Wakesurfing is a water sport in which a surfer trails behind a wakeboard boat

Wakeboard boat

Wakeboard Boats are designed to create a large, specially shaped wake, for a wakeboarder to jump the wakes from side to side doing aerial tricks.-Boat types:...

, surfing the boat's wake

Wake

A wake is the region of recirculating flow immediately behind a moving or stationary solid body, caused by the flow of surrounding fluid around the body.-Fluid dynamics:...

 without being directly attached to the boat. The wake from the boat mimics the look and feel of an actual ocean wave. After getting up on the wave by use of a tow rope, wakesurfers drop the rope and ride the steep face below the wave's peak in a fashion reminiscent of ocean surfing. Wakesurfers generally use special boards, usually five feet or shorter. The first wakesurf patent number 001765.0134 was given to Alfonso Corona in 1997.

Boat setup

Inboards ski or wakeboard boats are the only safe choice for this sport as the prop is under the boat and cannot make contact with the rider. Other types of boats such as I/O's and outboards are dangerous because the propeller is exposed. Owners of inboard boats place ballast

Ballast tank

A ballast tank is a compartment within a boat, ship or other floating structure that holds water.-History:The basic concept behind the ballast tank can be seen in many forms of aquatic life, such as the blowfish or argonaut octopus, and the concept has been invented and reinvented many times by...

, such as water, lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

weights, cement, or other heavy objects in different sections of the boat in order to weight the boat down and create a larger wake. The best weight configuration for wakesurfing is to spread the weight throughout the whole boat so as to push as much water as possible. The deeper the boat is in the water, the bigger the wake will be overall. In addition, you will want to place a larger amount at the stern of the boat on the side which the rider is riding. This will ramp the wake up on the side the rider is riding and washout the opposite side.

Variations

A variation of this sport is tanker surfing. In the Gulf of Mexico, surfers follow large tanker ships and surf on the waves they create. The wakes created by these large ships can be a mile long, providing a great ride for surfers. See Tanker Surfing.