I can successfully clear the wake with and without 180's on both heelside approaches, and I'm beginning to get some tremendous pop, but I don't know how to learn some new tricks. I ride at 22mph and added 5ft onto the 60ft rope that I was used to just for kicks. I've tried 360's and backflips for the past 3 years and haven't landed either very easily, but I also never changed the rope length or boat speed. If I am now used to a 65 ft rope, can anyone recommend if I should change the length or the boat speed when trying to learn 360's and tantrums for example? Is learning to ride at 70ft going to help me in any way? Thanks, thomas

thomas wakes and rope length preferences are as unique as the riders riding them. i like to ride wake to wake around 20 mph at about 65 feet. riding with more length i dont feel is going to help you. simple physics says there is less line tension the further you are out however you also have a larger table(space between wakes) to clear. for spins i learned them going about 15 mph with no ballast from inside to outside then outside to inside then wake to wake. if i were you i wouldnt change anything in your riding set up. if you are comfortable at your current set up then dont change however that is for you to judge. i like to have as many constants as possible when i ride. when i am on a new boat i like to ride at the same length about the same speed so i deal with just adjusting to the wake. this goes for learning tricks too i keep everything the same(except when i learned 3s) so i can focus on completing the trick. i dont think changing anything will help your situation just devote time to learning the trick. when i am hell bent on learning something thats all i do. i try it, crash and try it again. no other jumping or screwing around in between. i find i progress the fastest that way. also when i take a nice smack it gives me less time to think about it. good luck

Kyle Schmidt has done a few great write ups in wakeboarding mag on rope length, boat speed and how to change them to help you with different aspects of your riding. I'm sure you can search on the wakeboardmag site and find it in the instruction section.