Beginner needs help

Hi I just started to board this year but am having trouble with my W2W jumps well jumping in general. I've watched stuff on you Tube but there's something I'm not getting. I think I need to straighten my legs more, I'll post a video. but my questions is am I edging to hard on my heel side and bending my knees to much before I hit the wake? What can I do to get better pop?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxdpJJJknnM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drcY2...eature=related

Thanks

Save your hardest edge for the wake, keep it progressive. From where your starting, cut harder and harder until you get to the wake, then stand tall. Remember the most important thing is line tention. That is what brings you across. Also, I just recently joined learnwake.com because a few folks on here said it was a good call. Lots of great info on everything from getting up to inverts. Its 10 bucks a month and its well worth it.

Learn to build a good progressive edge and you will clear the wake every time. Right now you look like you are only going half speed on your edge. Start off by cutting out to the right as far out away from the wake as you can, gently switch your edge, come back toward the wake starting out easy and then lean against the rope more and more until you get to the wake. When you approach the wake your body should be positioned as if you were siting in a chair. Extend your legs at the top of the wake to achieve maximum pop. Then you just need to practice it until you have it more perfected.

On that second video one thing I noticed is you started edging out, stopped and then edged out a bit more. You shouldn't ever do this. It wastes energy and you don't end up any further out. Make sure its one pull to bring you out and then an edge that progressively gets more intense as you approach the wake. You don't need to squat down as much as you are. Whats more important is waiting til you're at the absolute peak of the wake, pushing off with your legs, and pushing the handle down while looking at the horizon. If you're doing these things correctly and getting a good up-and-down pop but still not clearing the wake, then its time to use a harder edge than you are but only after you've done these things.

You haven't made the mistake of flying into the wake at full speed and not pushing off, like many beginners do, and try to avoid doing this as you progress.

Out of interest what boat, rope length, and speed are you riding?

Also check out the How-to section of wakeboardingmag.com It'll probably be better than youtube for helping you but the best one is learnwake.com.

19.5' 89 bayliner Carpris, 75' of rope shortened to 65', 20mph.

Going out tonight for a couple of sets, will try and get video based on suggestions.

The second ( small) cut out was to build a bit of line tension, I find that after going out toe side and flatening out that the boat doesn't pull me back hard unles I do the second cut..... any suggestions?

Had to wait for the water to calm down tonight before I took video.... tried the suggestion of one edge out ... found it worked wonders thanks. think I'm squatting down to much still, although I didn't get video of my best jumps.... got to dark and battery on camera died.
My first set I started off small only 10 from wake just to get the feeling of standing tall at the top of the wake... starting to understand/get the feeling of popping off the wake. Also use the idea of pulling/leaning back on the line more... once again starting to see how it's a feeling to get the pop right.. kinda like getting up on the board, easy to do but you have to feel it to understand.
Hoping to get out tomorrow if weather holds out.
I really appreciate the suggestions, please keep them coming

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PcSILnR4HI

sorry link should work now

Your body position is not correct.YOUR hips are turned,waist bent and your pulling with your arms instead of leaning against the line.When you hit the wake you are trying to jump instead of standing tall.This is from fear of the unknown.So to fix all this you must do edging drills to build muscle memory for proper body position.Then just cut out 5' from the wake and cut back into the wake with one goal in mind.You only want to feel pop and get air off one wake and land in between the wakes.To feel pop you must have some edge,your body has to form a straight line[standing tall].To do this tighten your quads[that straightens your knees]tighten your glutes [this pushes your hips forward] so your not bent at the waist and push your chest to the sky [this also helps with the waist and assures straight body line].All this equals maximum resistance against the wake.The two forces meet and the result is pop.You must maintain your egde and resistance through the wake to create pop.Then you can relax your knees to absorb the landing.As you increase your speed,edge and distance traveled to the wake line tension increases.To help counteract this force you will need to pull the handle to your lead hip,then you can create slack for your landing by letting the handle out a little on the landing.Hope this helps you out.

Thanks Robert, can you direct me to a site that shows some edging drills? When you say my waist is bend do you mean when I'm going heel side or toeside? I've been doing the toeside drill from learn to wake. But as far fear of the unknown... totally. But that's subsiding.
Will take your advice and put it to use this weekend, thanks for explaining it the way you did.
Hopefully get some more video to post.

Originally Posted by Wiatowski

Thanks Robert, can you direct me to a site that shows some edging drills? When you say my waist is bend do you mean when I'm going heel side or toeside? I've been doing the toeside drill from learn to wake. But as far fear of the unknown... totally. But that's subsiding.
Will take your advice and put it to use this weekend, thanks for explaining it the way you did.
Hopefully get some more video to post.

Learnwake.com should have them Also you could buy the dvd called "THE BOOK" at ACTIONSPORTSVIDEO.COM.Your heel side cut into the wake,if you look at the video's and compare to your body position you may see the difference.Also there are video's on this site.

I can tell you have been doing toeside edge drill because you have a strong toeside edge cut away from the wake.Also you need to be leaning away from the boat slightly like your leaning against a wall with your body straight.I'LL see if i can get a video to load on here for you to compare too.

let's see if this will load.I couldn't get the video to load,but if you can see here i'm leaning against the line and waist is barely bent.See how my arms are relaxed and not pulling the handle.In the second picture that is the cuff position and the third picture i'm riding switch,which is your regular left foot forward position.In my switch position i am bent at the waist and twisted slightly.I NEED to push my hip forward and my chest out and it would be perfect.But that's why we practice.

Watched both vids, you need to work on your progessive cut; which means gradually lay on your edge more and more as you approach the wake. Then when you hit the wake, extend (straighten your legs) and you'll get pop. My suggestion would be to keep handle low and eyes up at all times during jump. Good Luck!

oh and don't cheat toeside...... for every HS attempt, do the same for TS

Hitting the water this morning will try all suggestions, and post vid.
Thanks all!

Well hit the water today...in more ways than one. The video I have was taken by my 5 year old son, he didn't do to bad, not good enough to post... needed to be zoomed in more. Thanks for the advice, I felt the pop a lot more toady. Kept my back straight and leaned back more on the line. Felt very comfortable and made my landings better. I felt more comfortable in the air too.....I don't know if that makes any sense.
Will try to get some better video tomorrow.
Thanks again all and keep the suggestions coming.

Congratulations!Your on your way now.

Get 'The Book' Building a Foundation DVD. You should be able to do the 4 minute edge drills with a strong edge, switch and reg. Learning to jump W2W solidly is about learning to edge, and having halfway decent timing on standing up. For instance, my Reg, TS, and SW TS edges are good. My SW HS edge feels the weirdest. No surprise...I now seem to have more problem with my SW HS jumps....than with my SW TS jumps. Even after riding for 2-1/2 years...I still do my own extended version of the 4 Minute drill at the start of most sets. My suggestion...spend more time working on your edging.... Then the jump will come.

Originally Posted by kitewake

Get 'The Book' Building a Foundation DVD. You should be able to do the 4 minute edge drills with a strong edge, switch and reg. Learning to jump W2W solidly is about learning to edge, and having halfway decent timing on standing up. For instance, my Reg, TS, and SW TS edges are good. My SW HS edge feels the weirdest. No surprise...I now seem to have more problem with my SW HS jumps....than with my SW TS jumps. Even after riding for 2-1/2 years...I still do my own extended version of the 4 Minute drill at the start of most sets. My suggestion...spend more time working on your edging.... Then the jump will come.

I have the same trouble.My switch heelside is my worst unless i get my timing right.Edging drills helped me too..

Signed up for learn to wake, 2 weeks ago. Found it very helpful, and did my first W2W last week.... felt good. Have been using thier switch drill. Question though. I'm having a hard time getting into the cuffed position, tried slowing the boat down to 13-15 mph, and find it very hard to grab the handle. Any suggestions?
Have look into getting "the book" dvd I take it it's pretty good.

im gonna try to quote dave briscoe, butttttt jumping the wake is like swinging a baseball bat. You need to make sure your swing is hardest at the ball, and then you still need to follow through. So what that means is that you continually put more weight on edge, untill you're completely on edge at the wake, make sureee you have line tension, and then still follow through all the way up the wake, you hesitated ur edge on that video, once you go, you need to commit, i promise once you do that you wont take that many hard falls any more, its whenever you go hard, back off and half ass stuff that you get hurt. As for body positionnnnn, think of wakeboarding, notttt like ur being pulled, but ur being pushed. Like on ice, if someone was pushing you from the shoulders on ice, youd need to put ur legs out in front of you a little bit to not fall over frontwards right? and then youd need to keep ur backstraight, not bend at the waist. Same thing with a wake jump! sit down, just like ur in a chair, and make sure you keep ur back straight, if you fold over, you loose all power on ur heels.
Hope this helps!!! i typed this in a hurry but i still tried to hit the important analogies. Goood luck, post a video of you getting it! i love seeing people progress

Originally Posted by Wiatowski

Signed up for learn to wake, 2 weeks ago. Found it very helpful, and did my first W2W last week.... felt good. Have been using thier switch drill. Question though. I'm having a hard time getting into the cuffed position, tried slowing the boat down to 13-15 mph, and find it very hard to grab the handle. Any suggestions?
Have look into getting "the book" dvd I take it it's pretty good.

Pull the handle hard with both arms towards your lead hip back pocket to create slack. Grab the handle behind your back and look at the horizon behind the boat.Also lean against the line like in the previous picture i posted.

have been leaning back back on the line, and riding edge through the wake. I've been working on jump consistency. I don't have any good video.... but check out my first surface 360!
I'll tell you what, the water has been the smoothest of the year my last 3 times out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LD5X...=youtube_gdata