing although you can still do both behind it. It's just that this boat doesn't put out a nice big wake like other boats do. So we rigged up an old tow rope real short to pull ourselves into the pocket of the wake just behind the boat. Once in the pocket, we'd drop the tow rope and surf.

The paddle was definitely in use especially as we'd get more comfortable and ride different parts of the wake, sometimes falling back and then paddling ourselves back into the pocket to keep going. I would also lean the paddle into the water behind me to keep the board from getting too close to the boat and steer myself away from it. After a few rides each, we figured out the right boat speed and got it dialed in. In fact I had a couple of long rides 5+ minutes...my legs were burning....the longest wave rides! We came in a for a quick break, my family jumped in the boat, and we hit it again after 9am when the sun broke out.

Rob and I have been talking about doing this forever but never got out there to do it. We had seen videos of others doing it, including Ralph. I can't believe we haven't done it until now. Good times. Turn the volume up for this sub 2 min video...


Wake SUP Surfin' from WaterTurtle Productions on Vimeo.

5 comments:

rdm said...

Sometimes, in times of crisis, that kind of thing cannot be avoided. Good stuff.

Cary said...

Way too sweet!

Andy said...

Dangit! That looks like a heck of a lot more fun than sitting in traffic!!

mark said...

Must be NASCAR country- lefts only!
What was the optimum boat speed?

Anonymous said...

Is there anything you can't do? Good stuff Turtle

Stan