After 20+ years of coaching and skiing, I have acquired a few different tips to help skiers that are just starting out.
Here is part 2 of my Wakeboarding tips, broken into wake jumping, spins, and flips tips. Part 1 found here
Section 1, Learning To Jump The Wake
Tip 1. – Start By Learning To Do Ollies
By learning Ollies you will learn a few things; First, the feeling you want of having the front of the board rise and stay a little higher than the back while in the air. Second, you have to extend to lift the board out of the water, which will help you to understand what people mean when they tell you to pop or extend off the peak of the wake. Third, you will learn to absorb the landing with your ankles, knees, and hips.
To do an Ollie, lower yourself slightly into a ready stance(the one you would use if you were a football goalie about to defend a penalty). While in the position experiment with shifting weight from front foot to back foot only by extending and bending your knees, try to have your upper body stay perfectly level(like being on a balance wobble board).
Once you get that feeling, try pushing the front foot down, then rocking back a little to transfer all your weight to the back leg. As you move your weight to the back leg, you raise your front knee up. The water will act as a sluggish spring as you push off your back leg, which also pops up to follow the front knee.
Once you are getting the board into the air, think about extending your legs a little to meet the water as you come back down. As the board hits the water, let your ankles, knees, and hips flex to absorb the impact.
The bigger and smoother you can make these, the better you will do moving forwards.
Tip 2. – Jump One Wake At A Time
Don’t just think you can go big and clear the wakes first go, or do, but expect those in the boat to film it and have a laugh later.
Cross the wake on your heel edge and start by only jumping to the center of the wakes. This will get you used to being in the air.
Tip 3. – Make The Rope Longer
This only counts for when you are first learning and only jumping one wake. It gives you more room to land and then be stable and settled before you hit the next wake.
Tip 4. – Learn The Progressive Edge Technique
Learning this now will save you from having to learn it later and break an old habit. Progressive edging is a way of starting your edge/turn/cut to the wake, really softly, and finishing the cut at the peak of the wake with some aggression or explosive pop. This technique also prevents slack rope in the turn.
To do this, pull out to the side of the wake, and instead of actively turning back to the wake to go for a jump, stand up and relax for a moment. Wait there until you feel yourself first begin to drift back towards the wake. That moment where you drift back is the start of your turn, you didn’t even do anything, momentum naturally started you coming back in.
Now your turn has started, you can help guide it around further until you have some angle back to the wakes, you can start gradually leaning more and more to build pressure. The pull should continue to increase until it is at its max as you peak the wake. If you feel that you have maxed out your pull before reaching the wake and you are just maintaining an edge, then you need to slow all your movements down, so your turn and cut build slower and take longer.
Tip 5. – Lift Your Knees, Not Your Feet
When you start getting some decent air, you’ll naturally lift your feet for extra clearnace, controlling the board in the air will become something you will need to learn.
Think of lifting your knees instead of your feet. When people think to lift their feet, what often occurs is that the board will take a funny angle and more back and up towards your butt, this can make landing an issue for many reasons.
If you think to lift your knees instead, though, the board will naturally stay more centred under you and a lot more level.
Tip 6. – Keep Your Eyes Up
It is super tempting to look down at the water when you are in the air. Fight the urge and keep your eyes upon the horizon. It will feel weird for a little bit, but then you will notice how much it helps you balance, air and spacial awareness. Remember, you’ll go where you are looking, so if you’re looking down, take a guess where you’re headed….
Tip 7. – Control The Rope, Keep It At Your Hip
When you start your progressive edge in, the handle may be a long way from your body. The closer you get to the wake and the more pressure you build, the closer the handle should get to your leading hip. Keeping it nice and tight to the body will increase stability in the air and give you more control in your landing.
Tip 8. – Resist The Wake, Be Strong
When you ride up the wake, there will be pressure making you feel like you want to compress, you need to resist it. Don’t have to fight it, but definitely don’t give in to it. This is also called being strong through the wake, pop, extend, keeping body and legs rigid etc. There are a lot of ways of saying it. The point is, resist the wake, and just like you progressively started your cut to the wake, add more resistance as you ride up the wake, so you have a small extension pop as you leave the peak.
Getting this timing dialed will take some practice. It only takes a fraction of a second to ride up the wake, but you need to be familiar enough with it that you can control what you are doing in that split second.
Tip 9. – Nail The Basics To Jump Wake To Wake
There is no real trick to going further other than practice at what you are doing, and gaining confidence going faster into the wake and poping bigger for more air.
Tip 10. – The Landing Wake Is A Ramp
The first few times you go for a wake to wake jump you will probably case the top of the landing wake, you want to aim for fractionally passed the peak. One thing to keep in mind while you are learning this is that the landing zone is a ramp that you can use. You are not coming straight down, unless you are going huge and landing way passed the wakes.You can learn to use a combination of leg extension and timing to smoothly role down the face of the wake. So work on having as lite a landing as you can, mastering it now will help hugely down the line.
Tip 11. – Legs Are Your Shock Absorbers, Take Care Of Them, They’re Valuable
Feel free to get as low as is comfortable on your landings, let yourself absorb as much as you can. Always be prepared to toss the handle if you are not confident of your position coming in to land. Lots of wakeboarders get knee injuries because of the possibility of landing twisted from being side on to the boat. Stretch, or wear a brace if it will help you, no shame in protecting valuable assets.
Tip 12. – Shorten The Rope When You Want To Clear Both Wakes – Wake To Wake Jump
The closer to the boat, the narrower the wake will be. Shortening the rope will mean you don’t need to jump as far. As you get better and can jump further, lengthen the rope back out again.
Tip 13. – To Learn Toe Side Wake Jumps…….. Commit!!!
All the same principals apply, you just have to commit and hold your direction. It will feel super uncomfortable for the first little while, because it is. Just keep practicing until it feels more natural.
Section 2, Learning To Spin On A Wakeboard
Tip 14. – Start By Learning Surface Spins First
Spinning the board from regular to switch and back helps build feeling awareness of spinning. Having the resistance of the water against the board forces you to stay balanced and aware of your position. Once you can do the basic 180, up the ante and start doing the rest of a 360, so you are forced to pass the handle behind your back. Keep the handle at butt cheek level as you pass it. Try to be able to boardslide holding the handle behind your back as you face away from the boat. The more comfortable you get doing these surface spins, the more natural it will feel in the air.
Tip 15. – Do Your First Spins Off A Single Wake
Don’t try do wake to wake right off the bat, again, I hope it gets filmed if you do. To really know you have the 180 dialed, try doing them on one wake, from the outside to the middle, then from the middle of the wakes out.
If you can nicely do a spin from the center of the wake to the outside, you’re ready to try wake to wake.
Tip 16. – Be Patient, Make Sure To Peak The Wake
Far too often, peoples’ biggest issue is that they begin spinning before their board has even left the water. You have to make sure that you have completed the wake jump process before you can start the spin process. You have to be patient and wait until your board is in the air before you start to spin. It may sound scary and counter inuitive, but once you have felt the difference, it is undeniably better.
Tip 17. – Keep Your Head Up
Just like when you were learning the wake jump, you’ll go where you are looking. When you begin spinning, the temptation will be there to start dropping your head again, resist the urge. Think of keeping your chin up, and looking over the shoulder in the direction you are spinning, spot your landing.
Tip 18. – Pull The Handle To What Will Be Your New Front Hip
Once in the air, think of pulling the handle into the hip you are going to have in front when you land.
Tip 19. – Drop The Back Hand Off The Handle To Land
If you have the strength to do this is may help your landings. By letting go of the back arms hand, you allow yourself to be more square with the board on landing. Landing square to the board is far more stable than being twisted and having the shoulders face the boat.
Tip 20. – Slow The Boat Down
Sometimes dropping the speed by a couple of km helps to boost the confidence to try a new spin the first time, also means it hurts a little less if it doesn’t go well.
Section 3, Tips For Flips On A Wakeboard
Tip 21. – 80% Of A Flip Is The Set-Up
Once the board has left the water, and your position is set, all you should need to do is wait to spot your landing. If you nail the cut in, time your pop off the wake, the board is heading the right way, and your head and body are moving in the right direction, then you’ve done everything and can enjoy the sensation of the flip.
Tip 22. – Know How To Backflip On A Trampoline Or Into A Pool
Being able to do a backflip of any kind in any medium is a bit of a must. Go check out a trampoline zone or diving board at a pool and learn off the water first. Trampolines are probably the best way to learn, you can keep bouncing, and don’t need to keep getting out of the water or risking your neck trying on the ground.
If you have access to a trampoline, get a ski rope and tie it to a tree or something similar nearby. Playing on the tramp with a rope will give you a more realistic expectation of what it will feel like behind the boat. This is great training for your spins as well, learning to stay level and practice passing the handle behind your back. Even put on a board or skateboard with bindings, to make it more realistic.
Once you have the flip dialed on the tramp with a rope, learn it switch!! Then learn every other variation you can conceive, this is important for a couple of reasons. One is you will likely want to learn that on a wakeboard sooner or later anyway. Second is that the more air awareness you can build, the better. If you know every variation of the flip, then you can figure out what you are doing wrong if you aren’t getting it, or correct it in the air on the fly.
Tip 23. – Use A High Tower
It will help you get more pop and air time to complete the trick. Often riders are to flips will not get all the pop they are used to, so a little assist from the boat goes a long way.
Tip 24. – Keep Your Eyes Open
You might giggle at this, but it happens a lot. Too many people try the “I’ll just huck it!!” approach and then can’t watch themselves. Keeping your eyes open will help you stay oriented, and over time increase your air awareness, along the same lines that hand-eye coordination works. Can’t spot your landing if you have your eyes shut.
Tip 25. – Spot Your Landing
Super important piece of advice this. The sooner you can spot your landing, the more time you have to adjust rotation and position in the air for the smoothest landing and transition on the wake. Riders can adjust the speed they rotate, by curling up in a ball, or ‘Laying themselves out’/ extending really tall. So if you can spot your landing, you have a really good chance of landing the flip.
Tip 26. – Be Aware Of What Your Head Is Doing
This one ties into the tips from above. Your body will most often follow your head. If you are looking over your shoulder in the air, then your body will likely start heading in that direction. A perfect example is a tantrum, you want your head square with your body, and looking back as far as your neck goes, that way, your body will follow. If you tuck your head into your chest and try to do the same trick, I almost guarantee you will never get much passed halfway around.
Your head needs to lead in the direction of the intended rotation so your body will follow, and you’ll spot the landing sooner.
Tip 27. – Remember, Your Landing Zone Is A Ramp, So Use It
Work on the timing of your rotation so you can have the cleanest landing possible. Precision and control go a long way.
Tip 28. – Try Dropping The Handle Half Way Through The Flip The First Couple Of Tries
Doing this can get you used to the idea of crashing for one, but can also show you that 80% of the trick is in the setup. Letting go of the handle halfway through the rotation will let you think about the second half of the trick without stressing over the handle and the landing. When you realize that you don’t need to do much to finish the trick, it widens your perspective.
People often tug on the rope near the end of the rotation, which pulls them off balance. Doing the trick a few times without the handle will help you understand and avoid that.
Tip 29. – Perfect The Progressive Cut, Load And Release
Get better at loading the rope into the wake. Run some drills on loading and releasing the line, so you have more awareness of your connection to the boat. Getting that distinctive pop feeling of the load releasing of the wake will be a big factor in momentum, both of the air you get and the strength of rotation.
Tip 30. – Continue To Use A Strong Edge Through The Takeoff And The Landing
Slightly dependant on the flip you are doing, but a definite for both the backrolls. Maintaining a strong edge through the wake will ensure that the board heads in the right direction. It ties in well with the progressive wake cut as it reinforces the need to be firm with the direction all the way through the finish of the cut. Being strong through the landing will help lessen the impact you are taking to your knees, and is a good thinking trick to help you mentally maintain direction through the finish of the flip.
Tip 31. – Control The Handle
I know I have mentioned this before, but people tend to get lazy with it. Keeping the handle close to your hip through the entire flip will give you a strong connection to the boat and the pull, giving you something the work with if you need to micro-adjust your position or rotation in the air. Having the handle nice and low on the landing puts you in the strongest, most stable position possible to ride the flip out.
Tip 32. – The 3 Flips To Try First
Professional advice says to try a HeelSide BackRole, ToeSide BackRole, or a Tantrum as your first flip. Whichever of these makes the most sense when you are visualizing them should be the first one you give a try.
Tip 33. – Heelside Backroll
Load into the wake and release with the front of the board feeling like it is going back over your shoulder. Kind of feels like cutting until the board tried to turn so far that it is heading back away from the boat.
This is hands down the best video I’ve seen on learning this trick.
Tip 34. – Toeside Backroll
Same as above but approaching the wake from the Toeside. This one really feels like you are trying to continue cutting and turning the board until it’s coming off the wake heading back away from the boat. Even though this one is toeside, you have a much better visual for spotting your landing, which makes it feel a lot more achievable to many people. It also feels like a more natural backflip sensation for those who have spent a lot of time on trampolines without having a rope to play with.
Tip 35. – Tantrum
Once you can get your head around the take-off, a lot of riders claim it was easier to learn than a lot of other flips. Once you do get the take-off figured out, the rotation is very similar to a trampoline, which I think maybe why a lot of people take to it quickly.
Tip 36. – Check Out LearnWake.com
Have a look at their youtube channel, they have some great how to guides for a ton of different wakeboard tricks.
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.