After 20+ years coaching and skiing, I have acquired a few different tips to help out Wakeboarders that are just starting out.
Wake jump, spins and flip tips are in part 2 of this article, found here.
Tip 1. – Before Going To The Lake Make Sure You Have Appropriate Gear That Fits
Nothing worse than getting out to the lake to realize the gear you have doesn’t fit, and you can’t even get your feet in the bindings. Wakeboard boots and life jackets are the 2 to make sure you have covered.
If you are going to a club or cable park there will likely be rental gear available.
Tip 2. – Have An Understanding Of The Fundamentals
The goal is to go fast enough that physics lets you stand on top of the water, but not so fast that your board can’t keep up with your body or the boat. The more you know about the physics of Wakeboarding, the easier it will be to wrap your head around what you are doing and why with your position and movements.
You are being pulled, no falling like a snowboard, this will drastically change your basic position.
The way you turn is subtly different from other board sport because of the way the board and the water react. You can’t just stop or get off the board whenever you want, and once the water begins taking the board in a direction then it has a tendancy to keep heading in that direction.
If you have looked into wakeboarding, checked a few videos, then you will get the idea. The thing is you want to stay calm and remember at least some of it when you are out there in the midst of it all.
Tip 3. – Start Young
Not something most of us can do anything about, but the younger you are when you learn the easier it can be. Kids learn quicker as they naturally assume whatever position feels best; adults think through it to much and end up fighting the boat and the pull.
Kids also don’t have the same visions of crashing, which means they are not afraid of the speed so much yet.
Tip 4. – Are You Goofey Or Regular??
Knowing which is your dominant foot before getting in the water is a good idea. What foot do you have forwards when on a skateboard?? If you need to test it, get someone to give you a light push from behind when you are not expecting it. The foot that goes forward to catch you is the foot that should be in front on the wakeboard. Right foot forward is Goofy; Left foot forward is Regular.
Tip 5. – Dry Land Practice
Every position and movement you want to learn at this level can be simulated on dry land. Get all your gear on, Wakeboard included while standing on the shore. Have someone hold the other end of the rope while you grip the handle. Get down into the start position and practice allowing yourself to be pulled up by them. Don’t try to stand up, get used to them pulling you to the position you want to be in.
If you attach the ski handle to a doorknob or something similar, practice resting against the rope, arms straight, with your feet shoulder-width apart, dominant foot in front. Then learn to rest back against the rope, bringing the handle towards your hip as it will make you more stable. This is the position used to ‘rest’ against the pull of the boat.
Tip 6. – Use A Bar/Side Pole Or High Pole/Tower
These are a bar that sticks out the side of the boat. Boarders can hold directly on to the pole while they learn, or you can attach the ski handle to it. This is an amazing tool to help people learn as it is far more stable than a long line out the back of the boat, gives you fewer things to worry about at the time. They help lift the rider up out of the water as well. You can use them to practice basic positions, standing up and figuring out which foot forward you are before getting on the long line.
Not everyone has one of these, and probably too expensive to buy just to learn. If you know someone with one, though, see if they can take you or lend it to you for a day, you probably won’t need it long.
A high pole or tower can be a big help as it pulls the riders “up” out of the water. This reduces the drag they will feel and help them pop up on top of the water more easily.
Tip 7. – Make Yourself As Small As Possible
When you are in the water waiting for the boat to start pulling you, and as the boat pulls you, try to stay as small as possible. This is the basic position for learning to start riding. The smaller you can make that position, the better. You want your board close to your butt and your knees up close to your chest, with your arms straight between your knees.
When you are in a smaller position, there is less drag from the water as you are moving, which means less weight for you to have to hold on to.
Tip 8. – Keep Your Arms Straight
You will likely hear this a lot while you are learning, that’s because it is one of the most important things to do and a common thing that beginners mess up.
Being rested against the pull from the boat is a big part of relaxing and enjoying the ride. If you have your arms pulled in, then they are going to get tired pretty quickly.
If your natural instinct is to pull your arms into your chest at every wobble, then you will likely fall over a lot. Try keeping your arms locked straight, then raise and lower your hands quickly, this can help many people feel connected to the boat without pulling the rope and losing balance.
The reason to have straight arms is that our ankles and knees and hips are supposed to be our suspension system, when we pull our arms in, they take over some of the suspension work. When you hit other boats wakes, if your arms are straight, then your legs can absorb the majority of them, and your upper body will stay rather calm while resting against the boat, no problems. If your arms are bent when you hit the other boats’ wakes, then the bounce will not go through your legs, but through your arms. If your hands start bouncing forwards and back, it can be really easy to lose your balance.
Tip 9. – Do Less, Be Patient
Probably the biggest hindrance to getting up the first few times is trying too hard. Stop, Doing, Anything!! (Besides gripping the handle)
Women learn easier than men for this very reason, because they get it, and we don’t. Guys think we need to do something to get up, so we struggle and fight, push with our legs and pull the handle in an attempt to stand on the water by our own means. It won’t work, I’ve seen many people try.
The boat has to be going at a minimum speed for you to be up on the water no matter what you do. When you are learning, you don’t want to even think about standing up until you and your board are on top of the water. And to get out of the water, the less you do, the better!!
When the boat starts pulling, all you need to think of is gripping the handle and maintaining the basic start position, which is actually made easier by the pull from the boat as it pushes the board towards you, don’t push against it, let yourself feel compressed. Hold the handle as the pressure builds, then pop, you’re on top of the water. Now the board can rotate to let you dominant for go in front, and you can move to stand up.
Tip 10. – Shoulders And Hips In Line With The Board
When you are learning, it is easy to let your body get twisted by the pullback to the boat. The idea though is to try avoid this, keep your hips and shoulders square with the board. Be strong with your body to be as square as you can, keeping the handle tight to your front hip. Your back arm will be fairly straight across your body, which puts it in the perfect spot to rest back against without letting your shoulder collapse towards the boat.
Letting go of your backhand will make it a lot easier when you have the confidence and strength for it.
Tip 11. – Keep The Handle Low And Near Your Hip
By having the handle in this position, you can take the pull from close to your center of balance, which keeps you more balanced and stable to handle bouncing or boat wakes.
Tip 12. – Let The Handle Go When You Fall
Sounds a little obvious when you hear it, but an astonishing number of people death grip the handle when they come off. Let the handle go, you’ll get less water up the nose and behind your eyelids. It’s not like you are going to sink, that’s what you have a life jacket on for.
Tip 13. – Get A Lesson
If you can afford it and have somewhere close by that runs a ski school, then go ahead and get a lesson. Having someone experienced with the right boat and gear can accelerate your progression. They usually have rental gear as well so you can give the sport a go without having to invest a large amount of money.
Tip 14. – Shorten The Rope
Shortening the rope can give the rider more stability behind the boat. As there is less rope to bounce and sway, there are less forces influencing the riders’ balance. Less rope movement provides a stronger, more stable connection to the boat.
Tip 15. – Know At Least A Few Hand Signals
Almost all communication between the skier and the boat is through hand signals to the observer sitting in the boat with the driver. Knowing a few of these hand signals will really help. Being able to adjust your speed and get the driver to go home will boost your confidence, knowing you have a say in what is happening and are not just at the mercy of the driver. Check out my entire article on skier to boat communication
Tip 16. – Have Shouted Commands To The Boat
Try to set some commands up that you’ll use with the boat. You won’t want to take your hands off the handle to signal when you are ready, try a shouted command instead. Make sure to have the words for takeoff, idle slowly, and stop, be very different sounding words. The driver and observer have to hear you over a distance and the boat engine, so commands need to be clear. Shouting “NO” sounds way too similar to “GO,” or “SLOW.”
In Gear, Ready, Stop, are the three I use.
Tip 17. – Have Someone In The Water With You
Having a pair of hands while you are floating around waiting to try for the first time makes a big difference. When you first try to simply float in the water in the tucked position, you will feel like your balance is all over the show and potential feel like flailing. Having someone with their feet on the ground means they can hold you or your board while the boat is taking up the rope slack.
I find that having forearms under the riders armpits to be best, that way they can relax their body while they figure out pulling their knees and board to their chest without getting water in the mouth. You want to be as unobtrusive as possible, so you are not in the way as the boat takes off, but you can support them until the last moment.
Tip 18. – Have Someone Demo It For You
Have someone show you the technique in the exact way that they want you to do it. Once you know how to get up, people will do all sorts of things that a beginner shouldn’t. Once you get the hang of getting up, you’ll be able to get up no matter what you do with your body. So watching an experienced rider probably won’t help at this stage. Do as I say, not as I do kind of situation.
Tip 19. – Have An Experienced Boat Driver
This one pairs well with the idea of the skier doing less. A boat driver who knows what they are doing can totally change your first skiing or riding experience. As a driver, it takes some time to learn the finesse that really helps for first-timers. Like knowing how to play with the throttle, dropping it in and out of idle, keeping a fraction of rope tension, without actually moving the boat or the rider, only comes with time.
The goal is to have tension in the rope for the rider to use for positioning themselves, without giving too much and pulling them out of position. When taking off, the driver already wants to be in gear so that the acceleration is smooth, and they can adjust it to the rider as they try to get up.
Tip 20. – Hold The Handle Correctly
It might not seem like an important thing, but sometimes it makes the difference. Hold the handle with both hands going over the top. It helps to center and square your chest, along with keeping your arms straight and even when you are up.
The grip also matters a lot when you move into spin tricks. When spinning you have to pass the rope behind your back from hand to hand. If you are not holding the handle right then passing the handle becomes impossible.
Tip 21. – Make Your Movements Slowly
With the speed of the water rushing over the board, any change in edge or direction will be acted on quickly. So make your edge and direction change slowly, otherwise the board may shoot out from underneath you in an instant. Slowly rolling the board onto an edge will make sure you stay in control of the board
Tip 22. – What Colour Is Your Wakeboard??
Cool, Mine is black, white, and red. Now, DON’T LOOK AT IT AGAIN!!! 🙂
Keep your eyes up in the direction you are going, because you will end up going in the direction you are looking. So if you’re looking down, you’re gonna go down.
Having your eyes up towards the horizon increases your overall balance.
Tip 23. – Stop Before You Get Too Tired
If you are having trouble getting up, then make sure to take breaks. If you keep going until you are shattered then you won’t be able to make any more attempts to get up. So be sensible, waterskiing and wakeboarding is incredibly physically draining, even more so when you are learning and spending more time in the water than on top of it.
Tip 24. – Try Learning Behind A Boat With More HP
I remember growing up, our first boat was a fishing boat, with a 90hp motor. When my dad went to ski, he had to get up the first time because the boat wasn’t strong enough to pull him up when his wetsuit got full of water.
The more Horse Power, the less effort it takes the boat to pull you up, because if the boat is struggling to get you up, you’ll be struggling more than necessary too.
Not something we can always control. I’ve skied behind a 15hp dingy, just takes a little technique, so don’t go blaming the motor too soon.
Tip 25. – If You Have The Opportunity To Learn On A Cable, Take It!
Cables are a great way to learn to wakeboard. The rope is attached to a line way above your head, so you are being pulled right up out of the water, reducing drag and overall effort needed. On a 2.0 point system, you will be the only person riding so the operator can focus entirely on getting you up. There is also no boat or wake to have to deal with. They are also going to be significantly cheaper than a boat, get a day pass so you can take plenty of rest breaks and give it a really good try.
Tip 26. – Get The Speed Right
This is just a guideline to get you in the ball park, adjust to riders preferences
| Weight | <50 lbs | 50- 100 | 100- 150 | 150- 200 | 200+ lbs |
| Speed | 21km – 13mph | 25km – 16mph | 29km – 18mph | 33km – 20mph | 38km – 24mph |
Tip 27. – Don’t Go Too Big Too Soon
Keep your progression to mild steps; if you go too big before you’re ready, then you run the risk of catching some major edges. The most common result of trying to go big without progressing there is you take a front edge, which means you go flying forward and smack the water with your face way harder and faster than you currently think possible!! Or, you take a heel edge and do the same thing but to the back of your head, hello concussion, goodbye any hope of riding for the rest of the day.
Tip 28. – Use The Right Board For Your Ability
Beginner boards have a continuous rocker shape to the base, which makes things smoother. As you progress, the boards will be broken into rocker/flat sections, which alter the way the board reacts. Trying to learn on a more advanced board will definitely slow down your progression.
Tip 29. – Make Sure The Wakeboard Is Set Up For You
There aren’t many things to worry about here as a beginner. But you need to make sure the bindings are at the right width for you, somewhere in the shoulder width range. If you are borrowing a board, then there is the chance it’ll be way too narrow or wide for your comfortable stance.
Once you know which foot forward you are, make sure the bindings are set in the right direction. If you are left foot forward but on a right foot forward board, then you will have the board going backwards, totally fine if you already know how to ride, more of an issue when learning. It will fight you when you get up with which end wants to be in front.
The bindings can also rotate to have your toes facing more forwards of more duck-footed. Have them arranged at an angle that is natural and neutral feeling for you.
Tip 30. – Use The Right Fins
Often overlooked as something that doesn’t make a big difference, this is an incorrect assumption. Having bigger, longer, and deeper fins creates a more stable riding experience, so perfect for beginners. As the fins decrease in size, the board becomes more responsive, or twitchy, which is just fine for experienced riders. Smaller fins help as you progress into spin tricks and onwards.
Fins are easily removed and changed on almost all wakeboards.
Tip 31. – Learn To Ride Switch As Early As Possible
The majority of tricks to learn will involve some level of rotation, so being able to ride switch will be essential. The sooner you can start doing this, the better. If you only ride your natural direction, then your muscle memory will become more ingrained, making it more challenging to learn switch. If you can start learning switch early, then both directions progress together, making both feel significantly more natural and easy.
Tip 32. – Use Some Spectra, Or Non-Stretch Rope
Normal ski ropes have a natural stretch to them, for wakeboarding, this isn’t so beneficial. The stretch for a beginner can make them bounce a lot more behind the boat, making the rider feel unbalanced. When learning to wake jump or do tricks, the rebound of a stretchy rope can pull the rider too far forward while they are in the air. This pulls them off balance and potentially into a crash. By adding Spectra or another type of non-stretch rope to the line, you can avoid these issues.
Tip 33. – Move Your Butt/Hips To Turn
When you are standing nice and stable on the board, you will want to start moving around in the wakes. To move around, you will want to look in the direction you want to go, and then move your hips in that direction.
If I’m left foot forward, and I want to go left, I’ll look over that way and drop my hips a little in that direction too(Back over my heels). This engages my back edge, which will start to drift me in that direction. To go the other way, look, then push your hips through and over your toes. Once you get better at this, you will be able to add hip rotation in there for tighter turns as well.
Tip 34. – Don’t Leave Your Gear Out In The Sun
Your gear is made to get wet, but it doesn’t have the same UV protection. Too much sun exposure will damage the laminate layers causing them to separate, become brittle, and take on water. Take all the gear out of the sun if you have the option, it will drastically extend the life of your equipment, not all of us get sponsored gear, so we want to make it last. If you are leaving it out for a little to dry, have the bindings on the ground, and face the bottom of the board to the sun. The base of the board will last longer in the sun than your boots will.
Tip 35. – Have The Observer Control The Rope Slack
If you are having difficulty getting the skier and boat settled together, have the observer start pulling the rope in slightly to put the tension on the line for them to get in position. Once the skier is ready, the boat can begin to idle with the observer letting the rope spool out through their hands to maintain the connection to the skier until all the slack has been taken up.
Tip 36. – Relax
This is important the whole time, from when you are sitting in the water to cruising across the wakes at will. If you are tense, then your basic balance is compromised. Remember that relaxed lean from using a ski handle on a door, work at consciously trying to relax into that balanced lean, you’ll preserve energy and absorb all the chop without even trying.
Disclaimer
The tips here are a collection of the tools I use while coaching. Not all these tips will work together, and some may even be contradictory to some degree. A lot may be missing as coaches tailor advice to the individual and their previous experiences.
Without being there to see you ski, I don’t know which of these tools to give you to maximize your learning curve. Every person is different and reacts differently to the same advice. I put so much in here to accommodate as many different learning styles as possible.
Not all the tips here will work for you. The idea here is to get you thinking along the right lines about the fundamentals. Use whatever tips make sense to you, and use the rest as inspiration to experiment on the water. Find out exactly what makes you feel the most comfortable, and use it, because comfort is the main goal. If you’re comfortable, fun and progression come easily.