Standing Tall

Being an ex-skier, getting lift off the wake has been my biggest challenge. I feel that I have the progessive edge down fairly well, but I am having problems with the concept of standing tall at the wake. I feel that if I try to stand tall off the wake, I end up flattening out the board and ramp through the wake. When exactly do you stand tall and how do you do it without flattening the board? Also, on alot of my jumps, the front of the board is much higher than the rear. Any suggestions would be appreciated

Thanks, Rich

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When exactly do you stand tall and how do you do it without flattening the board?

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start standing tall at the bottom of the wake. it's easier if you stick your chest out when you come off the wake...that leads to standing tall and getting the handle close to your hip. it takes practice. don't get discouraged if it doesn't happen right away. just keep working on it.

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Also, on alot of my jumps, the front of the board is much higher than the rear.

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even out your weight between your front and rear foot.

Something that helps sometimes when I am explaining this very thing to people is, instead of thinking of "standing tall", think of pushing the board down with your legs. This has the same effect as standing tall, but for some reason it's easier for some people to think of it that way.

When pushing down on the board, do I need to keep most of my weight on my heels or doesn't it matter? I come into a wake with my knees bent (Check my profile pic), would it help my timing if I not bend my knees so much?

Thanks

Just really concentrate on continuing your progressive edge all the way up the wake(so yes, most of your weight would be on your heels). If you were to shift your weight more to your toes the board would begin to flaten out, and you would lose the tension on the rope that you built up when you were edging in. The when the line tension is released(i.e. when you leave the wake) it will act as a slingshot and pop you higher. And yeah, it might help you to not bend your knees so much until you get the hang of it. Just because the pros bend their knees so much on the approach, many people think they have to do that too. This is simply not the case. Just be patient, Richard, and it'll start to come together for you.

Oh, and if you dont have a Spectra rope, get one. It'll really help with the whole rope tension thing. Good luck!

You can see how much weight you have on your back foot in that picture. Try and ride moreevenly distributed. When you pop off the wake do so evenly off of both feet. Also try and stand a little taller. Don't drop your butt so much and really "hump the handle" as we say(keep your hips up). Pop is created by generating tension on the rope you need to be in a stronger position than you are in the pic.

(Message edited by stephan on February 14, 2005)

it would probably help if your body was square also. Knees, hips shoulders, all in a line, and your hands should follow that. they should be right in front of you instead of leading you like they are in your profile pic.

I can relate to all of your suggestions, especially the one about dropping my butt. I have some videos of when I cut really hard, my ass is almost in the water.

Thane - I can picture my body position as you suggested and if I understand you correctly, the handle should be on my lead hip with my arms in towards my body.

Thanks for all the inputs, now I just need to go somewhere warm and start practicing.

when you're approaching the wake the handle should be directly in front of you. Then handle should be oriented more to your belt buckle, not your front hip. If it's on your front hip when you're approaching the wake, like your profile picture, it will pull your shoulders open to the boat and you'll lose that strong body position.

What I suggest you do is this: cut out and before you start to cut in, drop your right hand off the handle and look towards the shore. This will square your shoulders up with your feet, knees and hips. Begin your cut with one hand, then put the other hand on. I wouldn't consider this the one single right way but I think it will help you get the feeling for that strong body position. You'll hear people say pull the handle to your hip, but it's easier to think about pushing your pelvis towards the handle. One more thing, keep your elbows at your sides.

All that said, it is never a bad idea to have the front of your board a little higher than the tail while you jump. You never, ever want to land the other way! Also, like Mark said, make sure you have a non-stretch rope. Nylon ropes are great for skiiers, but are NOT what you're looking for when wakeboarding.

The only time I was behind a fully weighted Super Air Nautique I stuck the front of board into the top of the second wake. Blew out my eardrum, which did alot of damage to my confidence. I am looking forward to applying the suggestions that I got from this thread. It's not that I can't get off a good jump once in a while, I just can't do it consistently enough to be able to move on to more difficult moves. At my age, I have no illusions in doing inverts, but I would like to move to 360's and more grabs. Concerning the rope, we do use a spectra rope, those ski ropes will kill you.

(Message edited by sandman59 on February 15, 2005)

"At my age, I have no illusions in doing inverts, but I would like to move to 360's"

Richard- most people actually learn an invert before a 360. If you do them right, certain inverts can be almost effortless. Never rule the possibility out

i concur. 360 crashes hurt so much more than backroll crashes!

I started trying 360s out last season. Whenever I would fall, it would be more of a smack to my back and ass than to anything else, regardless of how much I did or did not rotate. are 3s easier for most heelside or toeside?

}I learned the heelside before the toeside, but I picked up the toeside much quicker.

The great part about a toeside 3 is that the boat and rope naturally wants to pull you through the first 180, so all you have to do is finish it off.

Another way to tackle this problem is to approach the wake at a gentle lazy cut that's going to send you maybe half way across, and just focus on having your knees slightly bent and just concentrate on pushing the board down at the top of the wake. If this is done correct it should just "pop" you up relatively effortlessly. You won't get very high, and you don't have the cut to take you far, but you'll be addressing standing tall. Once you do that even just a few times early into a run, concentrate on putting more elements together, for example; a stronger cut, still with only a slight bend; then move to bending your knees a bit more while keeping the cut and still emphasizing standing tall; once this becomes comfortable move onto riding like you normally do.

yea ive been having the same problem too... i juz find it tough knowing when exactly to "stomp down hard on my board" to get that pop off the wake...

also maybe its 'coz im a girl i feel like i dun have much strength to push down on the handle at my hips... every guy i see does it all so effortlessly and im so damn frustrated 'coz i can clear 2 wakes easily and land in the flats but i juz can't get that air!