Need your advice

Hey everyone I need some advice here. I'm 14 and his is my first year wakeboarding and I love it. In the 2 months I have wakeboarded I have taught myself a number of different tricks liek the roast beef and method, got the 180 workin on the 360 and so f'n close to the tantrum I can taste it. I really wanna take wakeboarding up as my sport. Here's my only 2 problems: I live in MICHIGAN. And my boat blows and there's no chance of getting another one. Next year I'm working on fat sacs, 4 blade prop with a better pitch and at least a pylon since tower is outta the question. My question is: is it even possible to persue this as a sport, looking for a local sponsership and try my hand at tournaments? Or would my short season behind my jank boat hold me back too much? Thanks. -Greg

Is it fun??? Pursue the sport for fun. Don't worry about how good you can get or how much your equipment limits you. Enjoy what season you have, invest in a good drysuit and don't worry about it! Meet some people with good boats and kick them gas money, wipe the boat down for 'em, ect. When you're behind your boat, don't feel limited. There's plenty to learn with a small wake - lip slides, ollie tricks, solid fundamentals, switch stuff, spins, basic inverts - learn all 8 variations of the 360 - see how many guys can do that! Really good riders can do most of their tricks no matter what wake they are on - it's all fundamentals and there's plenty of room for progression. That being said... if your dad ever gets into the idea of getting a wakeboat, don't discourage him.

Aight thanks...ya its really fun I joined this site to meet ppl because the friends who started me wakeboarding arent very good at all and I figure if I meet people with more skill than me I can learn a thing or two. Unless I pull some amazing stuff out next season and become awesome wakeboarding boat is 100 percent outta the question but tweaking up our boat isnt so if you have any reccomendations LMK. What about serious wakeboarding? liek comps and stuff?

Well if you want to be good and have respect then dont say that other people arent good at wakeboarding. The one having the most fun is the best. Dont worry about how good you are, have fun and progression will come. Comps are fun as long as you dont take them too seriously and once again HAVE FUN, nothing worse than seeing some punk get all pissy b/c he couldnt huck his backroll in the comp. Basically wakeboarding has enough tools, try hard to not be one LOL.

Hah ok I didnt mean it in a bad way that my friends arent the greatest ever cuz I'm fine with that and so are they I just meant I wanted to meet people better than me that I could learn from. I'm not looking to dominate and the world and loosing is no big deal I just wanna get good, earn respect and have fun.

Good advice from Matt & Clay. When you compete, don't worry about how the other riders do, just ride for yourself. If you feel you have a good ride, thats' all that counts. Have seen too many people worry about beating the next guy, complaining about how they placed, or throwing a conservative run, just to place better. That is the exact opposite of what this sport is about. Ride for yourself. Have been honored to share the division with so many really good riders. had my best run once in SD, have no idea where I placed (only top 3 were mentioned), had no problem with that. Will never forget it, an awesome run.

There's a ton of stuff written in the archives on how to maximize i/o's and outboards. Search the archives for that information, or post what your boat is and ask for recomendations sometimes you'll get good responses, sometimes not...

Good luck!

OK thanks. I have my first comp thing commin up soon so I'll see how I liek it. I posted for more advice on my boat and have had a couple of responses so far so that helps.

Where do you live in Michigan? I live in southern MI but only get to ride up in northern MI at Lake Charlevoix, and i only go up there for a month out of the summer. Im in the same situation with an old crappy boat, trying to talk the pops to put a tower on the 17ft bayliner. Good Luck!

I live in the kalamazoo area...closer to mattawan and portage. Where do you live? Maybe we can ride sometime.

dont take it too seriously. if you are a "natural", time will tell and you will get some breaks. just take is easy and ride with what you got. i started behind a bass boat and i'm sure most people dont have the luxury of having a $75,000 boat. use this forum to locate people that leave near you and try bumming rides off them. just remember to help pay for gas and you will probably always be invited back.

OK ya I'm trying to find rides but with no luck so far.

also try posting something in the "find a third/be a third" forum. make sure the subject says where you are from so people from your area will take notice.

Already posted there with no replys yet but hopefully I'll get some

yeah im 14 and live in bloomfield hills, like 40 mins outside of detroit in the suburbs. A little far from the kalamazoo area, If you or your family ever head up north like to Charlevoix or Traverse City or Petoskey area let me know we'll ride>

OK we never go up there other than in winter to snowboard but if your even in west michigan shoot me an email and we can ride

Hey we use to live in Michigan, 16 miles west
of Ann Arbor on Clear Lake in the town of Chelsea
You could go to Int league.com the guy who runs
it on your side of the state is Karl Deloof he also has a shop i thinks it called(Boarditup) he's in Kalamazoo and has a nice boat. He can
hook you up with people to ride with also, he post on this site sometimes, get in touch with him. Also Derek Grassman was from Grandrapids
and he is a awsome rider. Good luck

I can't stand boarding with people who don't take it seriously. Being serious about a sport will help take you to the next level. Being serious doesn't mean you can't have fun. As for comps, long days with lots of watching... Not my cup of tea. Anyway, I live in GR and we board about 45 minutes North of GR quite often. Email me if you are interested in boarding with us.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. Derek Grassman, pro tour rider, is from Michigan. There are a lot of really good boarders in Michigan and Northern Indiana.

OK thanks...I emailed karl deloof and asked if he would no anyone to ride with near my area.

root, what lake do you ride on north of GR?

don't ride to get sponsored, ride to have fun. If you're just trying to learn to make something of it you're already doing it for the wrong reasons.

Hey guys I got another question...I'm having trouble landing my tantrum...I land on the board in the right position but i get jerked to hard to hold on. I donno if it's cuz I'm using a tube rope that stretches or there's just too much slack in the rope when I flip. Any advice?

I don't know that much about that specific trick but i can say that getting a wake line will help some. I was riding with an old tube/rubber handle combo and recently bought an accurate jacket series mainline and murray handle. The handle is strong and comfy and the jacket line provides a much more solid pull and you can build up a lot more tension when going for wake jumps. Sorry I dont have any further tips, Good luck with the tantrum!

Also, docta, if you haven't checked this out already im sure it will help some.. http://www.wakeworld.com/Tricklist/TrickTip006.asp

OK thanks I think I got my dad talked into a wakeboard rope if I buy the handle.

On the Tantrum... riding with a non-stretch spectra rope does make a difference, but the most important thing is to keep the handle in off the wake. If you are getting jerked off the front, it is likely because the line is tight and you have nothing to give. The position you leave the wake is the position you will come down in. As you approach the wake, pull the handle in to your lead hip, and keep it tight through the rotation. When you land with a tight rope two things happen - 1) if you get jerked forward, you can let your arm out to give the slack to stay on the board. 2) You will be able to control your rotation - letting the rope out will slow your rotation and keep you from over rotating.

Most important two things for progression: Body and rope position. ALWAYS keep the rope as tight to your hips as you can off the wake. This will especially help you with handle pass tricks. and ALWAYS keep your hips up, knees relaxed and slightly bent. Keeping your hips up aligns your center of gravity over the board and will keep you in good position for landings, and keep you on axis for spins.

OK thanks I'll try that when I go out today.

I here ya on not being in the greatest area or having the best wakeboat but i try to make the best of it. I live in NE Ohio and have a 26' sea ray. I just put a skylon pro xt tower on it and can now go w2w so i am looking forward to progressing a lot more now.

Sweet good luck chris.

I got a new Q now...my parents are being gay again and are saying they don't wanna invest a lot of money into my wakeboarding. Here's the hole story: I use to play tennis but got so sick of it that it wasn't fun and I wasn't getting any better any more. So naturally I quit. I picked up wakeboarding and had tons of fun doing it. My mom is still mad I quit tennis so she's trying to get back at me I guess by not being very supportive and not willing to invest in fat sacs, new boards, lessons, and just about anything else. What do I do? There's no way in hell I'm gonna stop boarding or play tennis again. Do I just tell her to F@#$ or what? THanks. -Greg

Being a parent and reading your last sentence, I would make you get a job and pay for everything yourself.

Don't they have lawns where you live? Get mowing and pay your own way. Failure is not an option. Besides, after you guit holding your hand out and start to make your own, your folks will see difference. Also, telling your mom to eff off, should result in your dad handing you 5 of the big 10. IMHO......

when's your birthday??.. uhh christmas is only a couple months away

The main thing to do is be patient. As most 14 year olds, you take up a new hobby and you get a rush and want to do it 24/7. Thats cool and all but your parents probably are hesistant to shell out a bunch of money only to have you quit like you did tennis.

OK ya I'll start saving up. That last sentance was supposed to be freak not the other one...I wrote it when I was pissed. My dad is cool with it now cuz I talked to him. My mom thinks I'll just quit this sport but the thing she doesn't get is that I was kinda forced to play tennis. I never really liked it at all and always thougt it wasn't fun but when I'm on the water I have a blast. It's always fun wether I'm tubing liek when I was young, waterskiing which I started at 10 or wakeboarding which I started this year.