Trouble with tree start

Ive dont a 3/4mtr sit down jetty start, easy as. So i tried a sitdown tree start. Was about 2 mtrs in the air. Mate pulled all the slack up when trawling, as soon as it got tight, he slammed the power down and i got yanked off, spun round and back planted it.

What are we doing wrong? are you meant to slowly take off? i though it would make me sink that way.

I've looked in past posts and theres nothing i could find about how to do a sit or jump start.

Are jump starts easyer than sit starts?

I know its practise but it takes forever to climb that bloody tree. I wanna try to have a bit of knowledge next time i climb.

pull an arms worth of slack and the driver should put the throttle about half way not too fast. they are super easy.

So basicaly u jump with still some slack in the rope and halfway down or when u hit the water it catches up with u?

Wont that do the same thing as before and yank you out of position or spin u round?

There easy when u know how, but to know how is the hard part.

(Message edited by smitty98 on April 06, 2003)

jump and be pulled right as the boat starts pulling... make it all simultaneous. pracitce jsut jumping off a dock before you do it out of a tree ..

b.

The problem is its a sit start. I cant actualy jump, just slide. Does this affect it?

did you manage this yet adam? your driver just needs to take it easy. he/she doesn't need to slam it, just accelerate like a normal start. if the driver doesn't accelerate like mad you'll have plenty of time to drop in and ride away.

I haven't been on the water since! For the first time ever, ive had to knock back a ride, and the worst part was 2 times! Ive been working but thats what payen for the boarden.

Anyways, basicaly no. The thing is if they dont slam it, i think that the rider will sink when they hit the water. Normaly like a trick i try anything heaps of times that i can think of, but it takes me ages to climb this tree and put bindings on in the tree.

Aint gonna stop me though. Should have a vid camera next time though.

trust me adam, your driver doesn't need to hit it - yes, you probably will sink a bit, but you can manage that. watch vids of dock starts - lots of guys sink a bit first. in fact, riding with darin shapiro and friends last week, they often want the boat to go slow after starting on the dock so they can submerge a bit and get the soap out of their bindings.

so go slower on the start - even if you do sink a bit while the driver is figuring out the timing, you'll at least get the start. all the driver has to do is a normal gradual start when you jump. by the time you're on the water the boat will still be getting up to speed and you'll be coasting.

but definitely get the vid out!

btw, i guess you'll have to update your profile - under occupation you list "none." ;)

cheers

(Message edited by deepstructure on April 20, 2003)

Suppose, always can start slow and stick it and every time get a bit faster. Makes sence.

Just one more question, its sitting in a tree so do i slide off just before the rope kicks in or let it pull me out?

"but definitely get the vid out!" Which vid?

Anyone got vids of dock/tree starts to help me learn?

About my job, i work once a football game, 12 times a year. Just happened to be 2 games on in 2 weekends when mates when wakeboarding!

My profile is pretty boring untill i get my digi cam which is in a few weeks.

Thanks for the help.

by "get the vid out" i meant catch it on tape so we can see how it went!

i would jump off the tree branch - getting pulled off, besides sounding painful on the arse also means the boat already has a taut line. basically you want to jump off just as the line gets taunt. if your driver just accelerates gradually you'll have no problem.

like you said, if you feel like making the climb again you can dial the speed in better - but it's pretty easy to do. so long as the driver is just cruising forward slowly to take the slack out - if you jump off the branch when the rope gets tight AND your driver does a nice smooth take-off, not too fast, not too slow - you'll be set.

good luck with it!

adam

from my reckonin a 2m sit down start would be much harder than a jump start. see the problem is getting out of the tree. when sitting you need to lean forward to fall out, this will make it harder for you to land upright. if you jump however you fall the full way in the right shape.

we had loads of prictice last year with a 7meter drop, this involved a high dock and a picnic table (adequately named 'the board buster'). trying to do it sitting down is just wrong as landing shape is messed up.

also your driver needs to wise up, fully hitting it when your in the air is the road to face-plant town.

if you take an arms length of slack in one hand you can judge you timing better. one of the best ways is to try to hit the water just after the rope has tightened, make sure your leaning back slightly tho.

i know climbing trees sucks, but you will never do it first time (wheres the fun in that.

glad to hear you are working i order to get more water time. i sex turkeys for frig sake, its grose but it pays the bills. i guess most the time, but you have a 50% chance of being rite...

wow - 21ft drop in? that's suh-weet!

cheers dude, it cost me loads to get a new board tho.. and i love the one i ride so much that i just had to buy the same one again.

sorry i don't have any pics of it but heres my most recent winter collection. im the dude on the right, the other is my main sham, fletcher..

Chris: my camera was orderd for last week. It was late so they gave me a free waterproff case, but now its just up to time. And a sit tree start isn't as paintfull as u might think, its a 3 forked tree so i got a back rest, a seat and something to push against so i can get right out on the edge of my ass!

Mark: The idea of taking one arms work of slack then dropping it on the way down sounds like it could almost just work!
I though when i was up there that spinnng from flat stance to a forward stance might be tricky.
Who said climbing tree's suck? Comming from a rockclimbing background I loved it, it was just that it took me 10 min to get up there then another 15 to put the board on. Very tricky tree.
A 7 mtr drop in? How could ur knees take it if u land it, and i can only imaging your head if you didnt!

hey smitty,

mark here from ireland, any luck with the tree jumps. when i was talking bout mine i didn't mean to type 7. sorry for the typo. it was more 4.5 - 5. even then it was mental. we found this really high dock that is made for winter when the water is a lot higher on the river, so in the summer its not used. we then got a picnic table and put it up on a few bricks. let me tell you this is scary shizzle-diz. if could give you any advice on landings it would be to watch out for your knees hitting your face. my pal knocked out his front teeth last year on a big landing and i busted my nose.

as for the jump to landing thing that you were talking about there is two ways to tackle the problem.

firstly you could try jumping with your board with a 45 degree angle to the water and your front foot over the edge. this means that all of your weight needs to be on your back foot, but there will be hardly any rotation.

the other way is to try to land the jump with the board paralell on the water. just make sure you lean back and are in a good crouch position. when we learned the best best way to remeber is to ack like your sitting on the toilet. it sounds weird but it works, trust me...

yeah dude dock starts rule, i landed a massive one last year then my mate chumba did 2. mark if you think sexing turkeys suck you should try my job. collecting bull semen isn't exactly a chick puller,but it gets me on the water. im going for an interview with mc donalds next week, any tips?

Mark: Ive tried it once and now with all this advice i think i know what to do, but i havent been back out on the water! All i wanna do is get out on the dam water!

For now all i can do is just go over it in my head constantly.

Well i finaly got back on the water!

I launched out of the tree like its meant to be, i hit the water nice n flat, but then i sink! The boat pulled me out of the tree so i though there would be no slack. When i hit the water i just go down and my face gets filled with water, the slack then catches up and wabam, ive lost it.

Ive got no idea what to do.

I realise you dont hit it hard when getting pulled out of the tree. I think we were going to slow and i sank to much.

My theory, are you meant to get pulled out of the tree slowly and when falling accelerate so when u hit the water your already moving?

yes, the boat should be accelerating when you hit the water, imagine you are just landing a wake jump. just before the line tightens, get the driver 2 floor it, make sure you jump rather than get pulled out

Wouldn't that make me sink even more?

no you are sinking because you are not travelling fast enough while in the air. you gotta hit the ground running, so 2 speak. also try landing with your lead foot pointing twords the boat, not horizontal. ive landed bigger starts doin this

The boat pulls me out of the tree easy, i do a 90 turn so i face the boat, so i figure with the boat accelerating there should be no slack. But when i land i just go down for some reason. I'm still watiging on my camera (up to canon's decision on when they send us new stock! buggers!) before i can see for myself then post what im doing.