I’ve been in the ski industry for a couple of decades, coaching and competing. Over the years I have acquired a bit of knowledge and experience, which includes some of the more common pieces of advice given to skiers and boarders getting lessons.
The following are a few tips to help you with your mission to improve your wakeskating.
Tricks are a huge part of this sport, there are a ton of instructional videos for you to use, these are more general tips for those in the early stage of their progression. For trick instructions try Wake.sg
Tip 1. – Go Wakeboarding First
Even if you have skateboarded, I would recommend this. The reason is that it will familiarize you with the method of getting up on the water to start. Without being attached to the board and not having some awareness, expect to have a slower start to your learning curve
Tip 2. – Go Ride A Skateboard
While wakeboarding will help you get up, skateboarding will help in all other areas of wakeskating. A wakeskate is a stoned version of a skateboard, bit bigger, heavier, slower, and generally more dopy feeling than skateboardings more crisp feel and movement.
Tip 3. – Play On A Trampoline With A Skateboard And A Rope
Set up a rope with a ski handle to a trampoline. Get used to being in the air with a board, and using your feet to move the board around at will.
Tip 4. – Use A SkateBoard Not A Wake Skate
A wakeskate will generally be too big for most trampolines, and also too heavy, so they are pretty difficult to use in this way. Skateboards are more conducive to the trampoline, plus it is more finicky, which means it’s easier when you get on the wakeskate
Tip 5. – Learn Ollies And 180’s Here First
Trampolines are the best place to learn ollies and 180’s. The spring from the tramp gives a nice rebound so you can really feel out the ollie. Perfect also for gaining your foot-to-board awareness. A huge part of every trick is being able to feel the board with your feet, so you can control the trick and complete it.
Tip 6. – Learn The Reverse And Switch Version Of Everything
Bouncing around on a trampoline is nice and easy, no needing to get picked back up by the boat every time, which means more time to practice. When you learn the normal 180, then learn it going back the way you came.
Then do it in the other direction, and keep doing every variation of the trick you can think of, reverse, mirrored, switch, you name it.
The more variations you can do the more air aware you will be and the more adaptable you will be. This means more trick you can do, plus you can do them all better.
Tip 7. – Any Boat Will Work
For wakeskating, the boat you use really doesn’t matter. You are not going all that fast, and most of your tricks will be out in the flat, clean water anyway, so the wake isn’t make or break. As long as the boat can get you up, you are good to go.
Tip 8. – Jet Skis Are Better
If you plan to session a trick and fall a lot, then a jet ski is the way to go. They are just much faster at the turnaround speed, getting you back up on the water in half the time a big boat could. When you are only up on the water for 10-15 seconds, before trying the trick again, it is a lot of time in the water.
Tip 9. – Cables Are Great, 2-Point System For The Win
Cables pull you from way above your head, so it is like you lost 30-40lbs compared to learning on a boat. You can also get good breaks this way, as you will fall a few times, but you will get a half or full-day pass to keep trying.
If you have the opportunity, then you should try to get on a 2-Point system. It is a cable that only goes back and forward in a straight line. This is great because there will be no-one else on the cable so the operator can focus on you and coaching you through the progression.
Epic also for training as you can session the same trick without walking all the way back to the start every time.
Tip 10. – Use A Heavy Skate To Learn
In general, it is easier to learn with a heavier board. This is to make it more stable and dampen your jerky movements for the first few times out there.
Tip 11. – Think About Removing The Fins
If you are wanting to try some tricks, then I recommend trying with the fins removed first. This way, you won’t lose the board by doing a simple 90-degree slide, or because you landed just that little bit wrong. Removing the fins allows you to slide or drift your way out of a landing.
Put the fins back on when you are confident in your ability to perform the trick.
Tip 12. – Barefoot, Or Shoes?
People have different preferences, I always used an old pair of skate shoes. Companies do make specific shoes for wakeskating now that will drain the water and is of materials that do not rot. Or you could just go barefoot, All good if you are a casual wakeskater, but when you start throwing the board around, it is a swift way to bruise
Tip 13. – Try A Wakeboard With Grip Tape Before Buying A New Board
If you just want to try out wakeskating and have no desire to buy a wakeskate then get some grip tap of some kind, or even wax, and use a wakeboard without its bindings. Similar enough for trying ollies and wake jumps, only need to upgrade if you want to move into some of the more difficult tricks.
Tip 14. – Be Tall, Hips Up
Remember to be tall and confident in your position and stance.
Tip 15. – Handle To Hips
Keeping the handle to your hips keeps you connected to the boat, and if you are connected to the boat, then you can control and manipulate the pull to your benefit.
Tip 16. – Shorter Shorts, Leave Your Knees Free To Move
Youll be moving your legs around a lot, so wear some shorts that don’t get hung up on your knees, or they may restrict your movements at a crucial time.
Tip 17. – Tricks Are Mostly The Same As Skating
Looking at a list of skate tricks, you will see a massive amount of cross-over. When you have seen the two sports, it is easy to see why. If you can master a trick on a skateboard, then you will greatly increase your ability on the wakeskate.
Get a skateboard out for the winter to keep these skills sharp.
Tip 18. – Try New Tricks Out In The Clear Water
When learning to ollie or learning any new trick, it is easiest to do so outside the wake in the clean section that is not affected by the boat spray.
Be pulling out a little you can momentarily get free of the boat to try the trick. It also ensures consistency of conditions so you can really focus
First Mission, Master The Ollie
The make-all or break-all of wakeskating. If you can really get this mastered, then you’ll already be ahead for every new trick you try.
Tip 19. – Foundation Of Almost All Tricks
Everything from the surface tricks to wake jumps and air tricks will use some or all of the skills developed while mastering the ollie.
Tip 20. – Learn On A Skateboard And Trampoline First
Get the feel of the weight transfer and sucking up your feet, by trying on land first.
Tip 21. – Exaggerate The Snap Up Of The Feet
Because the water will act as a damp spring, it will naturally push the board up and into the air. But because of the speed water rebounds, you need to get your feet out of the way as quickly as you can. So practice making the pull up of your feet as snappy as you can.
Tip 22. – Suck Up Your Knees Not Your Feet
When you pop your feet up, try to think of your knees coming up instead of your feet. When you think of raising your knees, your body will stay more balanced in the air. Thinking about your feet will often cause them to move out from under your center of balance.
Tip 23. – Let Go Of The Back Hand
Letting go of the backhand will allow you to square up your body to the board. Squaring up to the board lets your muscles stack, which provides more balance and strength to your movements.
Tip 24. – Stay Squated Longer Into The Landing
When you land, you will naturally crouch as you absorb the landing. On a wakeskate, stay down for a moment longer than you would on a wakeboard. Staying down a moment longer makes sure that the board doesn’t bounce, and cause us to lose balance and crash.
Tip 25. – Practice On The Lip Of The Wake
As you become more comfortable doing an ollie, start doing them off the lip of the wake.
Move to the outside of the wake, lightly ride up the wake and ollie as you come to the top, landing back on the outside of the wake again. This will teach you to feel the wake and time your pop. As well, it will start to get you used to landing on the downside of the wake for Wake to Wake jumps.
Tips For Jumping Wake To Wake
Tip 26. – Start Small, Jump One Wake At A Time
Build up slow, it will take a bit of time to get the hang of not being attached to the board. You will actually be in the air for a while when you get this, but it will take some time to master the air awareness you will need. Jump from inside to outside and back, getting bigger and bigger.
Tip 27. – Medium Pace Approach
You don’t want to feel like you are flying as you come into the wake, it needs to be a speed where you feel totally in control. This comfort is needed so you can focus more on your feet and feeling the board in the air without kicking it away. As you jump bigger and bigger, your comfortable speed will increase too.
Tip 28. – Play With The Rope Length
When you get close to making the full wake jump, shorten the rope to make it a little easier. Then, as you gain confidence, you can slowly lengthen the rope back out again to your preferred length.
Tip 29. – Suck Up The Wake, Gentle Extention Of The Legs
On a wakeboard, you are taught to resist the wake to get lots of pop. This approach on a wakeskate will throw you off the board every time.
So on a wakeskate, we want to absorb more of the wake and ride up it rather than extend up the wake.
Tip 30. – Upper Body Stays Level
It looks like the upper body barely gets any height as a rider clears the wake. This is because they suck their knees and feet up with the board, giving them more space to control the board while in the air.
Tip 31. – Keep Legs Sucked Up
Don’t drop your feet while in the air; if you do, you will push the board back towards the water sooner than you want.
Tip 32. – Careful Extending Into The Landing
Keep your legs sucked up until the last moment, if you extend to your landing too soon then you risk pushing the board away from you and having it land on the water while you are still in the air.
Tip 33. – Remember Knees Up, Not Feet
Knees by your ears.
Tip 34. – Leave The Nose Of The Board Higher The Whole Time
Good to get in the habit of making sure the nose of the board stays higher than the back. As you lightly ollie of the wake keep the front foot a bit higher. This gives the rider more space to move in controlling the board, which equates to more time to save the trick if things are going wrong.
Tip 35. – The Landing Is A Ramp
The wake you are landing on is a ramp for you to use. Find the spot on your boat where you can make the cleanest transitions.
Tip 36. – Stay Low After Landing To Prevent Bouncing
Bouncing can easily throw you into a crash right after you think you just stomped a sick move. Having a slow landing compression is great for the joints and ensuring that you stay stable and don’t bounce your way out of a completed trick.
Tip 37. – Heel Side, Even Weight
When you cut in to jump the wake on your heelside, you will want to keep your weight pretty even. This will make sure you are in a nice balanced position in the air.
Tip 38. – Toe Side, More Weight On Back Foot
A lot of people fear the board will vanish if they try committing for a toeside wake jump. Toeside feels really natural to many people.
Try putting a bit more weight on the back foot as you go for the wake jump. This will help to keep the board up in front of you, in a position where you can control the board with your feet.
Tip 39. – Try Dock Starts
Will definitely happen if you ride at a cable park. If there is a jetty for the boat, then you can probably go from there too.
Tip 40. – Sitting Dock Start
This is where you sit down on any dock with your feet on the board and rope in hand. The boat takes off just before the rope tightens, leaving the skier relatively dry.
Tip 41. – Jumping Dock Start
Just like stepping forward and onto a skateboard, the rider walks down the dock and drops the board into the water so he can land on it and ride away.
Tip 42. – Re-Grip Your Own Board
Get a supply of your own grip tape to replace sections as is wears out, because the board will last much longer than the tape will.
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.
