Act of Stupidity
 

Wow...I'm almost speechless. Darwin at its finest.

http://msnvideo.msn.com/?channelinde...9-8336b42590cc

So stupid on so many levels.....

That's not real. Can't be.

Real or not, he's a dolt. I call BS on this video after watching his right windshield and the landscape barely moving even though the engines are making wake. That being said, nothing would surprise me. Darwin was so correct with natural selection being the reason why some species survive while others perish!

The real purpose of the video is to have it go viral, which apparently it has. The idea is to show someone doing a thing so dangerous and idiotic that millions will watch it.

In all likelihood there is someone on the bow or just out of site below the console or in both positions. There is evidence that the operator is not a complete moron, he puts on a life vest.

It's a scam.

Never a Hungry Great White around when you need one :rolleye1:

Yes, I thought of that too BI, but there are probably millions of impressionable youngsters and some not so bright adults who probably think it looks cool and might try to emulate it without taking some type of precaution against a runaway boat, it's pretty stupid if you just consider that.....

At least he was wearing a PFD!! :laugh::laugh:

I think that has to be one of the top 5 dumbest things I have ever seen.

I would like to think that there was somebody else on that boat and this was done to see how viral it would go.
If not, then, ya, that is one dumb dude worthy of some kind of special award.

true and agree, but unfortuantley the Darwins only get given out when something happens

If you apply Newtons Laws of Motion, you would realize that once he lets go of the rope he would slow down and sink.

Depending upon the size & shape of the wake (mantle?) behind the boat couldn't he be surfing downhill towards the back of the boat and be able to match speed?

Juries still out with me as to whether or not its been photo-shopped.

He is wake surfing, not wake boarding as the video title mentions. That part of the video was normal, being driverless not so much. I am sure someone was either sitting below the dash or off to the side just in case. That boat is only traveling 8-10mph to achieve that wake and ride. Wake surfing is low speed, low impact. Wakeboarding is twice that speed.

I liked the Video Following the wakeboarding video..The one with the kid on the bicycle slamming into the back of the car he was being "Towed" behind. Classic. You just can't make this stuff up. People.....As a society ...WE are OVER. :( NB

Laws of Physics
 

Of course this is a complete fake. The Laws of Physics won't allow this to happen.

First, Newton's Laws: For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction. The action, in this case, is the boat going forward. The reaction is -- the water that is pushed backwards. The boat's propeller is pushing a lot of water backwards. Which will prevent the "surfer" from moving forward without the assistance of the rope tow. He's trying to make us believe the small wake behind the boat is sufficient to overcome this propeller wash. It isn't -- big time.

Second, gravity isn't assisting the "surfer" in this video. During ocean wave surfing, the surfer actually uses gravity to propel forward. Gravity is made available by the constantly increasing size of the wave. As an ocean wave approaches shore, it becomes higher as a result of the wave's energy traveling over more and more shallow conditions. The wave's energy causes the wave size to increase and turn nearly vertical. The surfer rides this front edge of the wave, and essentially continues to "fall" as the wave pushes him to shore. Without this effect, a wave is essentially non-surfable (if that's a word). A boat wake isn't a surfable wave.

Basically, this video is trying to make us believe that the boat's forward momentum is causing a wave condition that is also moving forward at the boat's speed, and has sufficient energy to carry the surfer with it. Folks -- this is physically impossible.

I have no traiing Physics, but I'm not sure I see what you're saying.

If the video is fake, it's pretty well done.

How is this different than the surfers on the cruise ships?

Dumb, But I Think It's In Floriduh...Hold Muh Beer...
 

Add a full crew and a skipper at the helm, I watched this identical activity two days ago in Winter Harbor. :)

It's "wake-surfing", and there's no scientific reason it can't be done solo, as the camera has clearly captured.

More on Winnipesaukee "wake-surfing" from 3 years ago:
http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...4&postcount=10

On a cruise ship, the surfer isn't moving, the water is. With the surfer standing still, the force of the water being driven at him will create the wave's force strong enough for him to stand.

I saw that too, APS. And I thought at the time, I hope he doesn't fall down. It seems like it would be pretty easy for him to be sucked into the propeller. Am I wrong?

There are special wake surfing boats designed for this. They have ballast tanks in the stern, which are filled up to cause the stern to sink and which create the wake. A friend of mine had one. Check out this video:

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=nfjn3...%3Dnfjn3o75FCQ

The wakesurfing part of the video is something we do all the time. You can only do it on an inboard no I/O or outboards. You fill up the internal ballast tanks and some additional fat sacks for weight on one side, go about 9.5 mph in a straight or slight arc that you are surfing on and you will throw a nice wave. You take the wakesurf board about 10 feet behind the side you surf on with a short knotted handled rope and once the boat gets you up and you find the sweet spot on the wave you throw the rope back in and you can go as long as you want. My kids record for us last summer was 7 and half minutes without the rope. Its alot of fun and when you fall you just sink in the water no pain.

The no driver part is either fake or one of the worst ideas i've seen.

google wakesurfing you will see alot of examples.

Does Happen
 

Sorry, THIS-N-THAT, but the action is possible, done regularly, and I've seen it. Just play around on youtube, you'll find lots of examples.

The speed is critical....basically 'plowing' so as to constantly create the rolling wave on which the board rides.


I would hope the part about not having anyone in the boat is fake!

First off, you apparently have never surfed a rapid in a canoe or kayak before. The growing size of the wave is not what moves the surfer. It is a balance between gravity, friction and the velocity of the water. The only reason the surfer moves on an ocean wave is because the wave is changing its position in relation to the shore. If the wave stays in the same position relative to the boat, then there is no reason this is not possible.

Second, you are focusing on the wrong action. it is not that the boat is moving forward, it is that the water is being propelled backwards. That force is what creates the wave.

Based on your theory, this would be impossible!
http://youtu.be/WCDuIJMrLbo

I think the physics make this very possible. I think this is real. I think the camera work implies he is the only person on board, which I expect is the only fake part. The wave is just like a surfing wave, moving forward and producing a surf-able shape, propelling the surfer.

We see wake surfers every day right in front of the house. These arguments about it being physically impossible as viewed are nonsense.

We have owned numerous wakeboard boats as well. In wake surfing depth is important, you actually have to be in 30-40 feet of water I am told as the plowing of the boat and shape of the wake are not as good in shallow depths. The wave action actually extends quite a bit under the surface.

I cant beleive you guys don't see more wakesufing up there. Need to send some of your physics professors down hear and sink 5-6 hundered of those SOB's on our lake, on any given weekend. Seem's to be the new kid thing. One of those hulks roll by your dock with 2 tons of ballast on board you'll think it was the Mt Washington :)

hear's another on the Mastercraft site...

Someone should foward it to his insurance company

http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/...ad.php?t=54909

I apoligize to the members in that I did not think it was a true method of surfing. After checking various sources, on the web, I now see that it is possible to wake surf behind a boat without a tow rope. I wish I could talk to my old physics professor, just to see what he could tell me.

I believe he is wakesurfing. I don't believe he is doing it without someone in the boat.

Don't sweat it Joe, I think it would be pretty interesting to see a physics guy describe what is going on. I tubed behind a 52 foot Bertram once, the wake looked like a mountain behind that thing....

How come the same cloud above the steering wheel in the upper left corner never moved? Hmmmmmm....

Looks to me like they all move in unison, starting at the 00:10 mark when he's at idle and it begins to rock as he takes off his jacket, thru the 1:00 mark when he gets back aboard.

What I do notice is the boat is not evenly trimmed out. Seems like its down a bit on the port side, the transom is not level with the horizon. Could be that a hidden human is in the bow area on the port side? Or maybe that particular boat, at that particular speed and prop pitch combo, without the offsetting eight of the driver?

Or, it could be he's got it setup to specifically ride that way using the water ballast fat bags in order to get just the right shape of wake.

Either way I'm struck with how casual the young lad is thru the whole thing, and doesn't really even look at the camera.

Wakeboard boats do not have trim, they are either straight shaft inboard or vdrive. Some have wake plates that are meant to help shape the wake but do help with bow lift, they are usually in the center as opposed to trim tabs. When wake surfing you intentionally sink one corner of the stern by filling a ballast tank on a specific side to create the curl in the wake needed.

Thanks Codeman. Is this style boat typically a bow rider?

Yes. I have never seen a closed bow wakeboard boat. Also it is imperative that you never try to wake surf on an outboard or stern drive boat. The prop on a wakeboard boat is far enough forward and partially blocked by the rudder so that if you do slide down the front of the wake you will not get clipped. A website I read indicated that at 9-10mph there is 800lbs of force being generated by the wake that will prevent one from getting too far under the boat.

I guess I'll have my surfing buddy leave his board at home. Darn, that looks like fun, but the thought of mixing it up with a Bravo 3 is rather daunting...

Codeman actually the newer wake boats have what they call surftabs on both sides along with the tab in the middle. this allows you to really drop one side or the other depending if you surf regular foot or goofy foot (right forward)

Dave R. you are right to think that not wanting to tangle with the Bravo's. Never ever on an I/O or outboard you would get messed up if you came to close and fell. The inboards or V-drives are the only thing that works. The prop is out of the way.

The wakes are big but still nothing like having a Carver come by the house at slow speed or a winni thunderstorm pounding us.

enjoy the summer

Buy a Mastercraft they are the best

Thanks NHWakesurfer, for clearing that up. As mentioned above, I was worried about the propellers. Now, the second issue. Do you believe that boat really had no driver while he was wakesurfing??

Yes, thanks for the info. This has been educational.

Does anyone happen to recognize what boat make/model this is? I'd like to look at some other views of it.

TIS it does appear that he does put the boat into a hard port side turn which it would stay there without a driver hold the wheel with the ballast weight on that port side. The reason he doesn't look like he is moving forward its because he isn't going straight its an arc towards the angle of the camera to create that wake on that side but if you look at the clouds to the boat it does have a slight movement so that would indicate its very real. Is he crazy enough to do it without someone on the bow as a back up if he falls I don't know you can't see the bow if someone else is there. For the surfing yes you can stand on the platform slide off and than slide back on the swim platform since its underwater with the weighting on that side and step off and grap the board without getting wet. So its possible folks do all kinds of crazy stuff these days but it certainly a bad idea for sure if he did this by himself.

ParFour it appears to be a Mastercraft you can see the logo on the port side dash and the tower looks to be the mastercraft style not sure which X series but looks to be an X35 or so.

Water Monkey Camp
 

Here's where you can learn how to wakesurf right here in the Lakes Region. Well, maybe your kids . . .

I watched these folks all summer long last year and look forward to doing it again this summer.

This isn't the first time this has been done either. Stupid idea if he is alone in the boat but he's not the first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ULrarTl9LQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ20w86ln3A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymGkBGLOMFU

At least the guy in the first boat was smart enough to have someone with him. (Must have been the photographer, too.) The others look like they were filmed by the wakesurfer. That is just plain stupid to do all alone.

...On A Neighbor's Boat...
 

This is an example of a "manual" wake plate:

not a fake
 

Ski boats today are designed to create bigger wakes for extreme airial tricks. Most ski boat have holding tanks so they can fill up with water from the lake to make the boat heavier and cause a bigger wake. They also have a wedge in the back that can be adjusted to create a bigger wake directly behind the boat. If you get behind the boat and catch the sweet spot of the large wake feet from the boat, you can surf forever as long as you can keep control.

Who is at risk?
 

I will make an asumption. That the story is real and that this guy did what it shows him doing and that the camera was mounted in an UNMANNED vessel under way, under power. Even if it is a fake, some young one may try it himself.

While on the board he had no control of the boat. If he fell the boat would have gone along without a pilot and possibly killed some one. That my friends, I think, is the really stupid part.

It does look like fun!

PS. ITD, were you behind Scotts' boat? If so, did he know that you were there?

Misty Blue.

You lost me there at the end Misty, what are talking about?

Lost?
 

ITD:

I have a pal, Scott who has a large cruiser, I think a bertram, that he uses for wake surfing. He lives by Black Cat I and I thought that you may know him. As for the "did he know that you were there?". The plan is if the MP pull you over while doing this the Captain can say "Where did he come from?".

Misty Blue

Ha, ha, ha, no Misty, it was in Maine, tubing behind a friends Bertram 52. The wake looked like a mountain, it was quite an experience.