Chris Kinsey: The Build of a Lifetime

Within the next week, I will find myself a proud new owner of a 2013 Tige Z3. I find myself surrounded by mixed emotions upon the arrival—emotions of anxiousness, enthusiasm, bewilderment, and happiness are luminously suspending themselves over my head and holding my mind captive. Never did I think that I would become a professional wakesurfer belonging to the TeamTige Global Wakesurf Team.

Last weekend I drove from Waco, Texas to Austin, Texas to wakesurf and meet up with one of my very good friends, Chase Hazen. I told Chase that I would be waiting under an Austin landmark known as ‘360 Bridge’. As I sat on the bench, I noticed a blue and yellow Z3 plowing through the rough waters of Lake Austin and making its way towards me. While staring in awe, I noticed that Chase did not slow down for a set of colossal waves that ominously rolled towards the bow of the boat. Needless to say, the deep V shape of the hull coupled by the rooted draft of the boat effortlessly broke through the waves. I drove the boat as Chase wakesurfed and we proceeded to trade places throughout the day. As I drove the Z3, I found myself yet even more eager to get mine. I navigated my way through the hard drive of the touch screen and turned to retrieve the fallen rider with ease. I noticed that for a 23-foot boat, the Z3 turned surprisingly sharp and navigated swiftly throughout the rough water of Lake Austin. Even with an overabundance of weight, the boat accelerated and maintained most of its original agility.

I find myself behind the steering wheel of Tige Z3’s often. The one term I use for describing my experience is ‘simplicity’. While in Austin, I found myself progressing with ease having only ridden once prior to the riding session. I noticed that when I had the driver adjust the Taps system, I could make the face of the wave extremely large. This gave much room to boost massive airs and aided in the channeling of speed needed to execute the biggest of aerial maneuvers. Beaming with enthusiasm, I found yet another reason to long for the arrival of my new Z3. I cannot wait to acquire the Tige that I have sought after the past few weeks. I am also eager to tune the wave to fit my specifications on my relatively shallow lake. Since my home lake of Lake Nasworthy possesses the maximum depth of 14 feet, I am also eager to adapt the weighting schematics to that of the shallow setting. I know that this will take time to do being that the combined physics of wakesurfing and shallow water produce a less desirable wave output. However, I am up to the challenge and will accomplish this feat as I have with many other boats on Lake Nasworthy.

I find my curiosity bound, accredited to the stream of as-built pictures that flood my email inbox; pictures of colors, angles, sharpness, aptitude, and boldness of my new Z3. The emails I exchange between Tige staff enflame my excitement. I however, am not the only one that finds excitement regarding this new boat. My father is just as excited, if not more! Recently, our phone conversations consist only of, “Have you heard from Tige about the boat?”… I reply “No, not recently”… And then we have a duplicate of that conversation within the next few hours. The pictures and correspondence further my desire to place one ton of weight in the back corner and hammer down on the throttle. For most, this is not the average treatment implemented on new wakesurf boat. However, this is no ordinary wakesurf boat. I know that the new Z3’s are towing the best wakesurfers and wakeboarders in the world. They are the workhorse of our trade and the backbone of our industry.

My new Z3 is being built to my own specifications. The new boat consists of bold and sharp edges accompanied by dark and simple colors. I have begun to give up on giving a descriptive characterization of the boat and proceed in using the word ‘bold’ as compacted metaphor.

Although I have not stepped foot in the boat personally, I can say that virtually, I have seen every stitch and gelcoat variation the boat has to offer. I notice the red interior complemented by the predominantly black exterior. The interior and exterior of the boat are designed to compliment one another. Being that the exterior of the boat is essentially black with few red accents and color variations. The interior however is dominated by the rarely seen, complete redness of the gelcoat, complimented by a red and black upholstery color scheme. A sense of flow is generally recognized between the red dash and red gelcoat. Overhead, we got a clean and all black tower with 4 black tower speakers. The colors are sharp and transition in a subtle, yet noticeable way. The simplicity of the colors brings forth an admiration for the workmanship included in the stitching, fiberglass, and every square inch of gelcoat. The colors align and show the ample craftsmanship and creativity put in this contemporary work of art.

I found myself recently on a friends boat outfitted with 4 WetSounds REV 10’s. My preconceived notion led me to believe that my new boat couldn’t possibly be as loud as my other friends whose tower has 6 speakers. My preconceived notion was completely wrong. This finding meant that I had an obligation to equip my new boat with the deafening output of the 10-inch tower speaker. In addition to the WetSounds tower speakers the boat is also accompanied by WetSounds interior speakers and a subwoofer. I don’t think I will find myself motioning to my ear with my index finger and gesturing a thumbs-up with my other hand. I have no doubt that my thumb will be motioning in the opposite direction.

Being that I find myself in the drivers seat often, I have come to completely dislike underpowered boats. My scaling of power in regard to wakeboats is different that many others; I expect the boat to perform to the highest standard, maintain a relatively low RPM, all while under a heavy load. My critical judging of power in boats has led me to load my new Z3 with PCM Marine’s ZR 409 engine. To say the least, this boat will not be underpowered. My Tige will be equipped with a powerhouse and I am eager to observe the nature of this engine in every condition I can willingly put it in. I am positive that this engine will suite me best regarding all of my wakesurfing endeavors.

The arrival of my Tige Z3 will be associated with the progression of my wakesurfing. The Z3 offers much potential regarding my riding skills and offers a great way to have fun on the lake with my family and friends. My excitement for the arrival of the Z3 is accompanied by the excitement felt by many others. I look forward to the arrival and all of the opportunities the Z3 has to offer. I am honored to say that I am now a part of Team Tige and the proud first time owner of a Tige Z3.