Pulling a Big Guy On a Wakeboard

I tried today to no avail to get my friend up behind my boat. He is about 6'4" and 300lbs. He was trying to ride a 140 Hyperlite. I am pulling with my 1996 Mastercraft 205 with a 350 and tower. He tried like 15 times. Any constructive suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

a 140 is a little short. I have trouble riding anything under a 142 or 143. Are you using a zero stretch rope? If not get one. Pulling the big guy up should not be an issue since I do just fine. The bigger you are the better you technique needs to be,but, that is no big deal. I stand up in the water just like I am riding with the board in the water. Your back needs to be straight up and down with your legs just in front of the body in a firm position. Keep my legs just in front of my hips, toes pointed up, stand firm and I will just raise out of the water. When he is up, pull the rope to the lead hip and start riding. Good luck.

make sure his toes are pointed to the boat as much as possible, most important thing imo

A bigger board will give him the surface area needed to get up easier . But if he has any clue a 140 should be easy to get up on.

Tell him to let the boat do the work. If he trys and pulls himself it wont work to hot.

I'm 6'5 240 and i dont have any problems on smaller boards.


Btw- Brett thats a pretty gay email address.....

(Message edited by ethan31 on June 23, 2007)

try a dock start...

i have done the same, then once they get the fealing they can try the same thing in the water...

my cousin is 6'4 270 and i got him up after a few days of trying.. he keeps either pushing so much water he just sinks or he gets up and goes face first.. he finally got the catch of it...

have him watch this..

http://test.waketrix.com/view_clip.php?id=70

I taught my girl how to get up last week and it took her like 60 times and she still can't ski worth $#!+

Oh, and don't gun it! They don't like that

thanks for all the info

It may look dorky, but have him wear gloves. For us big guys, it gets hard to hold on after lots of attempts to get up. Pull slowly, instruct him to stay in a "cannonball" position, rocking forward, until he is on top of the water then and only then stand up and turn the board.

Big guys think they need to pull the handle to get up. You need to convince him that he will lose to your boat every time. Tell him to let his arms go limp, let the boat pull on him, and then keep repeating (and do) the following:

"Bring my heels to my butt, bring my heels to my butt"

If you can, put someone in the water next to him. It makes it easier to see what he's doing wrong.
His weight shouldn't be a big issue.
I've taught alot of people, but I tried to teach a friend and it took weeks and over a hundred tries. He just wouldn't take instruction.
It got to be a mission for me. What worked was when I tried to say the same thing as many different ways as I could. One of them finally clicked.

Most guys I've tried to teach try to muscle their way out of the water instead of letting the boat do the work.

The board is too small to start. Most guys that size I have taught we use a 146 that we have. "Heels to the butt" helps and so does let the knees hit the armpits and let the board plain. Then stand up. I normally don't go that fast with a wakeboard and can get someone going at 14 before they start trying to turn the board (where the instability will start to happen). Some times it just takes time to learn. How athletic is the guy, that has a lot to do with it as well. If the guy is big and clumsy it takes more time vs an athletic guy.

make him sit on a litle tube to start