Riding Doubles
 

Hey guys, I have a couple quick questions. Can I get some pointers on riding doubles? Me and my brother aren't pros by any means, but we want to start riding doubles and just have some fun. Any hints or tricks on how to get up without tangling the rope or running into each other on the start. Any special driving technique needed? Any advice on riding doubles would be appreciated. Thanks

Only thing i can offer is to start on different sides of the boat.

Haven't done it a ton, but when we do we stagger the line lengths. Like one at 80 and one at 85. Makes it a little less dangerous and then you can flip flop sides without actually having to air directly over the other rider.

It also seems to help if the spotter gets up on rider pick ups and keeps the lines apart.

You shouldnt have an issue running into each other at the start if you're at least 10' apart while sitting in the water like the above poster mentioned. Depending on your riding level and what you plan on doing, you can shorten or lengthen one of the ropes.

Try starting further apart. I'm not entirely sure why you would have trouble running into each other unless you don't have much board control. Being able to steer your board is kind of a basic wakeboarding skill. If you can't come up straight then come up with one person going one way and one the other way. Or have both going the same way. But I don't seen any reason why you would have both coming up going towards each other. I'm having trouble picturing how that would happen in such a way that you couldn't easily correct it by having the riders switch which side they start on.

Thanks for all the help guys. Any tips on keeping the lines from tangling?

If your driver is competent they shouldnt be hauling *** back to pick you up so they shouldnt get tangled. Are you riding with a tower, pylon or eyelet of a bowrider? Once the handles hit the water after a fall, the handles should stay in line with the boat and not twist around the other rope. Ive never had an issue with it

The biggest issue is to make sure both people communicate. Both riders need to know what the other is doing at all times. Also pay atention to the other rider so if they fall, you can let go and not have to swim a mile back to the other rider. Its super fun. We do it all the time.

The best way to not tangle lines is to not worry about it when you are riding. When someone falls have a person in the boat grab one of the lines and pull it in 10 feet. Usually prevents the two from tangling.

I do it all the time. Never had a tangled line that prevented us from riding. Just a little bit of unwinding of the 2 ropes when we were done. Usually stagger the lines by one 5 foot section(75 & 80) depending on the boat and wake size. When one rider falls the other should drop immediately to make pick up time quicker

if my "don't pay attention to anything" teenage kids and their friends can do it, anyone can.

We do this all the time. I'm not a huge fan of it but it makes for some pretty good footage on the gopro. Just go opposite directions when you start and you won't have any issues. The biggest problem we have is with the boat getting pulled around by all that weight (I only have a 19' I/O). Keep the ropes staggered a little bit and if you guys are not that advanced, put the more skilled rider in the back, he may need to react quickly if anything goes south. Also, like everyone else said, when one rider goes down, the other guy needs to try to stop quickly so he is close for pickup. Whenever you end the session or someone goes down, toss your rope away from the other rider. I'm sure it is unlikely to happen, but I always worry about getting caught in the rope somehow. If you are planning on jumping over each other, I would highly advise against it, it's dangerous. But if you do decide to do this, put the guy getting jumped over 5-10' back and put him on the ski ring if you have one.

Riding doubles is very dangerous and I wouldn't recommend it. You could die.

^Seriously!?! I sure hope this is sarcassm.

Driving is very dangerous and I wouldn't recommend it. You could die.
Flying.....
skateboarding....
Crosswalks....

Thanks for posting this... I wanted to ride doubles the other day but my wife wanted to check into it first... good topic.

I think David was being sarcastic at me for advising against jumping over each other.

...I just didn't want to get ripped on for telling someone to go attempt jumping over each other first time riding doubles.

jumping over e/o is completely careless and immature. check my profile pic :)

doubles is becoming a common thing every time out. Its such a fun perspective for the riders and landing everything becomes more important as you feel like the idiot when you fall and they have to drop the handle.

Thanks for all the replies guys. Lots of good information out there.

Doubles is lots of fun. Like Ty said, you get a different visual perspective as your buddy hits the wake. We try and mix it up and play a game of WAKE. Same rules as SKATE - 1st rider does a trick, 2nd rider has to match it.

We've never had a problem with tangled ropes. Just have someone on the boat keeping an eye on them and you should be good.

Does the loser have to do a scorpion at the end??

Like the others mentioned...just get out and have fun but be cautious with who ever the other rider is. (communication is key and a decent driver)

Doubles is fun times. I always try to get the shorter rope with newbies because you can spray the heck out of them and they are not usually expecting it. The perspective is fun too, such a different view compared to the boat.

Justtake your time and have fun with it, and make sure the riders know how to wakeboard.

Don't do it! It is no fun at all. Seriously though, it is kind of a reward to my daughter and friends after doing their regular sets. The key is to only do what you are VERY capable of so no one gets hurt!

One of the main things about riding doubles that I didn't see get mentioned is the cutting technique that needs to be used to get a good wake. If one person has cut all the way out to one side while waiting for the other rider to do a trick, they will pull the boat too much to that side and cause the wake to curl badly for the other person. To remedy this problem, have the person that isn't doing the trick start at the wake and begin to carve out to the side as the other person starts their carve in for the trick. This will keep the wake even for the person doing the trick at that time. Hope this makes sense, it definitely is a key to getting a good wake when riding doubles.

To stay apart from each other when laying in the water and being slowly dragged by the boat, apply pressure to the foot closest to the other rider (or think about turning the nose/tail that is closest to the other rider towards the boat).