Axis Wakeboard Boat Forum

Are you talking about the 'cleaning up toe side pop' tutorial? I definitely recommend it. It helped me a lot after I watched it and tried the drills. Getting comfortable with the backside slide is key like they talk about in the video.

One of my biggest pet peeves everyone want to run before they can walk. I cant even convince a few rookies in my crew that taking their time and learning correct form and proper cuts in and out of the wake will get them there faster than just beating themselves up with falls. Like said earlier an instructor or someone really in the know will make the biggest difference. Its not as simple as add 3000 lbs. of ballast drive at 22 mph on a 75' rope. None of those things really matter. and you will use all types of versions of those things to progress.

This is what I teach. ill start super basic. knees bent, handle held at the waist, cut in staying on edge, don't flatten out right when you are hitting the wake. set the line at 75' or so speed 20 or so what ever your comfortable with and have the most control with. cut in to the wake and bend your knees as you come across the wake, absorb the wake continue cutting absorb the opposite wake and continue cutting into the flats ( the point now is to not jump but to get you in the proper form you need to be in for the next steps) practice this a lot. Then set the rope as long as you can but still have a clean wake to hit (usually 80 feet) now cut in and when you are about half way up the wake "stand tall" not lock kneed but stand up. you will pop up and can comfortable land in semi smooth water between the wakes, don't flatten out, continue on edge absorb the second wake and cut all the way to the flats. practice practice practice. get to the point your almost landing on the other wake. THEN set your line at say 60' you should be comfortable riding at LEAST at 21mph now. Cut out edge in and clear both wakes. practice practice practice. slowly start lengthening your line as you get better. Then get crazy with the ballast and get your speed up to where you feel most comfortable.

speed, ballast, and line length can be different for everyone . I personally like stock ballast, arrow full, rear plug and play at 400 or so, no wedge. I ride a 78' line (I know weird but its the perfect length for me) and I ride at 22 mph. I like to be booted high and land on the transition of the second wake. The flats just hurt my knees at this age.

A "hard" edge can be accomplished by leaning directly against the line, making an effort to not only dig your heels in but lift your toes to compound it, handle at waist( this last one took me forever and an instructor to figure out, but the single best improvement to my plateaued riding)

Yes we have great wakes but great riding requires proper form. In my opinion the big wakes are making people lazy and form has gone out the window. I love riding past and jumping significantly higher than a guy on my lake who runs 2000 lbs heavier than me with the wedge. Great form + great wakes = great riding

LNDSY3,

I completely agree with everything you said. My buddy (who doesn't have good form) will only ride with the wedge down, stock full, 300lbs in each rear bag, and arrow sac full. He seems to have a tough time clearing the wake sometimes. He even pulls out really far from the both and flies in. He lacks the "stand tall" on his jumps. I am going to make him ride without the wedge this weekend and get use to standing tall. My boat, my rules right.

Funny you mention your buddys "technique", that was me 10 years ago. lucky for me a friend brought out a buddy who knew what he was doing and he was able to correct my speeding bullet method. Most of the time they come flying in get scared come off edge and it goes bad, or they don't come off edge and they slice right through the wake.

Some people like me are oblivious to what a progressive edge is, so this is what my buddy did to help me. I cut out like crazy (like usual) then he would have me move in about 15 feet from the wake and hold that position. Then he would have me cut in and "stand tall" at the wake. I knew I didn't have enough speed so I would get on the gas hard, really hard because I knew I wouldn't clear both wakes ( thats what I thought anyways). because of that I stayed on edge, had good line tension and stood tall at the wake and boom I was 8 feet in the air and on trying to land ate crap because I was so thrown off. Light bulb went on!! After some practice my jumps were always consistant and I learned I didn't have to cut out so far. Now I cut out far but use the extra length and time to take a breath, relax, get square and plan my move, then get on the gas those last 15 feet.

Just playing around I tried to see how close I could get to the wake and still be able to clear both wakes. I was able to be just 10 feet from the wake and still clear. It really taught me to edge hard.

I completely agree with the above. I also have a friend that does the "speeding bullet" method, that's a perfect term for it too.

One thing that could also help some people learn a progressive edge is the double cut method. Cut out far like you normally would, start to cut in towards the wake, level off, and then cut in again. The second cut is pretty much the same thing as just starting your cut closer to the wake like LNDSY3 mentioned.

I was doing that two weekends ago. I was showing my gf that she didn't need to cut out so far. I was jumping w2w at 70' about 10 feet out from the wake. She was amazed but didn't like the fact that I was telling her what to do. Lol. Gfs will never listen to their bfs. They have to hear it from someone else.

Ha ha! been there. over the years I've learned some people don't take direction well, some are just plain stubborn, and some just have no skill set to begin with. About half the new people I take out are not willing to do what it takes to even go w2w. Seems like they are always saying " man, I just want to jump like you" or "I just cant get it". I ask them if they want advise and if not I just give them the old shoulder shrug eyebrow raise. haha. I will have to say my wife is a champ and takes direction well and knows it wont happen in 2or 3 times out.

It sounds like your know what your doing. Good Luck

Thanks for all the feedback. Will put it to good use this weekend

lol I think every one uses the speeding bullet approach at first. you think figuring out ts is tough wait till you start switch ts .... or switch anything for that matter. im trying to learn all my tricks switch now and I know exactly what to do but my body just doesn't do it lol got switch hs back roll..... started switch tantrum last weekend hope to finish it up this weekend

Who here is a rope munger? I prefer the same rope over the same board everytime. I switched to my old rope and something felt off this evening. It felt like I was riding between 70' and 75', once I put my new rope that I have been riding all season back on, things felt normal again. Also, we have learned to take care of our rope too. I use a wrap after it is perfectly pulled in. This rope looks almost brand new and we have been using it a ton all season.