Howdy. I've been here for years, but remained on a stubborn plateau. Basically, I can't do a wakeboard jump very well at all. Wait, correction -- I can and have, but only a few times when I was experimenting with technique, and could not reproduce what I did right.

I'm looking for you guys to remember what, beyond the obvious of what all the instructional videos and "introduction to jumping" tutorials say, helped you get some really good pop off the wake.

I've solicited help from better riders, seen The Book and Detention 2012, and even paid a coach (who showed up hung over and underslept). Everyone and everything seems to gloss over exactly what needs to happen in that last yard or two as you are getting to and up and wake. Right now, I am going through the LearnWake.com on-line videos, which do add some drills to the Book DVD.

One thing that's failed is asking someone to take a video recording of my drills. They get bored, put the camera down by the time that I've barely finished warming up, and miss the few times that I do something better. Repeat, week after week, season after season. For tomorrow, I've secured a promise to video EVERY jump attempt. In the meantime, I can say that my jumps look pretty much like every other beginner video on Youtube, where the poor sap just cannot seem to stand tall at the wake -- bent knees, somewhat absorbing the wake's energy.

I need to know what the trick YOU found to getting that pop WITHOUT herculean leg strength. As I said above, I've done it, but still cannot figure out what went right.

Years of "working on it" have not led to success. When I was learning to jump on a hydrofoil, a visiting expert did give me a couple of golden hints that our on-board senior rider never thought to tell me. I'm hoping that this thread will replicate that success.

I'm looking for very specific, not general, hints. For example "don't attack the wake" is general, while "approach a bit slower with the board pointed X degrees from perpendicular to the boat" is specific. "Fear is ruining you" is general, while "you are hesitating and slowing down just before the wake" is specific.

Some of the advice that I have received helped with one-wake drills, but not wake-to-wake jumps. The forces are just too high. Something specific and fixable is still wrong and no one has spotted it yet. I am sure that most of you have been in the same spot, so what was that last correction to your technique that helped the most?

In case any of you have read my past posts: knee surgery succeeded in stopping the deterioration. I'm also adding bow sacs to better balance my XLV, which produces too-steep of a wake when there are too many people on board. So, those technical roadblocks have been addressed.

Thanks in advance!