Baxter's Break

As best I can describe it, I have a Yachtsurfing addiction. It's just hard to explain unless you've done it.

One day in June, 2009 I was taking a wake boarding lesson from Scott Jobe (of the Jobe ski family). I got off to a rocky start. After my first run Scott tells me "I've got nothing for you." No feedback. The rest of the guys went and he had all sorts of feedback for them. Then we switched to wakesurfing. I've done it a few times and can surf OK both toe and heel. Garrett Martin was instructing us on surfing. When the day wrapped, we headed back to my house for a drop-off. That's when Garrett asked me if I owned that 60' yacht. I confirmed that indeed that yacht, MY LIZZY TOO, was mine. He asked me if I've ever surfed behind it. I told him that I had been dreaming of surfing its wake. It's frickin huge! I had surfed a 36' yacht wake in Desolation Sound a few years earlier. It was frightful with the two outdrives churning away exposed in the middle of the stern. But surfed it I did. So I knew that we could surf MY LIZZY.

That was the beginning of Yachtsurfing for me. I told Garrett and Scott if they could come-up with a crew, I would take them out and we would surf the yacht. Within two weeks we had a crew of at least 10 guys out there trying it. The surfing video for that session showed just how much potential yachtsurfing has even if we kind of sucked at it!

That first day everything was new. We were overkill on coordination to make sure everything was safe. I was worried that we might run over someone or something like that. Turns out, yachtsurfing is quite safe and easy to pull off with about 7 people.

We've since optimized the experience considerably, having gone about 20 times. We now use a jet ski to tow fallen riders back to the yacht. We have also experimented heavily with ballast. We've added approximately 3 tons of ballast to the boat as well as inviting a lot of people (of the pretty and non-surfing variety if you know what I mean). With all that weight, the wake is now about 5' tall. It is both long and steep which makes for a very long sweet spot. At least 20' long.

During our latest session, we decided to capture more footage and benefited from a friend owning a helicopter. It was an epic day. It was the very best day of my whole entire life. Here is a teaser video from that session.

In between we've had two outstanding pro boarders on MY LIZZY; Danny Harf and Chad Sharpe. Both slashed it and had a blast. The only thing better than surfing behind MY LIZZY is watching a pro surf behind MY LIZZY.

As for the future of my yachtsurfing career, I'm taking it one day at a time. I will definitely be posting more videos though. So check back frequently.

Mahalo,
Bill Baxter