Up vs Out

Every few years I throw out my rocker line philosophy. The Marketing in the industry really does a good job of confusing the crap out of people and I have a really simple way of looking at it.

First, all boards can go wake to wake and all boards can go into the flats. When a company uses a helicopter vs and airplane or describe a wakeboard and extreme vertical pop vs smooth pop (???), what they are really talking about is DRAG.

3stage vs Continuous doesn't really clear anything up either. There are slow continuous boards (usually called accelerated continuos) and there are fast 3 stage boards (called blended 3 stage or something like that). Forget everything you have read and grab your board and put it on a flat surface. Consider two thing: How much rocker and where the rocker is distributed. As a rule, more rocker equals more drag, but just as important is where is the rocker. More rocker closer to the tip and tail = more drag too.

Aside
Have you ever seen anyone hang ten on a wakeboard? It is totally possible and the first time I saw it, I thought it was a fake photo. The reason is suction. You can put all of your weight on your front foot and you will pull your hip out of socket before you force the nose of your board under water.
End of Aside

The suction created by the tail is increased as the amount of rocker (height and distribution) of rocker moves away from your center of gravity.

Words like slow, drag and suction don't really sell wakeboards, but it does work off the wake for the right type of rider and the right conditions. Only a few years ago, rockers had gotten extreme. 3" of rocker and long flatspots shifting all of the rocker from the center became the norm. Why?? Because wakes were small (compared to the monster wakes of today). The increased drag allowed the board to "sit deeper in the water" and allowed you to build a large wedge of water between you and the boat (load the line) with more intensity--compensating for the small wake. This also lead to extreme boat speeds (heck I was riding 26mph every set only a few years ago).

Today, Wakes are a lot bigger and boat speeds are going down. You can do a lot more with a lot less work. The days of 3" rocker and extreme rocker kicks are over (for now) and most boards fall in the middle mellow category. Only a few riders can still ride an aggressive rockerline well. Most people need to be riding something in the middle. Don't get caught up in the "this board is a wake to wake board" "This board sends you up and not out" salesmanship. All boards can do all things.

When choosing a board ask yourself: "Is my wake on the small and narrow side?" Then you may genuinely benefit from a slower board. If your wake is big and wide a slow board will eat most developing riders lunch. If you don't have the confidence to edge all the way through the wake, while charging a big wake, you are going to lose crossing speed and control very fast on a "wake to wake" (slow) style of board.

I hope this is helpful for riders shopping new boards this spring. Personally, I ride faster boards because I am riding a huge wake and I'm getting a little older. This is my 21st season wakeboarding and I coached many years. I've seen many trends and tech advancements, but the two truths to being a great wakeboarder have always stayed the same: 1.) More time on the water 2.) Making the most of your time on the water. Have a good 2014 everyone.