How to Dock Start

Can anyone give me some advice b4 I try.

pretty easy. stand up on the dock with your board kinda hanging on the edge (so its easy for you to jump off the dock). grab hold of the handle, make sure the boat starts you off as straight as possible. have the boat idle like normal to remove the slack in the rope, when the slack is removed and it almost starts to pull you, you have to jump into the water, tell the boat driver when he/she sees you jump up to FLOOR it!, then its pretty easy from there, your up and riding.

when you jump and the boat takes off you might go down into the water to almost your knees if the boat doesnt take off fast enough but thats ok, you can save that pretty easy.

good luck.

they have a clip in Higher Learning of how to do it.

Might be easier to sit on the dock with your board in the water the first time.

ow i got a splinter in my butt, we usually leave about 2-3' slack then hit it pretty firm but not full throttle

Here's my 2 cents....

- Think of your arms like a torsion spring. Stand with your elbows at your side and the handle level with your waist.

- Let the boat pull out the slack and jump off the dock right when the slack is gone.

- When the rope pulls tight try to use your arms like a spring to pull the elbows back to your body and push the handle down low towards your waist, offset to your lead foot.

- Land on your heels with your knees bent.

- Keep your back arched and don't break at the waist.

Keeping your handle low and thinking of your arms like a spring will keep you from getting pulled over forward on your face.

When the rope gets tight, jump in...

We start off the houseboat by sitting on the edge all the time. The key is to time the "HIT IT" so that the boat is actually moving fast when the rope tightens up. Yell too soon and you get yanked right over the front. Yell too late and you get pulled off the edge, fall into the water and then the boat takes off. Do it just right and the boat pulls you right up on top of your board and you don't even sink.

starting from higher up takes quite a bit more balance, skill and timing. If you are standing on the board you need to wait till the line tightens up then jump up a little bit so that the rope tension pulls you horizontally out instead of tipping you over. Doing it wrong is kind of hard on the fins, the board and the dock/houseboat.

Rod