Fear of being pulled?

We had a friend on the boat yesterday who would let go of the rope as soon as we started the pull. She said she wasn't sure what she was afraid of and really wants to wakeboard. She has no background of watersports, snowboarding, skiing, or skate boarding. Has anybody run into this before? Any ideas?

Mike,
Each summer we take about 400 High school kids to Lake Mead for a week on house boats and I have witnessed this before.
I have used 3 techniques (with as few observers as possible);
1st, go over it on land without and with a board helping them go through the motions with a hand grasp and then the handle.
2nd having them behind the boat with the board on and using the swim step as a lever point and physicaly pulling them up.
3rd putting someone in the water with them.
Wish I could say it was 100% but every now and then I have run across one that just can’t overcome it.

Maybe, if you have some, get her up on some skis first so that she can get the feel of being pulled then switch her over to the wakeboard. People are really intimidated by the wakeboard for some reason but shouldn't be by some skis.
Just a thought, good luck with it though...

My brother used to let go as soon as we started pulling. What I did was drop the boat just barely in gear so he would be getting pulled at a very slow pace. Once he looked comfortable, I picked up the speed for a slightly slower than average start.

YOu could try a knee board where they lay down on it, and just get pulled a lil bit so they get used to that

tape her hands to the rope.....fail proof. jk