I give up on technique

So today I took a lesson and at the beginning of the day on the way I was excited about trying new things and progressing and after the first set the guy was like alright we need to work on your technique. He said I flatten my board off as I go up the wake and that that kills all of my pop. So after many frustrating hours I apparently start doing it right and I'm getting absolutely no air what so ever and not to mention an unreal amount of line tension. I asked how that could be right without getting any air and he said I would figure out the pop later, which I didn't.

It felt like I was slicing right through the wake and if i tried extending hard with my legs to get pop it felt like i was playing tug of war with the boat and still not getting higher. There was so much line tension if had time to grab my board i couldn't.

So I give up on technique. I have fun wakeboarding even if I let off my edge, I feel like it doesn't kill my pop at all, I ride behind a ski boat and I have plenty of time to tweak grabs and land strong. I don't have fun however slicing through the wake only getting two feet of air even if it is more correct.

So how many of you are out there like o my god why won't this kid listen and edge through the wake?

I probably never will, yet I still feel like I'm progressing, and since I don't plan on going pro, I'm gonna just ride from now on and do my own thing. If it works I don't see how it can be that wrong.

Darren, I feel ya bro! never had a lesson so to speak, but had a lot of advice from other riders...and it seems to work the best. This instructor seems to be pretty green, I don't think your suppose to slice through the wake, rather use the progressive edge technique.
D, I do like your thinking, I guess your 20 now and it appears that your understanding the world better. don't believe everything that you hear.

You cutting in too hard? Some people confuse edging all the way through with turning the board hard -into- the wake. I wish I could explain it better. I'm no expert. Keep at it.... The first time you hit it right you'll dump a big load in your boardshorts

go to learnwake.com.....you are jumping okay.

there are different kinds of jumps.....ollie jumps (low line tension..good for grabs spins) and progressive jumps (high line tension..raley, backroll etc)

sounds like you do ollie jumps....these are typically alot easier to do....i.e the timing is easier, less rope tension.

the progressive jump sounds like what you were trying to learn and yes everything is more difficult....the timing...the acceleration ,the line tension......you have to react much quicker to get it timed right.

personally 95% of my jumps are now ollie jumps wake to wake....just much easier

if I do crank one it just goes way to far and high behind a wakeboat (for my age)

having said that you will eventually learn it and go flying.

its a misnomer to say cut up the wake...as even with a progressive cut you have to stand up to to come off the wake balanced.


but from what you are saying it really sounds like your having a hard time with timing.

You are either jumping to late or to early...both will kill the pop. ....also not straightening your legs with the jump. All these things have to be right on with a good progressive jump.



(Message edited by absoluteboarder on October 19, 2008)

you should still dig in and make cuts toeside and heelside outside the wake, every session, even if your not going to use it to jump the wake.

Everyone says "Edge through the wake" and for a beginner it's good advice, but the fact is, you can't really pop by staying on edge all the way through the wake. You do have to back off edge a little to stand tall and pop. A lot of beginners just do this way to early. If you're coming off edge a few feet before wake, you will loose line tension, and your pop usually.

J-rod, I'm fairly certain that I stay on a solid edge and only release at the wake as I feel like the only time I flatten is when I pop at the wake and the "coach" was telling me I was releasing my edge as I went up the wake (which was wrong according to him).

I feel if I have enough time to tweak a grab behind a dd ski boat then I have to be doing something right.

And Michael I did the learnwake thing for a month and to me those two guys make more sense than anybody. They even say on the backroll to release your edge as you stand tall. And as far as doing an ollie edge I'm totally cool with that as the only things the prog edge is good for is rolls and raleys.

And that's another thing, I started leaning air rolls at the cable park and since i learned them this was the first time for me to ride behind the boat. So I decided to just stop listening to the guy and just try to do a backroll because that was my original goal for the day. I only got to try twice and both times I cleared the wake and rode away on my feet but just let go of the handle when i landed, I was really pumped and was certain i would land it next time but the guy was like "lets not try those until you get your technique down" after which my turn was over and my time was up.

So yep from now on I think I'm just gonna do what feels right and not to think about it so much cuz that's worked for me in the past.

Post a video so we can see

Dude I wish I had video so bad right now. Me and my dad always just ride only me and him but I do have a couple of pictures from when I took some friends on a trip to Ute. You can't see my cut or anything but you can see about how high I am relative to the wake. The boat is a 1998 Tige 2200i, rope length was 70ft and the speed was anywhere from 20-25mph lol because my dad didn't really get the hang of holding speed until the end of summer.

...doesn't look like you have any problems!


I will say when we riding behind our fish and ski with a small wake we did a lot of progressive jumps to get the height and hang time we wanted. Now behind the supra we can do easy ollie jumps and get the same hang time as the wake is so much bigger.

you definately got enough pop to be doing backrolls..go for it

I adjust my edging depending on the type of pop I'm looking for. I start each cut the same with a fairly hard cut, but depending on if i want to go to the flats or if i want to go more vertical, i either stay on my edge and stand up, or ease my edge at the wake and look for that vertical buck.

Proper backrolls and roll to reverts = edging all the way through the wake and getting plenty of pop.... so yea, you do edge all the way through the wake AND get pop.

You're doing fine. I'd say your pop is excellent considing that wake. Was he maybe referring to toeside? That's where most people flatten off too early.

Dont give up on technique, as it will help you down the road. If you are wanting to do backrolls then you have to be willing to really load up all the way up the wake. There is a difference between you flattening off the board, and the tension standing you up flat as you pop. if you can handle the tensoin of doing air rolls on the cable, you should be able to handle it behind a boat pretty easily.

Once you learn how to function under that kind of line load, then you can add that aspect to your other stuff and blow them way out high into the flats. Manipulation of both subtle and aggressive line tension is HUGE in your progression!

Steezy method...

I have to say though...sucking it up and learning proper technique now will keep you from MASSIVE frustration in the future...bad edging techniques limit your progression big time...and once they get into your muscle memory they are a b*tch to break. Think of it is present sacrifice for future benefit.

Toeside is where i know I flatten off to early, but I can feel the difference for sure between lost tension with a crappy jump and a good floaty jump toeside it's just that I'm pretty much 50/50 right now on toeside.

But the guy was saying that for heelside as well. He said my jumps had perfect technique when i sliced right through the wake and got no pop at all and to do that over and over until I figured out how to get pop. I just feel like this guy has never seen himself wakeboard.

Either way I'm def never jumping like that again where I just slice through the wake.

Slicing through the wake sounds like a wake problem rather than a riding problem....solution:

2005 210 Problem solved ;)