DILLO CAPTAIN

Every great lake day starts the same way: a quick ritual on the dock so nothing dumb happens on the water.

• Drain plug in. Check it, then check it again. We've all seen the boat that sank on its own lift.
• Blower on for 4 minutes before you start a gas inboard. Fumes collect in the engine bay, and fumes plus a spark is a very bad day.
• Fuel and battery. Plenty of both. The marina is a long paddle away.
• Count heads and life jackets. One wearable, right-size jacket for every person on board, plus the throwable cushion or ring.
• Pick your observer. Someone 13 or older whose only job is watching the rider.
• Kill switch lanyard on you, clipped to your wrist, belt loop or life jacket.
• Ballast plan. Know if you're surfing, boarding or tubing before you fill a single tank.
• Weather and wind. Lake Travis gets gusty fast. If it's whitecapping out on the main lake, rethink.

Most docks around Lake Travis use a HydroHoist: air tanks under the boat that float it up when they fill with air and sink it when they fill with water. They're simple, but every setup is a little different.

Going down (launch)

1. Plug in. Yes, again.
2. Untie the boat from the lift and the dock, and keep a line in hand.
3. Let the air out (valves to launch, or flip the switch per the placard). The tanks flood and the boat settles into the water.
4. Wait until the boat is floating freely, start the engine (blower first), and idle straight back off the lift. Go slow and keep the wheel centered.

Coming home (lift)

1. Line up dead center and idle on slowly. Bump in and out of gear, don't ride the throttle.
2. Neutral once the bow is where it belongs. Many docks have a mark for the transom.
3. Engine off before you raise.
4. Turn on the blower/power and raise. Keep the boat centered on the pads as it comes up. If it's crooked, lower it and try again.
5. When bubbles come up from under the tanks, it's all the way up. Power off, valves back to dry-dock, and tie it off.

A V-drive wake boat doesn't steer like a car, and it doesn't steer like an outboard either. The engine sits in the back, the prop is under the boat, and the rudder sits behind the prop.

Forward: you steer with water

The rudder only works well when the prop is pushing water across it. In gear, you have steering. In neutral and coasting, you have a lot less.

Reverse: you basically don't steer

In reverse the prop pulls water away from the rudder, so turning the wheel does very little. The stern also walks to one side in reverse (prop walk). Every boat walks a certain way. Learn yours on an open part of the lake, not at the gas dock.

Wind wins

A tall tower and a high bow catch wind like a sail. At slow speeds the bow blows downwind first, so plan your approach with the wind in mind.

1. Get ready early. Fenders out, lines ready, crew knows which side.
2. Approach at idle, at an angle of roughly 30 to 40 degrees, and use bumps of gear and neutral. If it doesn't feel right, back out and try again. There's no prize for the first try.
3. Neutral to kill momentum, then use your prop walk: a little reverse swings the stern toward the dock on one side and away on the other. Learn which side is your "easy side".
4. Crew steps off, never jumps. No hands or feet between the boat and the dock to stop the boat. That's what fenders are for.
5. Tie bow, then stern. Engine off before anyone hangs off the back.

Ballast builds the wave

• Surf: fill the ballast and weight the surf side. Regular riders surf the port (left) wave, goofy riders surf starboard (right). Use the surf system or tabs to send the wave to the right side.
• Wakeboard: ballast even, side to side, for a big clean wake on both sides.
• Tube: drain the ballast. Tubes don't need a wave, and a big wake just bounces riders out.
• Move people around too. Crew on the surf side counts as ballast.
• Watch the bow and the gunwales. A boat full of water and people sits low. Don't swamp the bow when you slow down.

Where the rope goes

• Wakeboard and surf ropes go on the tower. The high pull point gives the rider lift and keeps the rope out of the water.
• Tube ropes do NOT go on the tower. Use the low tow point (the ski pylon or the transom tow eye). A tube pulling sideways from up high can overload the tower and yank riders around.
• Surf rope stays short and comes in once the rider lets go. Never leave a rope trailing near the prop.

Speed is personal. Start at the low end, ask the rider, then dial it in. Rider's always the boss of the speed.

Your observer calls it, you handle it. Here's the Dillo way, which keeps the rider safe and doesn't burn gas making more waves.

1. Off the throttle to neutral (or just bumped into gear). No sudden hard turns at speed.
2. Turn the opposite way of the surfer's wave side. A regular rider surfs the port wave, so turn starboard. A goofy rider surfs starboard, so turn port.
3. Let the rollers do the work. With the power off, the boat's own wake pushes you right into position to head back, without making a fresh set of waves.
4. Idle back to the rider and bring them along the driver's side so you can see them the whole time.
5. Neutral before they get close, and engine off when anyone is at the swim platform or the ladder. The prop is right there, and so is the exhaust.

Hand signals

• Thumb upFaster
• Thumb downSlower
• Hand across throatStop, cut it
• Pat on the headDone, back to the boat
• Hands clasped overheadI'm OK (after a fall)
• OK signSpeed's good

• Observer or mirror. Texas requires someone 13 or older (not the driver) watching the rider, or a rearview mirror at least 4 inches tall and wide. Have the observer anyway.
• Daylight only. No towing from half an hour after sunset to half an hour before sunrise.
• Surf away from the shore. The industry's Wake Responsibly guideline is at least 200 feet from shore, docks and other structures. Big surf waves wreck docks and shorelines.
• Mix it up. Don't run the same stretch of shoreline over and over. Move around the lake.
• No circling swimmers, anglers or someone else's skier. It's against Texas law.
• Watch the buoys. No-wake buoys near docks mean idle. Hazard buoys mark rocks and shallow spots that move with the lake level.
• Music at a reasonable level. Sound carries a long way over water.

• Sunset to sunrise, lights on. Texas requires lights from sunset to sunrise in all weather, any time you're not tied up at a dock.
• Underway at night: red (port) and green (starboard) bow lights plus the all-around white light up high.
• Anchored or drifting at night: the all-around white light on, at the very least. No lights while you're out there watching the sunset is how people get hit.
• Test them on the dock before you leave, not when it's dark.
• Riding is over at dark. No towing after half an hour past sunset.

1. Pick your spot. Out of the channel, in water deep enough at the stern for swimmers, with room to swing.
2. Check the depth on the depth finder. Lake Travis can drop from 10 feet to 60 in a few boat lengths.
3. Anchor off the bow, never the stern. A stern anchor holds the low back end into the waves and can swamp the boat.
4. Let out plenty of line, around 5 to 7 times the water depth. Then back off gently in reverse to set it.
5. Rocky bottoms grab anchors. If you're stuck, motor slowly up past the anchor and pull from the other direction instead of yanking it straight up.
6. Watch the wind. If it shifts, check you're not dragging toward rocks or other boats.

Rafting up (Devil's Cove, Sometimes Island, the usual)

• One or two well-set anchors hold the raft, with fenders between every boat.
• Engines and generators off around swimmers. Exhaust carbon monoxide pools at the back of the boat, right where people hang out.
• Leave early if the wind kicks up. Rafts and gusts don't mix.

Texas game wardens and the sheriff's lake patrol do safety checks all the time. Have this ready and the stop takes two minutes.

• Wearable life jacket for every person, Coast Guard approved, right size, easy to reach (not buried under the seat cushions in plastic).
• Kids under 13 wear theirs any time the boat is moving (boats under 26 feet).
• Throwable (cushion or ring) within reach, on boats 16 feet and longer.
• Fire extinguisher, charged and mounted. Inboards need one.
• Whistle or horn.
• Working navigation lights.
• Registration card on board, with the TX numbers and the current decal on both sides of the bow.
• Boater education card plus photo ID if the driver was born on or after September 1, 1993.
• Kill switch lanyard attached to the driver when you're going faster than idle (boats under 26 feet that have one).
• Observer 13+ or a 4-inch mirror when you're towing.
• Sober captain. Boating under the influence is treated like a DWI in Texas. The captain stays dry, every time.