Advice: Can't ride strait or toe side

Hi All,

I am looking for some advice. My wife is a beginner. She gets up great....no problems. However, she can only ride heel side. In fact, as soon as she is up, she shoots across the wake and can't get back across. She basically can't even go straight behind the boat, and just puts to much pressure on her heels.

When she tries to go back across she has actually eased herself into a 180 a couple times so she could still use her heel side and go the other direction.

Are there any tips I could give her, or board setup options that would help her keep her weight more centered and allow her to go straight and eventually use the toe side.

Thanks.

It sounds like she is just starting out riding and probably has only gotten up a couple times. What you are describing is exactly what tons of people do when they first get up. The 180 back to heel side the other way is also very common and leads to lots of toe side edge catch face plants for beginners. It sounds like there might not be too many experienced riders on the boat with you guys.
Please make sure you are towing her extra slow and on a longer line. 65’ - 70’ and 15.5-16.5 should be somewhere around where you are until she gets the feel for riding straight and edging back and forth inside the wake. Drive without the speed control on so that you can control the speed as needed. More than likely her riding position and handle placement should be the first thing she should work on. Make sure she is standing tall with her chest up, hips up to the handle, arms out pretty straight. Handle positioned at her leading hip. There are great videos from learn wake and Murray on you tube that she should watch a couple times before the next time out about proper riding position. She is shooting outside the wake heelside because she is squatted,arms bent pulling on the rope and leaning back on her heels. Weight needs to stay centered over both feet and the board when getting up and she should practice sliding sideways for a few seconds longer before pivoting into riding position. No leaning back when getting up and give a nice slow long pull as the driver. No hammer down yanking her out of water.

She needs to move the handle to her front hip and look at the boat. You can't follow the boat with the handle in the center of your body. She can practice this on a hardwood floor with the board on. You hold the other end of the rope so she has tension, and she can see how how moving the handle rotates the board. Has she tried dropping the back hand and one handing it?

good advice so far. She is not holding the handle in the proper position. Tell her to rotate the upper half of her torso and hold the handle by her hip. Sounds like she is holding the handle in front of her body as opposed to her side.

Wow, thanks! Really appreciate it! She will be excited she isn't the only one....she was getting depressed. We are in our 40s with kids, she never grew up with water sports and only started trying to ski and wakeboard 2-3 years ago....she tries maybe 2 times a year. Right now she just feels like she is hanging on and can't go anywhere she wants to go out there.

Definitely not a lot of experienced folks on the boat. I am the most experienced and am not too good. (Cant jump both wakes, can't do a 180 on the water, etc. She thinks I am great though because I can go wherever I want on the water, haha.) I learned in my early 20s and just did it and never really thought about hand position or technique at all. It was basically something I did after I was tired from skiing.

Really good comments about hand position and being by your hip and not out in front of you. You made me think about it and If they are out in front of you in the center and not to the side, the board has no choice but to be more perpendicular to the boat.

Right with respect to squatting and holding on too. I have been thinking her stance is too wide which is likely promoting squatting. So much that it isn't a natural stance for her. Right now the two boots are balanced. If I move one in, should it be the front? Or should I move both in and see if it is too narrow?

Boat speed is good. And I am definitely pulling her up slow.....but I can try even slower.

Thanks so much....I am going to go look at some pictures of her from a couple trips.

good advice above.

have you done anything to confirm she's riding with the her most comfortable foot forward?

I wouldn’t think you need to move your bindings around. What size board is she riding? How tall is she? If your board is a woman’s board 134-136 size and she is average height you should probably have the bindings in the center holes on both feet. I wouldn’t move one in closer than the other at this point. Keep everything even. A little bit of a wide feeling stance is normally best for boat riding. Not crazy wide but a little weird feeling to newbies. Normally just wider than shoulder width. Most of the time the leaning back comes from thinking you are going to get pulled over forward and you have to lean to fight the boat. Less is more. Let the boat do all of the work. The less you pull and the more you use your body as leverage the stronger your position and the longer you will be able to ride.

i haven't done anything to confirm she has the correct foot forward....guess I could give her one of the push scooters we have and see what foot she puts first. I figured she would just naturally choose the most comfortable side.

She is 5'9" on a 140 board. A bit big, but the smaller board is a 130 with small boots.

Originally Posted by dnadrifter

i haven't done anything to confirm she has the correct foot forward....guess I could give her one of the push scooters we have and see what foot she puts first. I figured she would just naturally choose the most comfortable side.

She is 5'9" on a 140 board. A bit big, but the smaller board is a 130 with small boots.

To determine which foot is forward, I learned a long time ago to stand with your feet close together. Start leaning forward and which ever foot you use to catch yourself is the one that goes in front.

Ask her......if you were to run across the house and slide across the floor in your socks, which foot would be in front.

One easy way to help figure out correct foot forward. Have the person stand with their back to you feet together. Give them a slight gentle push in the back and they will step forward with the foot they should put in front. It’s easy to do real quick before they get in water. Don’t tell them you are doing it so they naturally step with the foot that is most comfortable.