Soooo Pumped!!! Awesome Weekend
 

So me and the fam head out this afternoon on Kentucky Lake and find a huge bay all to ourselves, without a boat in sight and stop to do some boarding. I've been wakeboarding for a about three weeks so I'm definitely a beginner. Basically I get up with ease, can make hard cuts on both sides, do surface 180's and such, and up until today could only do single wake jumps. Well we get out today and the water is like glass with just a slight ripple so I strap up and get going. I was feeling really good early on. I was really relaxed, everything felt smooth, and I hadn't taken any hard falls. I decided to start working on my wake jumps and that's when things started clicking. I was kind of hesitant because last weekend I took a really hard fall attempting a w2w and tweaked my knee pretty bad. After a few hits I had kinda worked the nerves out so I started getting a little more brave with each jiump. To make a long story short, by the end of the afternoon I had my heelside w2w dialed in and was landing them with ease. I got a few grabs in but they were quick and weren't much to brag about at all. Anyways, I can't explain how pumped I am to have landed some w2w's. Like I said, I' ve been riding almost a month and have took some really hard falls trying to land these but I finally got it down!... Then to really top the day off, my Mom found my wallet that I lost like 2 weeks ago :D. What a great day!... Just wanted to share my story with someone.

Right on man, glad someone had a good weekend!! Keep the handle in and keep it up!

Also, I just upgraded from some old POS ski rope to a Proline spectra rope. Today was the first day I have used it. I don't know if that had anything to do with it but I felt MUCH more consistent behind the boat. Maybe I was just having a good day, or maybe it was the rope? I don't know... I like to think it was the rope. That way I can justify my purchase haha.

Id say it was both, a good rope that doesnt stretch can make a big difference. Think of it like this, when you carve in real hard the rope stretches until you are in the air and then it will spring back to its regular length....that cant feel good in the air, and for sure would NOT help you learning. I havent boarded (well at all since I broke my back 2 years ago) with a regular rope in forever, but i remember noticing a difference when I switched.

Awesome, it is such a great feeling to have a progessive day on the water. Thanks for spreading the stoke.

keep up the good work man!

Thanks fellas. Yea after coming up just short several times I finally grew a pair and hit it. I didn't know what to do with all that spare time in the air haha... And man, what a much smoother landing!

Keep it going. dont try anything wrapped....just avoid that k? ended my wakeboarding career. I am a dedicated wakesurfer now :)

joey- i asked about your wrapped incident once and Im not sure if you didnt answer for a personal reason or if you missed it.
If you just missed me asking, can you please share?
thx.

my bad man, must have missed it. I got no problem sharing.
Chalk it up to a little bit of my inexperience with wraps, lack of guidance, and conditions. Decided I wanted to learn wrapped 3's, I had the rotation down for a regular 3 just couldnt lock in the pass so I figured learning wrapped would be a nice addition. Im goofy and was working on HS front side rotation(open my body to the boat). So I get out toeside, get wrapped, and I was too focused on what I was doing and didnt pay much attention to the boats that had past that sent some pretty good sized rollers my way, ended up having to hit the rollers while still wrapped and fell forward, i didnt catch an edge but my feet came out from under me, basically like a belly flop on steroids. But my bindings didnt release, and the rope caught on the vest and torqued the hell outta my back. Imagine your lower body staying and your upper body torquing and moving forward. Was riding at 70ft and about 22mph. Ended up with a few compression fractures and a slipped disc, while they were looking also found some degenerating discs, but no nerve damage. I got super lucky, if the fall had gone any differently it could have been MUCH worse. Doc had said wakeboarding would be the worst thing I could be doing for my back, and the fall scared me enough that I actually took his advise to stay away. Have wakeboarded once since the fall and I had to stop cause I wanted to go w2w and just goof around. So now im a 19 year old punk with the back of an old man.

Man, hate to hear that. Hopefully one day you can get back to wakeboarding. I've seen a few guys at the lake wakesurfing and that looks pretty sweet too. Looks like a good way to still be boarding without all of the violent crashes....I'm gonna try to maybe get a video this week of my w2w's for you guys to check out and evaluate me on. I feel like I'm getting a pretty good pop off the wake but maybe by seeing a video you guys can tell me how to get more. Also I'm gonna start working on my TS w2w's. Right now I'm getting about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way but haven't cleared the whole thing yet.

Congrats on the progression!!!

yeah

Thanks man... I don't know if three weeks is long or short or what in being able to go w2w but I've been getting kinda frustrated with not making it. Last week I would have swore that I wasn't trying to jump with a flat board but that's definitely what I was doing. I was cutting hard too early and then flattening out before I hit the wake. I wasn't getting any distance and had very little control. That's why I kept crashing so bad I think. Plus right before I got to the wake I was pulling hard on the rope with my arms. This was making me go faster than the boat and get slack in the line. Then when the boat caught up it would jerk me over the front... Yesterday I just made sure I started my cuts slow and smooth with the handle in close to my body and then I would cut harder at the wake and stiffen up my legs. Instantly I got a lot more distance and had waaaaaay more control.

yea man. One day haha. Wakesurfing is like an addiction, its a freakin blast and you can do it all day long and not get beat up trying new tricks. Only thing to hit is the board if you fall on it or the teak if you get real crazy.

heres a picture of our wave that looks pretty trick. though i would hijack a little and share, definitely should give it a try if you can.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...&id=1067030039
Ill get it on photobucket if that doesnt work.

Joey,
I had a compression fracture and and herniated disc
had surgery(called Kyphoplasty sp) on April 15 doc released
me to do what ever I wanted (including wakeboarding) 24 hrs
after surgery
Also I am 41
If you want to know more let me know
Good luck you are to young to have back problems

Yea man Im just a lucky guy I guess? Ive had my share of concussions as well, im at like 5 right now (no major ones), havent had any since I stopped boarding.
I just had to get a few epidurals and a **** ton of physical therapy, like a year and a half of it. Luckily didnt have to do any serious surgery because I was so young and it could heal by itself alright.
I feel like I could get back into it, slowly, but I just have heard it from everyone (parents, friends that are PT's, doctors) that I shouldnt and im real tentative. Dont wanna mess it up again, already done a good amount of damage.
I have been thinkin about it for a while, and I REALLY wanna ride one of those flex boards.

Ive been able to snowboard still, been able to mountainbike as well. Back just gets sore.

You are prob smart to be tentative backs aren't something
to mess with.
I just wanted to throw that out there so you may be able to
look into it if you were interested
Good luck hope you heal fully and quickly

yeah joey sorry to hear about your accident. but i also think with proper rehab and exercise you should be able to wakeboard again. GOOD LUCK.

Was about 2 years ago, Im recovered, out of rehab, just still hesitant to get back on the board. have had 3 seasons of snowboarding since, played a season of soccer, and have been able to run and surf, skateboard, all the other stuff. wakeboardings just been on the bad list so far. thanks for wishes guys. For now im thinking of just sticking with surfing.