My problem

So i have been wakeboarding for a few years now. But my advancement is being hindered and was hoping to get some advice. I currently can go way out in the flats heelside, do several grabs, land back rolls and tantrums and have attempted several raleys. For the amount of time i go (once a week on shortened northern utah season) and the amount of pulls i get when we go because of going w/ others. i have pretty much given up on switch and toeside riding. i have never landed a 180, i have ridden switch for probably a total of 60 seconds. I have tried a few 360's i have landed one wrapped and received about 20 stitches on 2 different attempts doing handle passes. I am trying to decide if it is worth it to me to work on toeside stuff and switch riding. I will never compete in a tournament. i can clear the wake toeside but just am not comfortable doing it. I tell myself to work on it but when i go out i think to myself i can have a lot of fun doing my big heelside stuff or waste my time trying to re-learn the fundamentals i skipped over. Is anyone else in the same problem and what do people recommend

Fundamentals are pretty important to learn and when you do there are so many tricks that just come along with them, that are pretty fun because they're so easy you can put your own style on them and play around with the trick.
With the 360, it'll be much easier to learn it you start doing nice big w2w 180's.

Keep working at riding switch and riding toeside if you want to keep progressing. Take babysteps into it, you don't have to clear the wake everytime. Start by doing 180's from the middle of the wake and jump outwards. It will take time but you will get comfortable with it. This might not be the greatest advice but it worked for me.

It looks a lot cooler when you can bust back and forth across the wakes and ride switch. I suck at switch riding but am almost more comfortable on my toes than my heels. Boosting heel then toe shows profeciency and a mastery, yeah its fun to blast huge one way, imagine the fun of doing it both ways and switch. What I'm trying to say is that its worth it. Nothing looks more lame than when a fella busts a big roll and then cruises across the toeside wake with his tail between his legs. Go to a wakeboard camp, they will cure you very quickly! They cured me after one set.

having fun is the main thing, so i guess toeside and switch riding aren't really necessary if you have more fun doing heelside moves. but, since you're going to be on the toeside or switch side of the wake about half the time you're riding, it would be worthwhile to learn one or the other if nothing else just to get back to the other side. i'd suggest learning something relatively simple like a half cab or a tindy; that would be better than just crossing the wake back to your heelside. if those are the only two non-regular moves you learn and you keep doing them, you'll eventually feel more comfortable riding switch and toeside without really having to work on it

(Message edited by JcV on March 29, 2006)

i posted this on another thread today, but i have a friend who can do backrolls, tantrums, whirlybirds and wrapped kgb's but doesn't ride switch and just crosses (not jumps) the wake toeside everytime. i'm not going to rag on him because he's way better than me, but it's...odd...to watch to say the least.

some great advice fellas, i have been trying to always do a wake jump toeside, instead of just absorbing it like some of the people i go with. maybe this season i'll push myself a little more and maybe just spend 1 day doing switch and then end it big. Kindof just becomes a mental thing. I just wish i had more time on the water. I'll be heading to mead the end of april maybe if we have 3 good days (always windy there) i can get it down

Hey B,

I have been riding for 12 years, but my riding is similar to your's, ie short sets, maybe on the water once every 2 weeks for 8 months of the year.

This means my riding hasn't progressed for a while (which really frustrates me). The first tricks that I learnt when I started riding were in this order: hs w2w, hs w2w 360, hs front flip. In other words I was not a very good rider, would get up and just huck a trick, sometimes landing sometimes not (no style no skill no technique).

BTW I am not implying that you don't have any of these.

After going out riding with a couple local legends they set me on the straight and narrow. "Why aren't you jumping toe side?"
Reply, "I can't"
Their Reply, "Well you better learn cause you are wasting half your run and half the wake".

Further they gave me some pointers in proper progressive edge and told me to start riding switch.

What this means is that while I no longer have the balls to try front flips (following a knee reco, but that's another story), I am always learning by riding switch a lot, plenty of 180's with grabs which makes me feel 10 times more comfortable on the board. I can tell you, learning to do a switch w2w grab is a hell of a lot harder then learning a tantrum.

As for jumping toeside, well you are already out that side of the wake after you land a hs trick, so what's stopping you having a go at doing w2w toeside jumps to get you back? The more you do it the more comfortable you will get and you wont be wasting any time in your run.

The way that I learnt to ride switch was to do a 180, then just carve around switch and little jumps for the last couple of minutes of my run. After a while this started to feel better and I started to incorporate riding like this in my runs.

Can I do any big inverts at the moment (because I am soft), no, can I do 360's no (lost them when I learnt to edge properly and working on getting them back. But do I feel more comfortable with my riding now, yes.

So my simple answer is you may feel like you are taking a step back, but in the long run it is well worth it.

Just ride doubles buddy. Twice as much ride time and even more stoke! PLus if you have a buddy close in skill level you can play pig, poser or whatever; its hella fun and forces both riders to adapt to the other persons strengths!

P.S. It looks trippy to see two people behind one boat both ripping things up with back to back tricks, how often do you get to see that?
Almost always gets everyone in the boat pumped to ride when they see it.

Well you've given me hope, I can land a 180 but havn't attempted any rolls, tantrums or Raleys. I found it easier to land a toeside 180 than to clear the wake toeside. Not sure why but it worked for me. I'll try a Raley (just because it's my fav.) this year and you can practice the toeside stuff. I had a few lessons and they sure helped me. I'll be taking some more before attempting anything else (as soon as the weather warms up)

forget the tricks and learn to ride correctly. i know fundamentals arent cool to practice or impressive to onlookers. however once you get your fundamentals down everything will fall into place.

Get up switch to start every run.

B, don't you snowboard? just snowboard goofy footed, and you'll feel more comfortable riding switch when the season rolls around

i actually ski, i grew up skiing and only go once a year usually now a days so its not worth my time trying to snowboard when i am a good skier, i have done it a few times though. i went to Snowbird last saturday and once again re-assured myself that snow sports dont even come close to water sports

With me I can only do my tricks going heelside. I can land a 180 but not W2W yet. When I get out there, i don't want to "waste" my time doin toeside. I want to learn more stuff heelside but i know i have to learn switch riding.So this summer, if it will ever get here, I'm gonna spend a lot of time riding switch, and getting the basics down like toeside jumps, 180's, and then when i get comfertable doing all those things, get stuff like 360's... any advice on how to get better at toeside? I have the book I need to start watching again..

Thanx,
Jamie

Those heelside 180s (and any 180/540 etc. for that matter) will come way faster and easier if you are better at riding switch.

As far as TS just lean AWAY from the boat, not towards the wake. At first it will feel like your gonna slip out and fall flat on your face, but ultimately it will get comfortable and soon youll be rippin.