i ride better with a shorter length rope. why?

when i ride at 70-75, i don't ride so well (or case the wake, probably because i don't like taking hard cuts). then every time i shorten it to about 65, i'm nailing tricks.

anyone else experienced this as well?--riding better, because the length is shorter. and why would this be?

short distance across the wake. You have less time in the air on a shorter rope, so that's why most cats ride as long as possible.

You can speed the boat up a little or just sack up lay down on that edge.

You answered your own question. Anyone will ride slightly better at shorter lengths to a point, but have less hang time. At longer lengths every thing needs to be done with greater intensity, aka, hard cuts, popping with more speed, greater line tension, harder landings, more float, etc. Every thing is increased and you have to hone your skills on the little stuff to be able to handle it at greater intensities. Hope it makes sense, but yea it's easier, and the answer is because you have to do everything harder(harder cutting) and more precise at longer lengths. But the additional hang time and float are well worth it.

exactly, the wake is narrower, so your cut can be slower. whenever I'm working on something new (I think this goes for most experienced riders, not just me) I shorten up the rope and slow down the boat to learn it.

I ride a 65 on a narrow beam boat. I usually ride a buddys vtx at a 60. I am not into killing myself to nail things as big as possible. It is too hard on the body to kill yourself when it is just as fun if not more fun to just cruise through it on a short length and nail everything really easily. Thats how I look at it.

I think its also a function of the where your wake is best at. This is dependant on speed to a point but different boat designs will cause the wake to be best at different distances. If you want to move farther away, bumping up the speed will usually move the good part of the wake further from the boat. But this is limited by the boat. I know with my boat that I cannot go much passed 75' no matter what I do with the speed.

Since weight pretty much dictates your minimum speed, the 'right' line length starts with how much weight you have in your boat. An unweighted boat can have a clean wake at 18MPH, but a boat slammed with 2500+lbs pretty much has to go at least 24MPH to get a clean wake. The faster the speed the more narrow the wake and the harder the wake is further back. Of course this is all varies a bit depending on the specific boat and personal preferences, but each boat will have different sweet spots depending on speed, which depends on weight.

If I am riding an unweighted boat going 20MPH - sign me up for a short line. Put me behind the same boat with the tow bolt under 4 inches of water going 24MPH, throw me an 80' line.