Finally made it up on the water.

[mmandley]

Finally made it up on the wake board today. Ive been trying for 4 weekends and never could get it right. I bought a DVD set and that helped some but i still wasn't able to get it. I had friends who wake boarded for years trying to help me. I just wasn't getting it.

Last weekend i was introduced to Wake Surfing and i got right up doing that. So after working on that last weekend we went out this weekend. We swam for a while and then i was contemplating if i was ready for this next attempt. Moral for wake boarding has been getting low. I was starting to think it wasn't a sport for me. Like Basketball lol.

I got in my gear and got ready for a pull. First pull was typical lost the board under water.

Second pull BAM up i went, swung my right foot behind me and the board jumped right up on the water and i was wake boarding finally. I just cruised for a minute enjoying the new view of lake i found. I could hear my boat crew cheering me on. I did the 1 hand hold and let my other hand go behind me to check my form and it felt good. I then decided to see about steering a little. Down i went lol. I was able to get back up several times and work ok my lack of skill.

The moral to the story realy is, never give up on something you want to do. The real turn around for me was Wake Surfing, since its a slower speed and a larger board, it jsut felt easier to me to get on the water with. It helps that its a slower and gentler pull from the boat so it doesn't wear ya down as fast and you can keep trying, over and over.

I truly believe that Wake Surfing taught me how to get up wake boarding.

My pro slide into the water.
The only pic of me boarding today lol.

[helix_rider]

Congrats man! That feeling of getting up is great...the first summer I rode it was frustrating...always a hit/miss whether I would get up the first try...the moon/stars had to all be in proper alignment. One thing you might want to check is your board size. I'm 160 sopping wet and I ride a 139. The bigger the board (as you noticed surfing), the easier to get on top of the water. My biggest advice: while you are learning, learn riding switch at the same time. It feels awkward either way to you now, but after 6 months of perfecting your normal riding...you'll never want to try riding switch (to your detriment). Trust me...I've had to go back and start at the beginning riding switch...I had though I was done with faceplants forever :)

[kaneboats]

Yeah! Congrats! You're on the way now. I am really thinking about trying newbies on the wakesurfer first. It's an easy out and if they aren't used to bindings it's not as confining. It's closer to the boat so it's easier to give assistance.

[mmandley]

Helix - yea i got a monster board its prolly bigger then i need lol. I got it couple months ago when i was 260 and now im down to 245 and still losing, so not to worried about that. If anything ill start complaining the board is sluggish and hard to get air on if i get to that this summer. I figured if get a bog board this summer while im still working out and losing weight. next year ill get a board for my ideal weight of 190-200 and see how that works out. I will use your advise and learn switch now while im learning regular. I didnt face plant today, i spun out and the board caught water on the wide section and dropped me on my arse pretty fast lol.

Kane- definitely agree with you. I'm going to have Claudia do surfing before she learns wake boarding. So much easier when you can move your feet around more, and when i was learnign how to get up on the surfboard, the guys in the boat can see my feet and the board and tell me exactly what to fix to make it easier.

On the wake board they cant see you feet and were yours placing the board. They can only speculate.

I think anyone who has trouble getting started wake boarding should try wake surfing, it just seemed so much more natural on the wake board after getting used to sliding my rear foot behind me on the surf board.

[kaneboats]

Well, you have it figured out now but in the future if you have someone with trouble getting out on the wakeboard you can try to adjust the bindings. With the front foot toed slightly out and the back foot either at 90 degrees or even toed slightly in it can be a little bit easier to get up the first time. I also sometimes tell people to try to ski out to the left (all this assumes a right handed person with left food forward).

[mmandley]

Good advise on the binding. I know yesterday my problem once i was up on the water was i had no steering. It just felt so awkward and when i would try to adjust my board would just spin out to the left on me. I didnt bring the screw driver to adjust my bindings.

I think i have to much angle in them. Left and right foot are both 12 degrees towed out towards front and rear of boar. I want to center them more and see how that feels.

[kaneboats]

Well, wakeboarding is a young man's sport so you (and me) may need to work on flexibility as well. I know dropping 20 lbs. helps a lot with flexibility even if you don't do anything else. Time to start stretching more in the office chair.

[mmandley]

Dammit i knew when i stopped drinking in Feb to help my diet my arms would get stiff from the lack of 12oz curls.

Yea i can see wake boarding as a young mans sport, but im getting older and kicking and screaming about it all the time. I'll keep this wake boarding up till i just know i cant be doing it anymore. I'm going to enjoy this ride as long as i can.

I truly do love Surfing though. Man thats the best ting ive done yet in the water.

[mcdye]

I can feel your pain and furstration. I have not skied in MANY years. Now older (45) and larger (260) it is a struggle BUT worth it. Just my 3rd time to wakeboard this weekend, it is getting easier to get up (I had been trying to get on top of the water to soon). Now to get brave and try a switch ride early in my learning process. I did not enjoy my first face plant when the front edge caught the water. :) I have the 'The Book' series and it has helped as we have never done anything like this.

We are turning it into a family gig. The wife got up a few times. The son (9yr) is getting up and being cocky right from the start. The daughter (12), well she is still in charge of music and not interseted in boarding....yet

[mmandley]

Haha nice McDye.

Yea gf hasn't tried yet but thats because we are waiting for her new contacts to show up so she can see in the water.

Me and my buddy are competitive to each other. He got up his 3rd pull and get up all the time. But he leans hard on his heals and cut wide and wiped out after a few seconds. So he teases me about taking so long to get up on the water, and i tease him because at least i can stay centered behind the boat LOL.

[Limishowman3]

Definitely learn switch now while u are learning. I can ride switch now but it still feels akward and haven't tried switch w2w. Another thing for balance I noticed through teaching and riding myself is keep hand placement as wide as possible on the handle. That helped my friend out who is just learning to ride and helped me out when I was learning to first jump w2w. Also center fins are great for learning how to ride, but don't get to comfortable with them as they are a crutch when trying edge the correct way.

[mmandley]

Good tips. Limish.

I have center fins on mine now. I figure what ill do is stay at 15mps in the boat. Get me heel side and toe side moves down and solid, then work on some switch ridding and get that heel and toe side down pretty well. Then take those center fins off before i even go wake to wake so i learn that way.

I was told once i can steer the board to take off the fins or ill get too used to them.

[volfo]

It sounds like you guys are hitting the gas way too hard. I have gotten up 7 or 8 adults who have never tried to wakeboard before, all on either their first or second time. The biggest key is in the boat driver. Start very, very slow and only really speed up once you see the rider start to stand up.

In the water, don't fight it. Get in a catcher's stance and pull your heels toward your butt. It also helps to push your toes down a bit making the board more parallel with the water than perpindicular to it - in other words don't worry about keeping the board up out of the water. Keep your back straight and the biggest thing to remember is when you want to stand up, don't. Wait about 3 or 4 more seconds and then when you know it is time to stand up, wait just a little more. Ideally, you are on plane in your catcher's stance and then you stand up.

3 keys: (1) go slow; (2) get in a catcher's stance and pull your heels to your butt; and (3) don't stand up, wait some more, still don't stand up, wait some more, still don't stand up, and then finally wait some more before standing up.

Most beginners do the exact opposite. They (1) take off fast like they are on water skis, (2) try to plow water keeping the board perpindicular to the water afraid to let the tip go under water like they are water skis, and (3) try to stand up immediately upon take off. Those are the exact wrong things to do. The board simply has way too much surface area to use it to push water and get up fast unless you are somewhat skilled already.

You will be amazed how easy it is to get up if you do what I'm telling you. You will literally get up every time, super easy.

EDIT: and I just looked at your picture - don't get so close to a moving boat on your wakeboard - that prop isn't that far away and if you come in to hot and fall you could have an accident!

[mmandley]

Volfo- where was all this advise 4 weeks ago lol. Yea im pretty sure half my issues was my boat driver. My GF has never driven a boat and she is learning to drive while im learning to board, so im sure its a combo deal making it so hard.

Next time we go out ill have her go a little slower on the start. One thing i noticed is if she goes to slow i feel like im being dgraged because the board wont plane, even once up on the water i noticed the board doesnt like 10mph it likes at least 15mph. Were using 15 right now while i get used to the feel of the water and get my heel side and toe side leans down.

As fare as the pics the first one is my pro entry to the water. At that point the boat isnt running, its jsut sitting in the water. We dont run the boat till your away and ready for your pull, and when we come up along side of you after you fall we put it in nuetral which stops the prop from spinning.

Ive pulled about 8 different people up on there boards and they all said they like the speed i use to pull them up so i guess i have that down pretty decent but its hard to teach her when im in the water. She's to scared to drive for others, she will only drive for me right now lol.

[kaneboats]

when we come up along side of you after you fall we put it in nuetral which stops the prop from spinning.

You might think about getting in the habit of shutting down whenever someone's in the water near the boat. A propeller can spin even when in neutral.

[mmandley]

Ohh yea Kane? Dang i was under the impression it stops when you go to the locked position.

Well i guess we will put more distance between the boat and people, we are genraly a good 10 ft or more away, i mean we can shut it down easy enough but you got to get some what near them when you circle them to get them the rope again right?

A friend insists on pulling the rope in each time someone falls and throws it out to you but dam it if he doesn't hit the board with it or you for the matter when he throws it at you.

[kaneboats]

Most of the time it will stop rotating, but not always. I haven't seen any discussion of this on here but it comes up all the time on other discussion boards, e.g.:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f54/perkins-4108-coolant-prop-movement-pump-10100.html

http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/archive/index.php/t-2174.html

So, it's always best to assume that if the engine is running the prop may be turning and act accordingly. That said, I pass by down skiers/boarders all the time but if they get within about 5-6 feet of the tail end of the boat I shut down. I guess it's habit from years of outboard skiing.

[Mikey]

I agree about shutting down when you are near the back of the boat unless circling safely ,and definetly whenever boarding the boat turn it off.
The comment about throwing the rope out everytime i think should be addressed as well. If the person in water can be circled or rope pulled to safely and not impeding other etc fine leave rope out and circle to get rope to person in water but person once rope is there should pull the rope by hand to themselves rather than having boat pull the rope around you. If this makes sence.
Boat driver should do this slowly or rope burn or worse could occur.
If you insist on pulling rope in and throwing out again , person throwing rope should be trying to have the handle go completely over the person in the water. I've seen people hurt by having handle thrown at them and missed. Not worth it.
I also like the fact that in some States ,none hear in Canada that i'm aware of but the flag up when person in the water . Its not mandatory but is saved us a couple times here.

[kaneboats]

Owww! I hear that one.

[brownski]

Hey,

You might try increasing the speed when you get up to get more control. Sounds scary at first,but honsetly we have been wakeboarding for year and never pull any adult under 2000 rpms(can't trust those damn speedos) and as 135 pounder I usually runat about 2300. The speed helps the controml and pulling the handle down to your front hip will help as well. Holding out long armed like a skier will mnake you break at the hips then the next thing you know you are trying to peel your eyelids off your forehead.

[danimal365]

I'm with brown. Increase the speed just a little.

[mmandley]

Alas i was really hopping to get on the water this weekend but didn't happen due to weather. I fully intend to be out there next weekend, going to try several of the tips you all are giving. I will post again and let ya know how it turns out when i get out again.

All i can say is im not very good at wake boarding or surfing yet. But i love them both too much to not get better LOL