How much of getting good air is based upon...

In percentages, how much would you say each of the following contribute to getting some big air:

Rope/Handle: xx.xx%
Boat Wake: xx.xx%
Board: xx.xx%
Skill Level/Technique: xx.xx%
Total = 100%

(Message edited by maximum_carnage on September 06, 2004)

Skill 80%, the rest 5% each.


(Message edited by tclagggym on September 06, 2004)

Rope Handle: 0
Boat Wake: 30
Board: 5
Skill: 65

I would say:

Rope/Handle: 15%
Boat Wake: 40%
Board: 0%
Skill Level: 45%

i agree with thane, except board is 5%, cause some go far, and some go high, it also would affect ure skill,

eg if ure on a parks and going high, ure skilled cause its so hard,

but if ure on a motive its a bit easier cause its a forgiving board

I'd go with something similar to Tim.

Ask yourself the question would you go just as big with a plank of wood strapped to your feet with two bits of rubber for bindings, whilst holding onto a bit of string and stick.

There are so many factors to think about: Mood, weather, driver. Are you going to go as big in the middle of winter when you have a stinking hangover and the driver is still pissed?

rope/ handle- 10%
boat wake-15%
board-5%
skill- 200%

60% skill
40% wake

Any board. Any handle/rope
as long as they don't stretch.

i'd go with j-rod. cuz if u have a jet ski wake then u can only go so high but skill has alot to do with it becuz u could have a new x-star pumped to the max and still only be able to get 6 inches on a good jump. boards all go about as much as the rider can get them some go alittle farther and some go alittle higher but thats just riding preference.

(Message edited by edward on September 07, 2004)

Rope/handle- It just can't stretch.
Boat wake-35%
Board-5%
Skill level-60%

I went out on a 04 supreme 220 this weekend which was my first time behind a real wakeboarding boat. (I have been riding behind my old school boat for 4 years)
I compared frames and found about a 25% improvement in height with the monster wake.

I think Blabel nailed it pretty good.
BUT, if you're talking about using the rope and handle to create line tension you would have to contribute at least 10% to that factor.

i have a 1991 mastercraft maristar. a 26 footer. 454 chevy, and the wake is like 2 and a half feet high. i can get 12 feet of air.

boat wake 95
skill 5

http://www.wakeskate.com/Members/Member_PhotoAlbum_View.asp?PhotoAlbumID=384

Take a look at that. It is my friend Dave. He has a 17ft I/O with a very small wake and no tower. He can do tantrums/raleys/ and backrolls as big as guys with towers and big wakes.

Skill is like 95%
everything else 5%

(Message edited by malibuboarder75 on September 14, 2004)

Technique is everything! Crappy board, little wake with good skills and you can still go wake to wake. HUGE air of course requires a decent wake, but I still think skill and technique is the most important. Rope has a small part- as long as it's no stretch... handle=0 for big air

Rope/Handle: 23.465%
Boat Wake: 57.82693%
Board: 72.938%
Skillz/Tech: 172,856,479.338%

Total: 100.0%

i'm prety sure those are the correct proportions between the percents

Way to break it down fellas.

I was helping my bro fix up his '86 Nautique on Sunday and we got a set in with NO WEIGHT and NO POLE so I can tell you how much wake matters.

He was killing it on the skate, so it didn't phase him, but I decided to wakeboard to reminice a little. I had the line at 65' and he was only going like 20mph. Getting air (height) was hard. I tried to edge as hard as my skinny a$$ could at the wake and release to pop, but there was only so high I could get. I made a backroll (kind of tucked it in at the end), stuck an off-axis 180 and got good height on a 3 off the dub, but that doesn't really count. Other than the double ups it kind of sucked.

I may have to bump that boat wake factor up to 50% or higher.

Rope/Handle: 10%
Boat Wake: 35%
Board: 15%
Skillz/Tech: 50%

Total: 100.0%

OOOPS!

Rope/Handle: 10%
Boat Wake: 35%
Board: 15%
Skillz/Tech: 50%

Total: 110.0%

Leo is correct. It's all about technique to get your first 5-10 feet. Most guys can't maximize their technique (skill), so they have to resort to a bigger wake to get air (including me). Watching guys go huge on the same wake I go small makes the point painfully obvious.

If you look at Rick P's pics above, you'd notice he would be almost touching the water with his board if his legs were straight. Pro riders almost never have their legs bent unless doing a grab or invert. Rick needs to put his chest up and pull the rope to his hips.

Pros pack their boats heavy for a reason, but they can do almost any trick behind an 18 foot bayliner - unweighted. I've watched near pro level riders do it.

I think talltigeguys is semi right. Some of the pros started off behind non weighted and I/O boats when learning their first inverts. Andrew Adkinson did his first tantrum on an outboard boat i believe. Im sure some of the pros couldnt do the same tricks on a small wake just because they have been practicing on such enourmous wakes all their life. Froggy Soven has probably never ridden behind a boat with a small wake. But Im sure they could do most 3' and 5's behind a small wake and do most of the basic inverts. Look at murray, he can do almost every trick with zero wake (raley, roll2revert, whirlybird, ts 540, scarecrow, tantrum). A big wake helps when learning because it is less work for the rider to get pop, but technique is important. My friend is doing scarecrows, raleys, 3's, backrolls, and tantrums with his 17ft I/O. no tower and a small small wake.

I would say as long as the rope doesn't stretch, its all about skill. Of course you can get higher on bigger wakes but you can't really put that into a percentage. The amount of air a person can get is all skill and that height will vary on different wakes.

Why do people make such a good deal about rope stretch? Yeah it pulls you but I think you would get used to it after awhile and it wouldn't really affect performance that much at all.

I rode for a long time with a stretchy ski rope and I had no issues with it. A couple of years later we forgot the no stretch rope and had to use the old ski line and it was weird but it didn't really affect my riding too much.

Anyway, I guess I just don't see why people make such a big deal over the rope.

Well I have been riding a nonstretch for 2 years now. I have to say the consistency really helps in control and balance over the board. One day I went riding with my friends who had a fishing boat, and we used a stretch rope. The wake was very small. Even with the stretch rope and small wake I was able to get about 3ft of air and do some basic grabs/180s. I did not like the stretch, but I learned to deal with it and overall I think I got about the same amount of air with the stretch then without the stretch. There was no way a non-stretch rope was going to allow me jump a foot higher with such a small wake.

The rope makes a huge difference depending on how hard you load the line. I remember Scott Hussey doing Bel-Airs behind my friends MC 190 with a pole back in the day. The pole would ping and sounded like it was gonna get ripped from the boat when he would release the tension.

For me what i have to say, and maybe someone dont think about this one is : THE DRIVER !!!

for one who dont got a Perfect pass, you need a good driver to adjust the trottle when you edge hard.

Wake Addict hit it on the head. A DRIVER! I hate it when say my wife drives me and the wake is different everytime i hit it. It's very frustrating.(If you see this honey, i love you)

As far as the stretchy rope goes. A year ago we forgot the rope and ended up using an old stretchy rope. When i would cut into the wake instead of the boat pulling me harder the closer i got to the wake. I would end up just leaning back further and couldn't load the line because when i came off the wake it pulled me forward. Now, there are obviously ropes that are stretchier than others. So maybe mine was just really bad, but it made boarding ALOT harder.

id say 40 percent wake, 40 percent skill/tec, and 20 percent good equipment/driver ..Now i also agree mood is a big factor ,when im feeling good and satring at butter and the wakes looks big clean and sick and theres nobody around i seem to blow up bigger and have my best riding days..i can take the same boat and wake and add crap choppy water and a bad driver and i dont ride very well at all..

i have not done that many tricks. and i can get 10 to 12 feet of air.

ummmmm......ooooook......

(Message edited by wakestar8878 on September 15, 2004)

I think that it all goes down to your skill and your form coming in and popping off the wake but some boards do have more pop than others and the wake does decide your highth and distance. The only way a rope would effect your jumping would be if it strecthes alot while your cutting because you want as much tension on the rope as possible.

...as previously stated....

wakestar8878 u dont believe me.