Video:
Heelside Wake Jump - MPEG Video File (686k)

Pre-Requisites: You must be able to carve back and forth with good board control and be able to cross the wakes comfortably.

How To: You want to start off by cutting out around 15 feet away from the wake.

Once you cut out, wait until the boat starts pulling you back in towards the wake, then start slowly cutting in. You want to build speed all the way to the wake. You should not hit your desired speed until you reach the top of the wake. Think about accelerating all the way through the wake. You want to do this whole cutting/accelerating process in one smooth motion, so you don't get thrown off balance. It should feel like a nice smooth cut.

Body positioning: Your arms and legs should be slightly bent and your back should be tall, not hunched over. Your weight should be distributed about 60/40 with a little more weight on your rear leg and your face should be looking at the very top of the wake.

Once you reach the top of the wake, extend your legs. You should not change anything else. Your weight should not shift from one direction to another and you shouldn't change your cut right before the wake. Just extend your legs, pushing off of the very top of the wake. Extending your legs too early will dramatically decrease your air time. You need to extend at the very top of the wake to receive the full pop.

Once in the air, your body position should remain exactly the same. Your arms should still be in the same bent position in front of your chest/stomach. Your back should still be tall, not bent over. The only thing you might want to change is your legs. Since you straightened out your legs to help push off of the top of the wake, once you are in mid air you can bend your legs again, if desired.

Once you are on your way down, think about how you are going to land the trick. You want to use your legs as shocks and absorb the landing.

If the wake jump is performed flawlessly, you should land in the exact same position as you took off. In other words, you should land cutting away from the wake smoothly, almost like you never left the water.

Pro Tips: How you take off is how you land. If you are leaning on your toes at take off, then you be leaning on your toes on landing. If you are falling back on your heels at take off, then you'll be falling back on your heals on your landing.

It is much easier to land going down the second wake. The hardest area to land in is the area just outside the wake and the area just inside the wake, so it pays off to have a bit of finesse when it comes to wake jumping. Over or under clearing a wake makes landing a lot harder.

If you always end up with your front leg dipping down in the air or your back leg dipping down in the air, that means you have too much weight on that foot. If your board is nose diving into the water, try taking some weight off of your front foot.

You can practice wake jumps by starting from in between the two wakes and then cutting out. This jump from the inside to the outside of the wake is a great way to learn.

Don't hold the handle above your head after you are airborne. This will most likely give you slack, throw you off balance and could even yank you onto your face.

Holding the handle with two hands gives you a stronger, more controlled wake jump.

Mike McLin is sponsored by Neptune, Malibu, Reef, Rainbow, and Performance Ski and Surf.

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