An underpowered boat is going to have to surge more than a more powerful boat to hit your 16.95
I hesitate to bring this up, but everyone's focus on peak horsepower is a little off base. What matters is the torque produced, or you could look at the horsepower at the specific rpms required for your speed.
If you feel that your boat is doing this, the answer could be as simple as getting a lower pitched prop. This will do two things, it will give you more hole shot for your deep water starts, and it will have the engine operating at higher rpm's for a given speed. This will mean that the engine is operating further up the torque curve, putting out more horsepower at your skiing speed.