My buddy has the same boat, same issue. I can get him up behind my 212S with just the bag on the rear transom and 500lbs of lead. He's like 6'4 and probably goes 220. But when I surf behind his stock 242x (6', 200lbs) the pocket is so f'ing small, you have to be right at the rear deck and then there's no where to move.
We've tried all sorts of different ballast configurations, I think best being 100% overfilled on surf side and 50% in the center.
The last time I pulled him in his boat I noticed one thing that the stock Yamaha "surf boat" sucks at, and that's speed control. On my boat, I have RideSteady, and I can dial in the speed in .1mph. I've found it necessary, depending on load and rider, to optimize speed/wave before we surf and while surfing. On his boat, this was impossible to do while going forward - the Connext system demanded you to put the boat in N, go to a screen, click the speed, hit save, the go surf again. Not only that, but the speedo doesn't give fractional MPH, so it was impossible to see how close the system came to set speed. At least on my boat, a 1/2 mph can make or break the wave, so seeing this BS on the Yamaha system be basically untunable unless you stop and unreadable while going was really f'ing dumb. Boo on Yamaha for that setup.
Going back on setup - make sure you're meeting the following requirements:
- Deep water - 12' is absolute minimum to roll a wave - 20' or more is better.
- Sink the boat - stock ballast systems are honestly junk. Even full you're only putting 1600lbs in your boat and I don't think the software on the Connext actually fills them full to reach that potential as I've seen his ballast bags and they're not bulging. With the above settings you're talking maybe 800lbs of ballast. I would suggest adding supplemental lead ballast and buying the transom bag. You'll know when you're ready to surf when the rear deck is under water.
- Speed control - play with the angle of the boat to impact your wave. Steeper bow angle = taller wave = bigger push for bigger riders, but smaller length of pocket. Shallower bow angle will lengthen the pocket but it might not be surfable for heavier people.
- Technique - if you haven't dropped the rope yet and you're new, it might not be the boat or the wave, it could be you. I see a lot of new people spend too much time in the dropped-back-on-rear-foot position that's basically apply brakes. It's a balance to catch that wave. If you have any friends with a legit surf boat, see if you can catch a wave (and giant pocket) behind their boat so you can "feel" what it's like to have the rope slack up.
