Daniel Johnson
 

Awesome video of 8 year old Daniel Johnson on the home page!! Being a father of two young wakeboarders (age 10 & 7), His incredible riding got me thinking. I am curious if any of you know what length rope he is riding? I have shortened my boys by tying manual knots as appropriate to adjust for their skill level but my second question is whether any of you know of a good Jr rope that can better accommodate the shorter lengths? Thx in advance!!

I am not sure what length Daniel is now riding, but Fynn Bullock, another 8 yr old young gun who trains at AF Wake rides around 50 feet. He does not have a special rope, it is just manually shortened. I hope that helps.

It does help, thank you. I think that's about where I have my boys riding also. That kid shreds

I took one of my old ropes and cut it to 50 then added lengths up to 60 for my boys. Makes it easy for them.

There is an easy knot you can tie that will slip tight on the tower and come off very easy so you can make any length you need at a moments notice. I can take pictures or post up a video if needed. Just let me know.

^^^^ Please do. Thanks in advance

I made a rope out of the extensions from various old ropes. I then made a 40 ft section and added 8 5 ft sections to it. It took to old ropes that had been cut or frayed.

Hey all! This is Daniel's Dad, thank you for all the kind comments about Daniel's riding and our video we made. As I'm sure you all know I'm super proud of Daniel. He is very self motivated. I AM NOT a wake dad. What you see is all Daniel and his determination. Of course I suggest things for him to try, but he drives the train. I tell him I cannot make you a better wakeboarder, you got to WANT to be a better wakeboarder. I don't care if he flips at age 8 or if he waits till he's 12. What you see is him wanting to learn it. Now to answer your question, Daniel rides at 50' with the handle. I made his main line with the handle exactly 50'. We played around with different lengths at beginning of year. Started at 55'@ 20.2mph and felt like he was a little out of control. Shortened to 50' @ 19.4 and it was money! Hopes this helps.

How long has he been riding for? I loved the video btw. I definitely shared it on fb.

We have three older girls and I rode so Daniel watched all of us do it and he asked to "wake-a-board" at age 2. Got up by himself deep water start first try went 100 feet and got swallow by wake at 8mph. He didn't really love it till he turn 4 years old. Switch was flipped and he wanted to ride all the time. Hasn't stopped yet!

Awesome advice Daryl, thank you!! To back you up, a kid doesn't get that good without the "want too" but a support structure is equally important so kudos to you. I've got both my boys riding at the same speed and it's worked out great. I estimate my home-made knot at around 50' so I'm glad to get validation from someone with real proof and results that we're training in a way that benefits the youngsters. Many thanks!!

Wait a sec? You're saying he started at 2? How did that work? I didn't know they made gear that small. Got any pics? Anything to make my wife see other kids our son's age doing watersports and let her loosen her grip would be great.
My son is 2 1/2 and I don't see him wanting to try to wakeboard anytime soon. I do have plans to try some tandem surfing next season when he's 3 though.

I used the waterski training handle/rope and attached the clip to the binding while Daniel held on to the handle. I held the other end of the handle on the platform, set cruise at 8mph and basic was pulling the board while he held on and stood up. I went through getting up with Daniel on land and took it to the water. Worked very well. He rode like this till he turned 4. Only rode 5 times all summer at age 2, 3 times at age 3. He had to be really psyched up to ride. At age 4 he went from me holding the handle pulling the board to attached to the tower in 3 days. He said "I want to ride like you do"