Wakesurfing

Wakesurfing is a relatively new sport in the last five years. The industry for wake surfboards and accessories has exploded. I personally love the sport and will continue to do so for years to come. The whole premise behind the sport is to surf behind the wake of your inboard boat. You start off with a shortened rope and handle and get up on the surfboard like you would a wakeboard. You position the board so the back is right on the lip of the wake. This will maximize the security on the wake. Once you’re sure that you can carry on riding without holding onto the rope, you throw the handle in the being seeing that you’re only a couple of feet from the back of it. The sport of wakesurfing is all about “hanging loose” and chilling. I think this sport carries over the whole persona known from surfing, where it’s all about you and the wave and nothing else.

This can be done by loading up your boat with weight so the wake is large enough to surf behind. There are many tricks of the trade to perfecting wakesurfing and driving abilities. When wakesurfing, you can control the speed of the board my shifting your weight on the board. The further forward you are, the faster you will move, so the further back you are, the slower you will move. But you need lots of practice to get the skill down well. If you lean too far forward, the board will be way out in front of the wake and naturally slow down, making it very hard for you to catch the wake again. If your weight is too far back, you will sink back behind the wake and lose the lip. The lip of the wake is the most important place for the board to be. You want the back of the board right underneath the lip of the wake, right where it curls. Some tips for the driver of the boat are to go slow, around ten and a half to eleven and a half miles per hour. The exact speed of the boat depends on the size of the wake rider. One way to make it easier for the rider is to load all the weight in the boat, including fat sacs and people, to the side of the boat where the rider prefers to surf. Another way to make it easier for the rider is to turn the boat towards the inside of where the rider is surfing. This makes the wake a good shape for surfing.

For wakesurfing, the kind of board you buy can make a difference. The larger the board, the easier it will be to surf because of the increased surface area. The smaller the board, the harder it will be to surf for the same reasons, but the smaller boards are more maneuverable. Maneuverability is very important in determining the size of the board to get. If you buy a huge board, there’s a possibility that it won’t be fun to ride because you’ll only be able to ride straight. I own a board that I built myself in woodshop class. It’s about five feet and six inches long. It made it out of mahogany wood. It has a gently curve around the outside of the board with a small lip in the front. It’s very flat in the middle which helps to create speed. The boards out on the market are not wood, but they are just as good. They made from a material that is much lighter and slicker. If you plan on buying a wakesurfing board, I would go with the larger of two.

Hopefully I’ve helped someone in learning about the sport of wakesurfing and how to do it, so get out there and surf!

-Peace

p.s. Don't sit too close to the back of the boat for long periods of time. There have been occurrences of carbon monoxide poisoning. But as long as you are aware of the dangers and be careful of fumes in the back of the boat, you will be fine. The rider doesn't have to worry about the fumes because by the time is gets to him/her they have dissipated enough not to matter.

Tantrum vs. Back Roll

When it comes to wakeboarding tricks, there are milestones that gauge how skilled you are. The first big milestone is the wake to wake jump. This means that you can jump off the one side of the wake and land either down or past the opposite wake. This first step says that you're an ok wakeboarder, but definitely still learning. The second milestone, and probably one of the largest, is the flip. The first flip learned by wakeboarders across the country is either the back roll or the tantrum. The general consensus between the two different kinds of flips is that the back roll is easier. But for some, like me, the tantrum comes easier. The back roll consists of a cartwheel type flip over the wake and the tantrum is more of a back flip. I learned how to do back flips on trampolines at a young age, so the tantrum naturally came easier. But I think that the back roll is known for being a simpler flip because you keep both hands on the handle throughout the flip and you're facing the boat at all times throughout the flip as well. The tantrum is hard for some people because you have to cut a lot harder into the wake and release with one hand off of the wake. When you flip you take your eyes off of the boat and throw your head back and spot the landing, which is if you get all the way around. I learned this flip before the back roll, but I picked up the back roll this summer. The trick for me in landing the back roll was keeping my eye on the pylon. This kept me facing forward and straight for the landing. I would have to say the tantrum is a more prestigious flip than the back roll, but both are difficult tricks and milestones in the wakeboarding realm.

-Peace

Accessorizing

When it comes to wakeboarding, there is a lot of freedom in choosing your style. You can express your riding style by putting stickers on your board, using a special binding clamp to ensure attachment to the board, or ride behind a brand new 2007 Super Air Nautique 210 Team Edition wakeboard boat.

These accessories may or may not be in the budget, but sometimes they’re a necessity to break away from the pack and establish yourself as your own wakeboarder. Of course, this could be done by just learning a ton of cool new tricks and showing them off in front of all your friends, but if learning isn’t your thing, then accessorize. On my first board, I put stickers of a whacked out fish and a mesmerized smiley face balloon on the back of my board. By the time I grew out of it, they seemed childish and kid-like.

So once I bought my new board, I decided to keep the face clean. I didn’t feel like marring the graphics and artwork on this one yet. Instead I tried redecorating it with a sleeker look. I added Rainbow Fin Company bones to reduce plate flexing on the bindings and make sure the bindings never get loose. Another accessory that’s just like it is the Hyperlite claw set which works only for Hyperlite bindings, but the RFC bones should work on most binding sets. I bought red ones to add another color to the ambiance of the board. Before it was just blue, gray, and silver, but that was kind of mellow and dull, so I thought some red would bring some spice to the overall look of the board. But I left the wakeboard at that and decided on modernizing another part of my wakeboarding realm.

One accessory that I haven’t explored yet is the use of differently shaped and sized fins. I’ve only used the ones the manufacturer supplies with the board. But I’ve gathered a few assumptions on the subject, and that is the larger the fin, the more grip and cutting power you’ll have on the water, and the smaller the fin, the more glide you’ll feel and ability to do surface turns. I guess I prefer using a fin that is sized right down the middle. So I can get the best of both worlds.

I ski behind an old 2001 model 1989 Ski Nautique. It’s a classic, but not known for a huge peaky wake with a nice lip. This was another element of my “wakeboarding realm” that I felt was holding me back. A new 2007 Super Air Nautique 210 Team Edition wakeboard boat was definitely not in the budget, and neither was any other new wakeboarding boat. I had to settle for purchasing a set of “fat sacs.” These added up to a possible 900 pounds of ballast into the back of my boat. But filling them up and maneuvering them around was hard as shit. A pump would have helped a ton, but that wasn’t in the budget either. Yet there was definitely a plus side to buying them. The wake was now a lot larger and taller. I was able to perform and land tricks much easier then. My tantrum was much simpler because I had a lot more pop off the wake. The same went for back rolls because of the taller, gradual sloping wake. Spins came a lot easier from the added hang time and grabs were much more enjoyable. If your boat doesn’t have a large wake and you’re struggling to get the air you need as well, I highly recommend a fat sac for your boat. The advantages definitely outweigh the disadvantages.

Another thing I still lack from my wakeboarding accessories list is a taller pylon. What this does is help lift you up off the wake because the rope is tied to a point higher than you when you’re out on the water. So when you jump off of the wake, you’ll go higher. I’ve used one of my friends’ “sky high” before and I really noticed a large difference between the heights of the pylons. With a normally sized one, it pulls you down as soon as the handle is higher than the point the rope is tied to, but with a taller pylon, it continues to pull you up until gravity eventually pulls you back down. I landed my first back roll when using a taller pylon the first time I rode behind one. But these pylons can cost up to $250-$350 dollars and for right now, it is once again not in my budget. But it still comes highly recommended from me.

If you have the cash to spend over a brand new boat, I recommend buying one; especially if it’s a Nautique you’re looking at. Nautiques last a lifetime if you take care of it. My family has taken care of our ’89 Ski Nautique very well and it still runs great. Besides fixing and replacing chewed up props, there have been no huge problems with the boat. I wakeboarded behind a brand new 2006 Super Air Nautique 220 Team Edition, and it was ridiculously amazing. This was a one of a kind wonder boat put out by Correct Craft, the maker of Nautiques, with an experimental propeller. It’s a beast on the water. The wake is close to 3-1/2 to 4 feet tall with the ballast tanks fully filled. This same boat was going to be used for wakeboarding nationals the next week. The air I got jumping off of this wake was monstrous. I had never been so happy in my life. But this boat also has a retail price of about $92,000 dollars. That’s a pretty penny for a boat, but you would look nice sitting in it. You’d be a pro.

In terms of accessories, if you have a sweet set-up, you might as well buy a video camera stand for the pylon. The stand swivels on top of the ski pylon and is connected to the rope, so it automatically follows your movement out on the water. I’ve heard its pretty sweet, and it’d be worth it for recording all your tricks out on the water. So board safely and board hard!

-Peace

My First Post

I've been waterskiing since I was five years old. I started barefooting when I was nine. I picked up wakeboarding when I turned ten and never looked back. There's something about the sport that sets me free. My very first board was a Liquid Force Evolution 138. I had Liquid Force Exo-Suction bindings and Rainbow fins. I remember how excited I was to even own a wakeboard of my own. After learning to ride on an O'Brien Phatty with bindings that would pain me to look at now, I can see the step up between the quality of the two boards. After a couple of years of using the Evo there seemed to be a point where I felt the board was holding me back. I noticed the board was kind of thin and did not provide a whole lot of pop due to the lack of rocker. The fins and side cuts stopped holding well for my deep cuts into the wake. I figured that a larger board with more rocker would aid me in bettering myself at the sport of wakeboarding. Plus, after going through my growth spurt it only felt necessary to step it up a notch once again. I bought a CWB Absolute Platinum 141, but I kept the Liquid Force Exo-Suction bindings because the still worked great. I was happy with my choice and determined the Absolute Platinum much better than the Evolution I owned previous. The CWB had a much larger rocker for lots of pop, one fin in the middle on each side and two molded fins on the outside at both ends. I felt much more in control on the water and launched much higher for better hang time. From this comparison of the two boards I determined that CWB was better than Liquid Force at making wakeboards. Of course, it's not a completely fair judgement considering that the Evo was not Liquid Force's top model at the time while the Absolute Platinum was CWB's top model. Plus, the CWB was made more recently giving technology a chance to have an effect on the difference in board design. So was this a fair comparison? In terms of wakeboard bindings, I've only owned the Liquid Force Exo-Suction bindings, but in comparison the the much older O'Brien bindings on the Phatty, I could come to the conclusion that Liquid Force bindings are better the O'Brien's. Once again, this is not a completely fair comparison. But to my credit, I have tried many different boards of my friends and family members and still stand by my conclusions. I know I prefer deeper side cuts and more rocker on boards than ones without. That's a fair conclusion, considering the difference i felt in performance of the board specifically because of these attributes of the board. One kind of board that I have not had the chance to try is a Hyperlite. I have heard nothing but good things from owners of these boards and the pro models seems sleek and innovative. My friend in the picture at the bottom of the home page is riding a Hyperlite board. He can tons of hard tricks and the board seems to be helping him get better and he's only 14 years old. Anyways, I look forward to this summer where I can continue evaluating the styles of wakeboards and functionality of them. At this point in time I have to conclude that the two best brands of wakeboards are CWB and Hyperlite, even though I lack the experience on that kind of board.

-Peace