what advice to give to newbies for standing up?

guys,

i can wakeboard ok, but i am having trouble giving advice to the guys that have never tried it before when we are on my boat and i am about to pull them up. i just kind of do it (stand up) and would like some advice what to tell these guys.

tell them to let the board get pushed as close to their butts as possible before standing up... seems to be some of the best advice I have been able to give to help people get up

oh yeah

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thanks gordon, i will try that advice out. anybody else have any pearls of wisdom?

let the boat pull u and dont try to stand up to early

tried that one hayden, i think my clumsy friends find it too general....thanks though.

o ok

What I tell all my buddies that are trying it out for the first time is not to try to pull them selves up. That is one of the main problems that I have seen and one that I had when i first started. People try to fight the boat and pull on the rope. You just have to let the boat pull you up, and tell them to push their legs out as the boat begins to speed up.

Ive recently had about 4 new people trying to board out on my boat. I went through the "let the boat pull you up" statement but that didnt seem to work. IMO what seems to work best is when the boarder starts to feel the pull of the boat push with your legs but also (holding handle one fist up one fist down) pull rope towards you at the same time. Otherwise if they only let boat pull them the rope always seems to snap back. This seems to be a good balance and everyone Ive had out has had success with this.

I've had a lot of luck with the "try to sit your butt on the board" advice combined with the knees bent and arms straight. Another thing I find to work quite a bit is to tell them to count to five before standing up. If they continue to have a problem standing up too early, I tell them not to stand up until they can look at me in the boat and I tell them to do so. Sometimes I even tell them not to stand up at all.

Just yesterday I was teaching a 7-year-old and he was able to get up and ride just fine as long as he didn't stand up. That means he had the hard part (getting up) figured out. Now we just need to work on his balance in the standing position and he'll be tearing things up. I'll probably work with him on shore by using the rope and pulling him up with the board on his feet. That way he can get a feel for the body position he needs.

His sister, who's 4, actually did a little better with the same advice. She got up in the sitting position and was in enough control to look at the boat. We told her to stand and she did so. Of course, she's so short, there isn't a lot of difference between her sitting and standing positions! She's the youngest rider I've ever gotten up behind the boat.


I'd really steer away from the "push with your legs and pull with your arms" advice because they need to keep their legs bent and arms straight and that seems to tell them to do just the opposite.

Nice pic! Either she's a "natural" or you are one great instructor (or both)...

I usually have "first timer" guests take a look at a few segments of the "Higher Education" DVD before we go out onto the boat. Just the chapters on getting up and riding behind the boat. I think it helps them visualize what to do and by the time we get out to the fast water they have the proper mental attitude. It also makes it easy to refer back to what they saw when correcting their position on failed attempts. Takes only a few minutes at the house before we go out to the dock and really helps speed up the learning curve...

heh, everyone says don't stand up rite away, why is that? when i deep start as soon as i feel the boat pulling me i'm up and outa the wanter, i find it much easier on the arms than letting the boat pull me out. is there anything wrong with standing up rite away, i'm not fighting the boat, i mean, i let it pull me out, but i also stand up almost imediatly. it works real well, just have to remember to stand almost completly on the back foot at first, else you'll sink the tip of the board cause there isn't much speed yet.

If you can definitely watch a video first. Its a lot easier to see it than be told how to do it. But for my advice i agree with everyone else. Don't get them to stand up right away. Make it slow, keep knees bent and handle low by their lead hip. Have them watch closely at how you get up and stand up on your board

later

I've had good luck telling new riders to push the board down so its going under them as the boat pulls them up. Once they do this, they are surprized how fast they are on top of the water.

The best thing we do is ues an obrien kneeboard with the aquahook for the instructor, that way they are right beside the person learning and can tell them as they are going what to do. Seems to work especially with younger kids.

watch detention