Watch the wake?

When performing the progressive edge towards the wake do you want to look down at the wake to determmine when to stand tall? My timing is off and I'm getting pretty weak air. So I'm wondering should I be watching as I ride up the wake to determine the best spot to stand tall.

How do you know at what point to stand tall??

yea id like too know too because i have simular problems

i think its more like just looking forward and seeing the wake come up with Peripheral vision, after i ride this weekend ill double check

I am no expert but I can tell you what I do. When I cut out I'm not looking at the wake. For me the most important part is when the board flattens at the very outside of your cut. In the DVD Higher Education PJ Marks calls this the "ready position" - it's the flat moment before you transition to a cut back at the wake. In the ready position I look at the wake and judge where I am going to come back and hit it at. I drift in and over time have simply developed a feel for the little dip right before the wake goes up. That's when I stand and at this time I am already spotting my landing on the downside of the next wake. I guess what I am saying is the closer I get the further ahead I am looking.

Yeah, the only way I was able to start landing w2w jumps was to stop looking at the wake and spot my landing before I even hit the wake.

hope this helps... if i'm wrong, someone please correct me. this is what i think about and it helps. the distance to the top of the wake percentage and the bend in the knee percentage shold be equal at all times. take offs and landings. ie: if you're half way up the wake, your legs should be half extended.

is it just my computer or did my piture not show up?

It's just your computer. I see a pretty red x. :-)

From what every coach has told me, is to look at the wake coming in so that you can visualize your point of entry. After you have lift off, look up or at the shore/horizon, not down at the water. You can look and spot your landing. But if you stare at it, you'll be looking down, causing your arm and handle to extend which will throw off your balance.

Look at the wake as you apporach it on your cut. Once in the air spot your landing. When you are landing look at the boat. Don't look down when landing and keep your handle low.

make sure u ride your edge all the way thru the wake. u want to stand tall, almost stomp, at the top of the wake. think of pushing your hips up & poking your belly at the boat(when doing HS), just dont over do it. this is what someone told me & it helped alot, maybe it'll work for u.

I just got back from riding and tried these things, but I'm still struggling. I get so ticked off because I try and try and still piss poor air.

I think I'm thinking about it way too much. You know running all the right things I should be doing through my mind. Has anyone struggled like this?

How do you turn off your brain and just do it? Maybe I should drink a couple beers before going so that I will relax.

Any help????

My guess would be you are going to fast. If you have slalomed it is tough to break the aggressive edge.

Shorten the rope so going wake to wake is not an issue. Cut out to about five feet past the boat spray--maybe 10-15 feet from the wake. Your goal is to edge to wake slowly. So slowly it is painful. Don't even think about going wake to wake, just think about leaving the wake with the board on edge. Keep your weight equal on both feet and think slow. Look across the wake at the other shore. Never look at the boat.

Let the boat start the turn, but you have to fight the slalom skier urge to lock into you cut. Slowly tension the rope with you upper arms. If you are going slow enough the approach to and up the wake will be very managable. It took me three years to learn to slow down.

If 2/3 into the cut you feel like you have enough speed to clear the wake--you are cutting too hard. The trick is to do all the pulling during the last third of your cut before leaving the wake.

I'm still trying to figured out how to slow my cut down and build the progressive edge more consistently. Speed is not what you want to get air--speed just helps to get across. The air comes from a progressive edge.

Get someone to video tape you. Watch the spray from your board. If your cut starts with a huge spray of water and ends with a little spray--you are going to be across the wake and in the flats in the blink of an eye with barely time to slap the board!

(Message edited by whit on August 14, 2003)

Whit Thanks!

As I thought more about what went on today at the lake I wondered if my approach was to fast. I never was a slalom skier, but my kids are saying I start off really hard and fast but seem to quit about three feet before the wake and flatten out.

As I was thinking tonight I wondered if I did a slow approach as you stated I would do better in the area of air. My sons don't seem to dig in as hard as ol dad does and they do better. Slower would be like you said ..more in control.

Question: Can I go in this slow pace and still get some nice air?

I would have to agree with that last post. Keeping Your weight even will help a great deal if you feel like you are cuting real fast check to see if your hips and shoulders are in line. the edge that you are looking for is the same one for a toe side set up.
Goofy foot: come off the driver side wake and start to edge away from the boat to much weight on your right foot(lead) and the board wants to stall or pause making not go out all the way.All your wieght on your back foot (left)and it is real hard to hold your body position.
you want the rope to stay centerd and infront of you but most of all is find a rithum.

here is my aproche but not recomended:
cut all the way out as farr as i can go then i stand up sstraight relax as the boat cathes up with me with one hand on the handle i start the turn (it helps me start the turn back to the wake nice and slow plus you caint start your cut to fast this way) bend your knees grab the handle with both hands and edge all the way up the wake if you hold your edge rigth the you dont have to stand tall you will get booted
SORRY FOR THE BABBLE AND THE SPELLING IF YOU CAN UNDERSTAND IT IT SHOULD HELP

The one thing that I see almost everyone struggle with is the amount of bend in their knees. If you are bent too deeply, (like at a 90 degree angle) you cannot get a strong push off of the wake. do not try to jump like you are slamming a basketball over the rim.
Form will overcome vertical leap any day of the week.
Try this....come at the wake slowly, like Whit said, with your knees bent at about 35 to 45 degrees. (don't focus on the distance just yet, just think of form and pop). As you slowly ride up the wake, your will feel the upward push of the wake. as you first start to feel that upward push, stand tall while keeping tension on the rope. Timing is the key element. if you are extended (not with locked knees, just extended), at the top of the wake, You will shoot straight up in the air even though you are cutting slowly.

I believe this will probably help, because as I said, I have seen alot of people struggle with this. have someone in the boat watch you...I would bet that what you are doing now is bending too deeply at the kness, and not reaching full extension until you are off of the wake.

Thanks Guys!!

Next time out I'm going to really work on the slowest and correct form in my approach to the wake. I'm hpoeful this well help me. I've been at this for two years and yesterday I was really bummed trying and trying and still no good pop. Went home sore and ticked off, but no doubt I will mount the board again and ride.

Noone has ever told me to try this approach to the wake in this slower fashion, but it makes allot of sense and I'm very willing to try anything once!!

My .02:
First, make sure the wake is there. If you are 245 hitting an unsacked io wake, you simply can't get that high.

Second, type of wake: I don't need to go out far or cut in that fast when I hit a MC X-2 wake. The boat sits low, creating a nice trough (dip) before I hit a nicely shaped wake and up I go. I have to hit my Moomba's wake harder. There's less trough and the wake isn't as nicely shaped.

Third: as PJ Marks and Charley Patterson have pointed out, there are different types of cuts for different types of tricks. The cut is different for Raleys than it is for grabs and spins. I don't do Raleys. I like grabs and spins. Three steps into the wake: edge to build speed, flatten slightly near the transition (but keep the handle in and the rope tight; do not slightly flatten and let your arms out "unloading" the line), third, "pop" the wake. As you go into the trough bend down ever so slightly and then stand tall or sorta trampoline the wake as you go up it. Watch the pro videos, you'll see them crouch slightly and then stand (much like a skateboarder does when trying to get a little extra push going up a ramp but wakeboarders don't just use the back leg).

Agree that most focus too much on building too much speed (which will carry you out into the flats) and not on line tension and handling the trough/wake transition (which pops you up, assuming you've got a good wake.)

Getting good air is the result of proper technique-- doing a series of steps in the proper order, efficiently, at the proper time. Just like hitting a baseball or a golfball. Technique wrong: pop-up to the shortstop; same pitch with technique right: u is a trotting and high fiving the first and third base coach.

loading the line and edging all the way through the wake are the keys. period. speed is not your friend.......

Don't worry about making it all the way across the wake. You know you can haul ass and make it. With the progressively load line and edge you will get pop. You will get to the other side of the wake because you are in the air long enough for your slow speed to still get you across.

But don't worry about making across until you have the up part. Think up, not over. Well think hold your edge and load the line before up. Err--maybe the better way to say it. Work on the slow approach and holding your edge. You will get the feeling of leaving the wake and getting popped. Who cares where you land.

After you start feeling the load and holding you edge--then work on standing tall as you leave the wake. I never understood the standing tall when you leave the wake crap till I started hitting the wake slow. Finally I had time to actualy stand tall.

After you learn to stand tall as you leave the wake is when the mad pop comes and your don't have to worry so much about not crossing the wake. In fact, being the old men we are, you will quickly learn how to control the load on the line so you are not slamming your bones on every jump.

excellent posts..... I started jumping at least 2 feet higher when I eased into my progressive edge and then apllied the most tension the last 5 feet or so.

After this i did this jump http://www.wakepics.com/view_single.php?medid=8534

How does it look? any advice for me?

thnx
Chris

Hey, hey!! Not bad Chris. You started your cut nice and slow. Perfect beginning. Two things I noticed, you started your cut super far out from the wake and your arms could be in better position. Cut the distance between you and the wake in half and then start your cut into the wake. The jump in the video you start so far out that it gets hard to know when you should start loading the rope. You look like a big guy, so you can use strength to compensate for bad positioning, but that will only get you so far. Make sure you keep that handle in close to your waist. Having the handle in close makes tricks in the air and landings much, much easier...

So my advice. Start your cut into the wake from 1/2 the distance you are now. Do the exact same cut as you have now. This time your trip to the wake will be shorter.

You also look to be favoring your back foot heavily. Even the weight out between both legs. As you approach the bottom of the wake think about two things--tension on the rope and the edge of your board. Your board will edge automatically as you tension the rope. (As you tension the rope, if you don't edge your board, the board would slide out.)

Equal weight on both feet and holding the edge through the wake are what you want to feel before you start trying to "stand tall". Don't try to add "standing tall" into your jump until you get the holding the edge though the wake feeling.

And a final note. The wake in the video does look to be the firmest and is fairly wide. Shortening the rope five feet, or maybe a little more, might move you into a little nicer spot on the wake.

(Make sure you are using a wakeboard--non strech--rope. If your rope stretches, like a slalom ski rope, you will never be able to load the line. A stretchy rope simple absorbs the tension you put on the line.)

Oh and one last thing... After you get to the other side of the wake and land. (Make sure you look at the shore when you land.) Don't cross the wake and try again--learn to jump both ways. Do a surface 180 or ollie 180 and try a switch heelside jump! It is sometimes easier to throw a switched HS W2W if you have developed bad habits doing a regular W2W.

Cool! thanks! ill try that the next time we go out which i hope will be monday! ill post another video when we get back

oh yea. Do you like the wake? its bigger than normal cause i forgot to put the plug in so we still 60 gal. left in the boat cause we were still pumpin it out.