The dates are May 14-16 at Camp Far West Lake. Registration will open on March 8th. We are getting very excited, please visit this easy link to stay up to date, and don’t forget to check out the new wake9.com/community while you are there!
I will be updating the home page later today with links to the community section, and posting more details about the event.
Okay, so I heard something about this event coming up in NorCal. Yes, its true. Stay tuned we will should be posting many of the details this week. Can’t wait.
You have to love this guys dedication. First of all, the guy is nuts. Every time he goes out he is practically sinking his boat, but you gotta love it when people are out there pushing it to the limit. DJ Jamez sent me a couple of Image sequences that I think you are going to like. They are in sequence, so click on the first in each sequence and blow it up then click on the right and left arrows to watch the sequence.
Photos were taken by Peter Hockman. Maybe DJ can add a comment about the camera setup.
The first sequence DJ Jamez calls his 180 lip slide:
180 Lip Slide
Disco Slide
Hey, so if you have a zune or know someone without an iPod/iPhone, our podcast is now on the Zune Social page, and so also available on the XBOX 360. You can search for wake9 in the podcast section, or follow this link:
http://social.zune.net/podcast/The-Wake9-Experience-(iPhone-Zune)/af561c20-4743-4aa9-9d5b-4260fdcc0546
March is almost here, and we will be starting the podcast back up in March. We have lots of great video in the can that we held on to until the season started heating up again. Well, its getting there! We have had lots of rain, but still need much more.
I was forwarded a link to our buddy and NorCal Crazy man on the news on KRON4. Check it out for yourself.
So here are some great photos we took at the event, stay tuned for more video!
The 44' party barge was a HUGE hit, and is a must for this type of thing. We are loading up.
This was us getting ready to go. We had 2 tige's setup goofy, and frank's sanger setup regular. We would wakesurf for about an hour then come in, compare notes and move boards around. I think there was about 20 boards.
The conditions? Almost as good as the incredible Halloween Tige RZ2 demo. About 60 deg in and out of the water, sunny with calm to 5mph winds. We were in an area where the boats could go in 3 directions without disturbing each other, and we all had walkie talkies to comm.
Beautiful
So we don't have many pics of surfing, mostly video, but here is one of clay on the IS Red Woody from CMS.
After some surfing, Amy setup some snacks at the bar. Bre smiling as usual.
Back to surfing, here is RJ on the chili pepper. RJ really liked this board, light and fast.
Maddie on the lakewakes grom, light fun board and a great value.
Between runs we all discussed what we liked about various boards as you see clay and roger doing here.
The barge had a slide with a lake water pump on it, and I dared dennis to hit it. Clay went first.
Then dennis, these pics crack me up.
SlimJim was NOT to be outdone. I thought SlimJim was a funny nick name for a big guy. He really was slim, he was 6'6\
RJ will not be schooled by dennis.
Maddie suited up, just to do this.
Clay goes head first.
OK, I have to set this picture up. I was on the boat with frank and roger. Great guys, I enjoy their company. So frank puts on his life vest. He is nuts, no wetsuit. He surfed without one all day. So on goes the vest, and since he has lost a bit of weight, the front overlaps a bit. But the funny part is that his nipples perfectly pop out of each side. On top of that, it was COLD. Frank could of poked someone’s eyes out. I was laughing so hard. It almost looked like his vest was designed to be specially REVEALING. What a crack up. So frank posed for me and I snapped this with my iphone.
Frank firing the guns
The Barge, you can see the slide on the back.
SlimJim (240lbs) riding the TWP 5.3 Bullet, or the Goofy board.
Jim on the TWP Bullet
SlimJim on the IS Red Woody supplied by CALIFORNIA MARINE SPORTS in Suison City, CA.
Clay from PROPS wakesurfers on the same IS Red Woody.
Now don't be alarmed, but sometimes in an event like this there is a certain amount of danger. Stuff happens and you have to be prepared for it. This is the only picture I can show you, the others are just too gruesome. This is just before the medivac chopper landed on top of the barge and got SlimJim to the urgent care he needed.
Well, so sorry for a month of no word from me. Had a death in the family and some major issues that needed to be attended to in my “day job” as a software developer. Since I have been so occupied, I asked my lovely 17 year old daughter Whitney to help me get my thoughts together to do a write up on the event. She did a pretty good job. My kids are in an independent learning center charter school and Whitney is actually being graded on her work she has done with me for the podcasting and such, so I made this her final. I love the fact that wake9 allows me the opportunity to use my kids and work together to do something that we all love, and share it with others. Before I paste in Whitney’s write up, some thoughts….
Special thanks to all the riders, especially Frank Wolter for being the catalyst and throwing down the challenge. We surely enjoy the company that hosting wakesurfing events has afforded us. Dennis Horton, Frank Wolter, Roger Stratford, Clay Sellers, and James (slim jim) Albertoni were an incredible group of guys. I am sure the friendships will grow, thanks guys, it was a LOT of fun.
Special thanks to the board manufacturers:
Special thanks to Lake Oroville Marina for being such a great help and discounting the “Party Barge” for us to use for staging.
Special thanks to PB’s Props in Oroville. We bent up a prop the day before the event, and these guys went the extra mile to get a prop repaired for us, thanks a ton. The don’t have a website, but if you are ever in the Oroville area, look up PB’s Props, they will set you straight, literally.
Special thanks to Jeff Walker for advice and helping arrange some of the board shipments.
Over the next couple of days I will be posting video and a full podcast of the event, which will be released on Sunday evening.
The 1st Annual Polar Bear Wakesurf Event Blog
By Whitney GarciaIt’s easy to assume that on any given cold, November day, people would be all snuggled up by a fire with some hot cocoa, a book, and perhaps some warm chicken noodle soup to comfort the soul. It’s also easy to assume that given the choice, people would choose to do the above, rather than subject themselves to torture in cold water. However, everyone knows that you should never assume.
The first annual Polar Bear Wakesurf event was for the bigger sized guys in wakesurfing. The bigger guys, in Ragboy’s opinion, are a key segment of the market since they are the boat owners, they are the dudes with the cash. Five men came to the event and rode: Dennis Horton, Frank Wolter, SlimJim (who was actually slim- we all thought it was just another big guy in denial), Clay Sellers, and Roger Stratford. We all met up at Lake Oroville, which, luckily, had beautiful water conditions. There were 3 boats: 2 were setup goofy, and 1 was set up regular. (So where are all these regular people, anyway? Every time Wake9 hosts something, we have more goofy than regular. I guess they all live in Washington.) There was also a 44’ party barge that was graciously discounted to us from Lake Oroville Marina.
During the event, there would be about 3 people to a boat, with 5-6 boards that each man was going to try. After about an hour, everyone would meet up at the party barge for a quick break and a swapping of the boards. Considering the low 60’s air temp, and the low 60’s water temp, everyone was a trooper about going into the water. Haha, just kidding: everyone wussed out and wore wetsuits. Well except for Frank, he barebacked it.
When there is an event to compare boards, what usually happens is that there are comparisons of boards against others from the same company. What was so special about this wakesurf event was that there were comparisons of different boards from different manufacturers. Wake9 received boards from multiple board manufacturers and one board shop (CMS in Suison City, CA) that shipped up boards for the event, and Dennis Horton brought up some of his own. All the boards we used during the event were specifically designed to hold up our big men with style.
With an industry that makes boards for the physique of dudes like James Walker and Chase Hazen (a nice physique I might add
), the men who are heavier will be hard pressed to find a board that will hold them. Each board at the event had different weight requirements, and the guys were of various sizes. The following write up is meant to show the other big men out there just how these boards held up, no pun intended. It is not meant to be a comprehensive review, maybe next time the event will be structured that way.
-The boards listed are ones that either everyone or almost everyone got to ride-
“The Big Guy Board” (5’4”x24”): Made by Lakewakes, it was lovingly dubbed “the Door,” due to it being huge, wide, and looked like it needed a door knob on one side. Ragboy said that it was more of a derogatory name in the morning, but by the end of the day, “The Door” became an affectionate moniker. It seemed to be a “favorite” of the real big guys (250+). The Door was definitely not a cruiser, but also not a rocket ship. Not the best performing big guy board, but since all of us are super cheap, it was well liked due to its fun riding abilities and its low price (MSRP $375). It was arguably the best value, and Lakewakes knew what they were doing when they wrote the price on the board. The only negative thing said about it was by Dennis, who complained that it was a little stiff during lipslides. Whatever, Dennis. Go do your unstiff lipslides somewhere else.
Inland Surfer Red Woody (5’6”x22”): This was concluded by everyone to be a fun, cruising board for the big men, but a little hard to manipulate. However, it was a cruiser. If you wanted to rip it up, you would need a different board. The only negative thing said about it was by Dennis, who complained that he couldn’t do his 360 on it. Whatever, Dennis. Go do your 360 somewhere else.
Props Ez1 Original (5’8”x??): This was another well liked board, but it suffered a little compared to the Door. This was an example of a board that may have done pretty well in a demo, but not when comparing to the Door, or the TWP Bazooka. Actually, they all didn’t concur, since the Jolly Green Giant (Jim) and Clay didn’t get to ride it. Other than that, they all liked it. Frank tried both the EZ1 5’8” version and the 5’11” and definitely liked the 5’8” version better. The only negative thing said about it was by Dennis…naw, just kidding. He couldn’t remember which Props board he rode. (A side note from Ragboy: It was nice to see Clay, from Props, taking notes. Props made it very clear that they are committed to getting this right. If there where a few tweaks, this board could sing. I can’t wait to see what Props is going to do after the R&D this event provided.)
The Walker Project: Now this was a total concurrence: everyone loved the Walker project boards. They were fun, light, easy to ride, and really allowed the rider to shred at will. Made for beginners to advanced, you could tell that these boards were just awesome for the skill level intended. The TWP boards definitely set the performance standard of the day. However, since they are more expensive, some were looking more towards the Door to add to their boat. There was the JWSM (5’3”), the Bullet “Goofy” (Dennis’s board) (5’3”), and a Comp X (5’0”). And last but not least… the super secret TWP board! This was the “secret prototype” board that Dennis brought up. Since it was “secret” there wasn’t even a name for it, it was just the big guy version of the Bullet (so it’s the Bazooka…get it?!). The Bazooka (5’3”) won the challenge set by Frank- this ended up being the board he bought.
After the event, we all went to a pizza joint in Chico, called Woodstocks, for a fun little after party. We had about 50 buffalo wings, and got Frank his own non-spicy wings so he could taste how scrumptious they were. Each man was even given a memorial Woodstock mug to commemorate the event. Speaking of which, Frank and Clay “forgot” theirs… We all had an absolute blast with the event, and we seriously want to do it again next year. There were some great laughs, like when Jim wanted to steal Jessica (he didn’t because she said she needed a car seat and he didn’t have one), or when each man slid down the party barge slide (we have video!), and even Dennis’s “snuggies” being stolen by my mom.
That’s about it. Please give me good reviews on this blog, because I am being graded on it from my dad. It apparently is 80% of my grade (I honestly have no idea on how he got that. “Finals” are usually 20%), so any good words you have are much appreciated.
Men’s Stats:
SlimJim: 6’6”, 240lbs
Dennis Horton: 6′2”, 280lbs
Frank Wolter: 6’1”, 324lbs
Clay Sellers: 250lbs.
Roger Stratford: 5’8”, 260lbsPeople Involved:
Robert (ragboy) Garcia: Wake9 founder, and boat driver.
Amy Garcia: Wake9 funsucker, and party barge driver.
Ashley Garcia: Camera Girl. And a sucky one at that.
Bree Horton: Dennis’s daughter, though I’m not quite sure what she did that day.
Lee Garcia: Robert’s lil’ bro, and Waverunner driver.
Maddie Garcia: Camera girl.
Thomas Garcia: The handsomest boy there.
Whitney Garcia: Blogger and the camera on the Waverunner.
RJ Garcia: No clue. I think he just ate all the cheese and crackers.
Jessica Garcia (The Chocolate Leprechaun): Dennis’s best friend.
SlimJim: Despite his name, he did not bring any SlimJims.
Dennis Horton: Jessica’s best friend.
Clay Sellers: Props Representative, thanks to him, we had boards to try.
Frank Wolter: Big guy with a big heart, we all missed his kids.
Roger Stratford: Gotta love Roger!
Stay Tuned for podcast and video!
You can just call it the “Lake Oroville Fat Boy Thing” for short. Everyone needs to be at Lake Oroville Marina at Lime Saddle BY 10am. I recommend you get there by 9:45am. Here is a map link to the marina:
We will be packing up at Wake9 HQ and Clay from Props is also staying at Wake9 HQ. So if you are early you can come to this address and ride down with us, the last person will be leaving from Wake9 HQ at 9:30am.
We will have 2 regular boats and 1 goofy boat and one 44 foot party barge to stage from in the north fork. Weather should be in the low 60s and water will be in the high 50s. Bring that wetsuit. We will be surfing til about 4pm and some guys are staying over on their own on Sunday. After surfing on Saturday, wake9 will be leading the Caravan to Chico and treating for Pizza and wings. Can’t wait!
Check these pics of our STAGING vehicle:
Underwear Warmer
Top Deck
The Bar
Head, shower and Ice Chest
The Couch
Here are the best 150 pictures of that day. What a great day.
This is part 2 of the review of the 2010 Tigé RZ2. CLICK HERE for part 1.
In 2007 when we purchased our 2007 24Ve and it was very much a family decision. We went to many dealers and sampled several boats. We knew we wanted an inboard wakeboard boat, and we thought we needed a 24ft boat, or a boat that at least held 16 people. We have 8 in our family and frequently take guests with us so this new boat had to accommodate two families comfortably. For various reasons we settled on 3 boats. The Malibu 247 LSV, the Mastercraft X45, and the Supra 24SSV in that order. We had no Tigé dealer anywhere in our area so even though the 24Ve was on the short list of online research, we didn’t consider buying one. My family didn’t like the playpen bow of the Supra which is just a preference issue, but a biggy for the girls. We were looking hard at the other two and were ready to pull the trigger until we heard of a new Tigé dealer within 2 hours so we headed out. We settled on the Tigé 24Ve mostly due to function. It was a versatile boat, and we liked the TAPS system and convex V hull and other features. However, even from the beginning we knew we were giving up some of the frills. The “Sugar Coating” which isn’t so important when you are 25, but when you get older those things are nice. There is no question that the Mastercraft and the Malibu had a fit and finish that outdid the Tigé. Snap out carpet, beautiful and seemingly more durable vinyl upholstery, there was a polish to the interiors that was noticeable. The vinyl and interior on the Tigé seemed to suffer. Our Tigé is built like a tank and has been incredibly reliable. We have almost 500 hours on our Tigé and I have only had to change the oil and perform regular service. Its been a great boat and has served us well, but at times we have missed some of those niceties, especially the upgraded upholstery.
All that to say, the first thing I noticed when stepping into the new RZ2 was the fit and finish and the beautiful, supple vinyl upholstery. Combine that with the snap out carpet, sculpted dash and touchscreen, black alpha z tower and matching graphics, this boat had the Sugar Coating AND was dressed to kill. You know what I mean? Form and function. Here are some pics of the RZ2 interior:
Tige Touch Screen Dash
Tige 2010 Cockpit
I also noticed that the floor of the inside of the boat was reinforced. Being the big guy that I am (400lbs) I can usually feel the floor move beneath me when I move around. Not in this boat, it was rock solid. I also noticed that at 6′2″ I could walk under the tower. I must admit that my hair does scrape the tower, but I don’t have to bend down. So we gassed up the RZ2 and started heading out. Since Lake Oroville is so low the 5 mph zone is almost a 20 minute ride out. So I got out the ipod and decided to take the touch screen out for a spin. For a geek like me who has purchased each iPhone as they were announced, I LIKE IT. Very cool. I love the audio controls that are always accessible and the ability to have so few gauges but have a multitude of information at your fingertips. What do you want to know? Its all there. When I finish editing the full video review you will get a better look at what I mean about the touchscreen. I had no problem reading the screen in full sunlight without the bimini and was able to hook up my ipod and instantly traverse my playlists from the screen. Me likey.
So what about the ballast and the wake?
OK, so I know that is what you are all waiting for so let’s get to it. First I hit the “Switches” button on the touch screen and then “Ballast”. This boat has the PRO ballast option which is 4 separate zones totaling 2000lbs. I have learned over the last couple of years that on the Tigé hull you just want all the weight in the corner for wakesurfing. So I just turned on the fill for the goofy corner and nothing else. Here is where it starts getting interesting. I had spoken on the phone with Tigé about this ballast system of 2 in hull tanks on each side in the rear, and in the surf and pro ballast options a 350 lb fat sac in each vdrive locker in addition. This whole time I thought the in hull tanks were 450 lbs each and the sac was another 400 lbs. This would give 850 lbs in the corner which seemed adequate to me since I have about 1000 in my 24Ve which is a bigger boat. The truth is that the in hull tanks are only 250 lbs each and the fat sac in the vdrive locker is only 350 lbs. This means there is only 600 lbs of water ballast in the corner. I actually didn’t realize this until AFTER the entire demo. Here is a picture of us after the tank is filled and we are about ready to go:
Ballast Ready
I feel stupid admitting that to everyone, but I think it was for the best. Remember that I was ready with pumps and an additional fat sac, a prototype swim deck, and a custom prop to FIX the wake on this boat to my pleasure. So we start riding as is, only 600 lbs of additional ballast in the corner and HOLY CRAP, the wake is almost perfect. There is a VERY minor cut in the wake from the corner of the deck, but it is not hurting the lip and is just producing some extra whitewash at the top. The wake is virtually the same shape as my 24Ve and the same size. RJ comments to me that it is about the same size, maybe a TAD bigger but he thinks it is definitely a little longer. How can it be longer? Wouldn’t the 24 foot boat produce a longer pocket? I am no hydrologist or whatever, but it doesn’t make sense to me that this RZ2 (22ft) wake would be longer than my 24Ve (24ft). How can this wake be longer with only 850 lbs of ballast in an empty boat? This boat had a coast guard kit in it. It was empty other than what we brought on. And remember, it ACTUALLY only had 600 lbs of ballast in the corner, but I was ignorant of that. Here are a couple of pics of RJ on the goofy side:
RJ Boosting
The wake was about waist high
clean pic of the goofy wake
Here is a good pic of the boat that shows the weight of just the 600lbs and people (I know, I make good ballast) and you can see the boat is riding with the rub rail just in the water and the bow high. The weight is adequate and doing its job. Nice long pocket as well.
Good shot of wake and boat
So T-Bone gets a try then we do the big test from side to side. 8 minutes 45 seconds. I had Ben hit drain and fill and start the motor to keep the volts up and I timed it on my iPhone. Yes, there’s an app for that. 9 minutes is almost too short. Not enough time to take a swim in the summer, which is what we usually did. We have ballast puppies in our 24Ve which work great, but a bit slow. Not to mention only 600 lbs of water is pretty quick to move. So we throw Ashley out. She says that the wake is the same size, or she can’t tell if bigger but she also thinks it is definitely longer. What the @!#$#! How can that be? I always expected the RZ2 to be easier to weight for a good size wake, but I also always expected that the 24Ve or RZ4 would have a longer pocket. Doesn’t seem to be the case. It was VERY easy to notice in this boat that it was more sensitive to weight than the 24Ve. When I moved from side to side the boat moved much more than my Ve moves. But only 600 lbs to make the same wake as my 24Ve? I still am amazed at that. The pics on the Regular side came out even better. Ashley doesn’t slash up the wake like RJ so it stays pretty clean. You really get the “waist high” perspective from this side with Ashley. Ashley is 5′7″ and RJ is 5′9″. The Convex V or “Non Planing” hull seems to be doing a great job at sinking in that corner with less weight than you would think.
check out that butter
waist high and long pocket
the pocket pic
So I decided to not add extra weight, there was no need. And I also decided with RJ that the minor cut in the wake was negligible and didn’t warrant a custom deck. Here is a picture of the deck on the 2010 RZ2 and you will see that even though there still is a lip, Tigé made an attempt to fill it in so that the lip under this deck is VERY small, only a half inch or so.
Very small lip on deck
So we 86′d the extra weight and we 86′d the prototype deck. What about the prop? Well my 24Ve would cavitate/slip with the stock prop when I weighted it the way we do, about 1000 lbs per side. The RZ2 didn’t slip or caviate ONCE. Even with the 1235 prop the 24Ve will still slip on occasion. The RZ2 was rock solid and I never noticed a single issue for the several hours we were out. The boat also handled great unweighted with that PCM 409 powerplant. Ben pointed out that my 24Ve could have the issue as a combination of the MP 340 and the stock prop, it might not just be the prop setup. Who knows, all I know is this boat doesn’t need another prop with the way we were using it. And we were using it just like we would our 24Ve.
So I expected this boat to do well. And I expected this boat to come as close as I have seen to my Wake9 Wakesurf Boat Checklist, but I didn’t expect it to actually meet all of those expectations without ANY tweaking or additional weight of ANY kind. This is the first time I have ever been discontent with my 24Ve. This boat handles better due to the smaller size and creates at least as good a wake, probably longer and better with almost HALF the weight. Amazing. Take a look at this pic.
its all about the wake, isn't it?
The Gripes
So I have to admit I want one now. Going to have to start working on the wife. So are there any shortcomings? What DON’T I like?
Those are my only gripes. Overall its a great boat that exceeded my expectations. 16 thumbs up. If you have the means and you like to wakesurf, go buy one.
Lastly, we will be posting our video review soon, but here is a quick video we did that speaks no words and just shows off the wake. Enjoy.
