Surfing an Epic

Has anyone here had a chance to surf an Epic? A few friends and I got to go surf one this weekend. What did you think about the wake? Did you run any extra ballast?

Surfed it last night I do not add any extra weight. just full rear on the riding side and a little over half up front was what we were doing last night. it worked well for the guys who rode. It is steeper then any other boat out there but still fun.

TXSurf, Better yet, what did you think of the wake?

Ben, I will definitely agree that the wake was steep. And yes it was also fun.

Dennis, The one issue that we all had was that the wave seemed to have a pronounced step in it. We did play around with the weight and the tab settings and were able to get it to go away for the most part. But it was still there and somewhat noticeable. We all basically agreed that some extra ballast in the rear corner would get rid of the step in the wave. From what I saw looking at the boat at the end of the day, I think if the rear of the hull would have been deeper in the water, the step would have been eliminated all together. It appeared to start where the hull comes up and cuts back at a 90 degree angle below the transom speakers. We did not get a chance to put extra weight on the boat though. The Epic rep that was with us said they had put extra weight on the boat before, but he didn't think it was really needed.

All in all we were all pleased with the boat but couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like with more ballast.

I love this picture From the Nor Cal Surf Comp last month. This is the Epic with The edge of the swim deck cut back so that it did not drag in the wake.

Ben- We took ours out for the first time this past sunday. Keep in mind, we (the wifey and I) were still in the dialing stage and were only on the water for about 3 hours so we didn't have a ton of time to mess with things and were also getting used to the 'smart tow' and speedometer etc.

Apples to Apples- weight/speed/trimplate setting all being the same for each side- The goofey set up was definitely cleaner than the regular setup and didn't seem to have that 'step' that you were referring to. We ran the side tank full, front tank full + 1 adult in bow + 3 adults and 2 kids on the riding side. After some tinkering with the regular side, we decided to throw a sac in the back port locker to see if it helped, about 500lbs-ish. It definitely made the wake bigger, but the 'step' seemed to still be there. However- at the same time, we were having a bit of trouble holding speed, all driver/operator error (thinking smart tow was engaged when it wasn't, not knowing what gauge/display was the actual speed. ALL operator error). Nikki Sixx was the only one riding regular and we weren't doing him justice with our speed issues etc. Props to him for his patience because he was still shreddin' like a champ!

Once these damn thunderstorms pass (which isn't until July 18th-ish)...GRRRRR, we'll be back out and dialing...more to come...

BTW- We LOVE our new Epic!

It would be really great to really get that boat for a full weekend or week of thorough testing and experimentation. Maybe even get the "MasterWeigher" on the job. We noticed that it was steep, and had that step, but also had a short pocket. It was very difficult for riders to not get sucked out the back. Rider after rider was getting sucked out the back, not being able to recover when they expected they would. I know that was RJs main note about the wake.

One thing to add. I loved the high freeboard, thinking of it as a possible FAMILY surfboat. If someone could really dial in that wake, that high freeboard would give it a ton of possibilities. Even fully weighted, they still sit very high in the water, and seem very safe.

Then on the other hand, if the wake DID get dialed in, I would hate to see what someone like DJJames would do with it! I am sure he would figure out a way to get the water rolling over the upholstery in the low corner.

Did you try filling the empty side 1/2 full or so and see if sinking the other corner down a little helps?

I agree Robert, we were hoping to get to go back out on it sunday and we had our extra sacks along this time. However the afternoon didn't pan out as expected. I think it could be an awesome wave with the right weight placement. Maybe we didn't have it properly dialed in, but I still think some extra ballast would make it better, more ballast makes everything better

Ben thats a good looking wake there! I wish we could have had ours looking like that last weekend! Was that swim deck modified more than factory? The rep with us told us they had been cut back to help with surfing, but the deck didn't look to be causing the step we had.

Timmy, we did try and fill the starboard side a little to see if it would help pull the boat down more, but it just knocked the wake down big time.

I was in charge of setting the Epics up for our Northern California Wakesurfing Contest. The picture Ben posted was from our event. Here is how the boat was setup. Full front Full surf side 300 lead in surfside back corner and 200 lbs lead in front on surf side Plate at 25%.

Of course you were in charge, you are the MasterWeighter.