11 year old needs help!!!

[ryanclippers18]

I need help trying to jump and land the wake. i have tried and tried for a year and can only get 3 feet. thanks. Any tips would be helpful

[Chexi]

I am willing to bet you that your legs are not straight and stiff (i.e., you are not standing tall) at the wake. If your legs are straight and stiff such that they do not absorb the wake, you will launch. A drill they taught me at The Wakeboard Camp was to cut out heelside all the way out, then straighten me legs and lean back to as hard of an edge as I possibly could. Lock your body. Point your hips to the sky. You should be able to ride like that with teh back of your head just inches from the water. Ride like this for a while. Get to know that feeling. That is how your body should feel when you ride up the wake (not leaning back like that of course, but stiff like that). If you get even close to this when you hit the wake, you will go WTW no problem.

[ryanclippers18]

thanks. do u know any ways to land recently i broke my foot wakeboarding tring to land

[Chexi]

Take off stiff, land limp. Loosen your legs after you take off so that when you land you can absorb all the shock. Also, if you can land on edge, your landings will be like butter. If you land with the board flat, it's like landing on concrete, especially if you are landing right on the opposite wake.

You may want to consider subscribing to learnwake.com. It's cheap and very helpful.

[ryanclippers18]

thank u

[HS]

Plus, if you are a snow skier (Ontario?) then possibly you have learned to absorb the bumps with your knees to avoid being "booted" high in the moguls, and so that techinique is working against you.

Learnwake.com has a few videos showing what is described above. One shows this: practice making some small cuts from not very far out of the wake to see the difference it makes when you firm up your knees to jump. A slightly shorter rope will give you a shorter distance across the wakes (depending on your speed), and will help you adjust to landing further out, too.

[ryanclippers18]

how uch does learnwake.com cost?

[Chexi]

... and you don't need to race at the wake like a bat out of he## if you stiffen up. It can be pretty scary to race at the wake, and your body may involuntarily absorb the wake without you even realizing it. Just take some small leisurely cuts, coast out on the flats, let the boat start to pull you in, and just use that momentum to launch you (while stiff). You will be amazed at how far and high you go. Then add just a little bit of a cut at the end and you will go WTW.

[Texan1554]

Ryan,

I'll just add a few points to what these guys have said:

Take a cut about 15 feet out past the white wash on your toeside edge, pause, then begin a progressive cut back towards the wake. This means you start slower and get faster and faster as you get closer to the wake.

The faster you go and the closer you get to the wake begin to take a "chair" position, by this I mean that your knees are at 90 degree angles, your arms straight out in front of you, your back is straight and chin up.

As you hit the wake simply stand up, so right as you are coming off the top of the wake... straighten out your legs, push the handle down to your waist, make sure and keep your back straight and always keep your chin up. Your jump will take you wherever your eyes are looking, so don't look down, look across the wake out in front of you.

As you land, simply resume your "chair" position. You want to bend your knees while also keeping your arms out, back straight, and head up.

Keep those couple things in mind and you'll be flying into the flats before you know it.

[Chexi]

Learnwake.com is $9.99 per month. I just re-signed up last night. They have some great new videos about HS wake jumps on their videos section, including a really good drill as well as step by step broken down HS WTW jump. I'm not affiliated with them. I just took a weeks worth of lessons from Kyle at The Wakeboard Camp last year and found out about the site then. I wish Iit had been available 5 years ago when I started this hobby.

[ryanclippers18]

i went to the doctor today i fractured my foot. Iam out for a good chunk of summer. I will remember your guys tips. Thanks

[gride]

Is it me or is 11 too young for the Internet?

[Chexi]

Hey, at least he's using his time here and not elsewhere on the internet.

[Mark2]

Hey guys, thanks for the help. Ryan is my son and he was amazed that I could go on here and ask questions and people would actually give you good advice. I told him that is what being a Nautique owner is all about so he asked if he could come on here and ask you guys about learning to wakeboard. Don't worry Gride, his activity is being monitored.

[Chexi]

Sorry to hear about your foot.