So you want to wakeboard

With the weather warming up, the trees blooming, and more people coming out of hibernation, the boats are beginning to be rolled out of storage and into the water.

This means that the wakeboards are being pulled out of storage too.

Wakeboarding is snowboarding for the water loving person. It involves thrills, spills, and lots of fun.

Although wakeboarding has been around for about twenty years, it has only recently started to evolve into a well know sport.

More tournaments, magazines, camps, videos, equipment, and media coverage has been focused on the sport. The popularity increase is due to the fact that more young people are into trying to push their bodies to the limits, and because professionals are pulling bigger and better tricks.

So you want to wakeboard?

If you have never wakeboarded before, getting up can be kind of tricky. Without getting the fundamentals right, trying those big tricks can become even harder.

But good new, getting up can be a lot easier with the proper form and technique.

If you don’t have other boarding experiences, such as skateboarding, snowboarding or surfing, you will have to figure out what your lead foot is, the foot that is pointing towards the boat.

This can be done a number of ways, doing simple tests.

One test is to have a friend stand behind you, and when you aren’t ready, have them push you forward. What foot did you put in front to stop you? That’s your lead foot.

Chad Lowe, a seven-year wakeboarding instructor at The Wakeboard Camp, in Clermont, Florida, explained another test to me. He said to imagine you are running in socks across hardwood floors, and need to stop suddenly. Which foot would you put in front to stop? Whichever one you said, is your lead foot.

If all else fails try getting up with one foot, if that doesn’t feel right try the other.

Once you’ve found your lead foot, it’s time to figure out the basic position your body needs to be in for the initial pull.

While sitting in the cannon ball position put both hands on the handle and wrap your arms around your legs, make sure to keep your arms straight out in front of you, and position the board under your butt. Congratulations, you are now in the basic position.

If you’ve never water skied, or done other water sports before, you may not understand how a pull of a boat feels. The best way to get used to it is to be pulled manually on land.

It may sound stupid, but in the long run it will cut down your time trying to get up.

The main thing to remember is you want to resist the pull. You don’t want to stand up too early, or you’ll fall.

It's the same thing when you take this to water. You need to sit back, relax, and let the boat do the work.

When you finally take it to water, have the driver idle here you'll feel the pull of the boat, and should be able to get into the starting position much easier.

When you are ready have the driver accelerate, increasing the pull of the boat.

Remember to sit back, with your arms straight, allowing the boat to do all the work.

When you are out of the water move your lead foot, and hip, towards the boat, keeping both hands on the rope and your hips parallel to the wake.

The driver should be pulling you around 14-15mph. If you don’t get up your first time, don’t give up. Everyone takes a different amount of time to get it the main thing is to have fun doing it.

Once you get comfortable with riding around, try cutting back and forth through the wake. Before you know it you'll be pulling the big tricks like the pros.

For more infomation on wakeboarding go to: WakeBoarding Magazine
Foundations at Wake-Board.org
LearnWake

For information on gear, boats and where to buy go to: BuyWake
Board Paradise
Tige Boats
Boat Buyers Guide

For information on where to ride in the Upstate NY area: InfoRochester