was out on a lake this weekend, and a friend had a boat, so i thought let's try wakeboarding. He never towed a wakeboarder, and I've never wakeboarded before, and only had my kiteboard (with foot pads ). I know it's not a proper thing to do, but it's all I had and just wanted to muck around as I had nothing better to do. Anyway, it all went ok... up/waterstart from the first go... no issues with foot pads even during crashes... etc etc...

Anyway, Im' curious to hear some thoughts from expert wakeboarders around here...

1) - i'm guessing the proper wakeboards have more rocker and would behave much better in slight chop on a lake? (Just curious how much diff one feels between two types of boards)

2) - i found that if he drives the boat very fast, it's more straneous to ride especially if there is a bit of chop. Curious what's the optimal speed is once planing (in mph)??

3) - kept feeling a lot of pressure/stress on my lower back - is that something that comes with the sport, or is this the effect of using improper type of board, +chop, etc etc...

cheers.

oh good, so i'm not the only one with such experience... yeh, my back still recovering , that's why i thought the pro wakeboarders would have a technique recomendations here...

(heaps harder than kiteboarding though, so full respect).

But i'm getting my wife to get the boat license now

1) depends on what styles of boards wake or kite. some feel very similar some feel very different. My wake board is very slow and slippery compared to my kite board. your general riding stance is very different too riding wake is closer to 50-50 weigh distribution.

2) you would normally tow a rider between 18 and 22mph. depends on boat, rider skill rope length etc. Sounds like you were going way too fast. wake boarding in chop is hard work and no fun no matter what board you are using, hunt out the glass.

3) wake boarding is a lot more strenuous on your body than kite boarding like you said 10-15min being pulled by a boat and you are stuffed where you can kite for hours no problem. generally though you don't feel it so much in your back more in your arms and legs so i think you need to work on your technique when riding behind the boat.

I hadnt wakeboarded for a few years until last weekend, still sore, awesome fun, some big smacks

Have tried kiteboard, there is no comparison, have to use wakeboard if you want to learn, kiteboards to light/flexible
Boots give you max control
I was told a couple of minor things years ago for comfort
Hold the handle flat and lowish level with your hips(this is where you rotate from for rolls etc)
Push your leading hip forward, this "should" stop the back pain
Too fast is no good learning, stuff happens to fast, did alot of cable and seem to remember that being aroud 30kph which is 19/20mph comfy

Hurts/harder/less forgiving than kiting for sure, cant wait to go again

the gibbo said...


Hold the handle flat and lowish level with your hips(this is where you rotate from for rolls etc)
Push your leading hip forward, this "should" stop the back pain

+1, this is the key to reduce the strain on the lower back.

Conditioning and technique (ie. time on the water and time on the water) are the keys to reducing overall fatigue.

I used to wakeboard and now kite. We would maybe have 4 or five runs at around 15 min each a day and you would be stuffed, my forearms copped it the most and would be so pumped you could barely hold the handle. When you kite try and ride unhooked for that ammount of time, i'm guessing the result would be similar.

Wakeboards have more rocker yes, but are a lot stiffer so you feel everything. I wouldn't bother riding if it wasn't glass or small ripple as it was horrible. a kiteboard flexes and rides better through chop.

With the pressure on your back, it sounds as if your getting levered at your waist, you need better posture, straight back, bar at your navel not chest height. Also strength comes with time.

With speed i think we used to run at about 25Mph as this had the best wake for a standard wake rope on our boat although i think this would be considered slow.
Basically you want benefit from your tower or high pole, so the shorter the better with your rope, within reason as you also want a comfortable speed and a good wake.

yep 2 sets at 15 - 20 minutes each, but trying a lot of tricks and im pretty knackered.

wakeboards also need that extra rocker because the transition on a proper wake is quite abrupt and flatter kiteboards are a pain in the ass to get through that properly to get consistent pop and the stiffer boards are able to store more energy when loading the line.

speed changes from boat to boat because speedos on boats are largely inaccurate, for example i had a ride behind a mates vlx wake setter and rode at 22mph then on another vlx loaded the same way i was riding at 26 to get the same ride. then on another mates X2 which is a beast we rode at 28 which is considerably fast for wakeboarding.

kiting makes you tired faster without the harness, ive tried it a few times, just riding around unhooked for a laugh and within 10 mins im getting tired. it's because you're constantly edging though and you'd get the same effect if you constantly rode on the side of the boat instead of following it.

Sorry to interrupt and kind of ask a similar but different question...

I'm interested in getting a new board, and I want a board that I can put bindings on and also ride just with straps.. What kind of boards would you guys recommend? I want to get the North Gambler although they are extremely hard to find now as most stockist are out of stock... Also what bindings do you find most comfortable and all round good.

Thanks

"I miss the cable water ski park we had here in Perth!

That was a good training ground for kiting!!

I hope someone out there builds another one in Perth soon!!"

lol its still on some maps, i once drove there, housing development, no water to be seen.. gutted

Jan 3 2011 I tried wakeboarding with my kiteboard... still getting physio on my lower back

Most guys who kite don't battle with cable, but even the cable wakeboarders battle when they move to a boat so don't be surprised if you battle behind a boat. While the rotation of tricks is the same, popping off a wake and flat water are completely different.

the gibbo said...
We were sking behind a searay 175 with inboard, this has trim and for driving at speed you have to trim it

Whats the go to get the best wake for next time, from a not dedicated wake boat, we will play around with it next time but were to excited/impatient last time out(new to boating/obviously) some tips would be good

Its a stern drive (or sometimes called an outdrive), not an inboard

"MerCruiser 3.0L MPI ECT ALPHA 1 (135 PHP) STERN DRIVE (Non-ECT engine available outside the US)"

Inboard



Stern drive



Inboard (correctly setup) generally produces a much better wake than a stern drive or outboard.

best way to get more wake out of a boat that isn't a dedicated wakeboat without spending heaps of cash is to add more weight. get 20L water drums and place them through the centre and back of the boat. you can also buy what is called a "fat sack" which is just a big water bag that can add around 200kg to the boat. more weight the merrier really, move it around a bit too to play with the wake shape.
the boat i ride behind the most has proper ballast set up, then we normally have 2 fat sacks and 6 water drums plus a bunch of lead weights distributed throughout.

Cheers all

Be funny but tragic to see you lose the bung Westy

yep kiteboards are manageable at cable because the riding principles are the same, only down side is if you do air tricks they are a bit too fast and you end up out running the cable on landings sometimes.