Ballast Question for You?

I have been riding for some years now and I still consider my self a beginner. I cant seem to progress. But anyways. Should I have the ballast in or out at my skill level?

Try it out if u feel ur not getting enough air to complete tricks but if ur riding behind a wake boat the wake should be go enough to do most inverts till u get into mobes man i hate having to use that word lol I can do all my inverts behind my buddies lil center console fishing boat though I do ride ballast in my 20v

What do you mean by can't progress...what are you having problems with? Clearing wake 2 wake? A specific trick? Getting up? Looking cooL?

some instructors start you out with nothing until you are hitting the wake as you should. Then they add ballast.

Ballast definitely helps, but you don't need it to complete most tricks (just watch that video of scott byerly from back in the day that was posted a while ago), although getting more air makes tricks easier.

I would pass on ballast until your able to clear the wake in at least 3 of the 4 approaches and know the fundamentals of loading the line and "pop".

Brooke - I can clear the wake 90 % of the time but i cant land it most of the time.

Thanks for the input guys. I will try w/o ballast next time.

you may want to adjust your line length some. wider beam boats are more difficult to clear sans ballast. not sure if that will apply to ya, just fyi.

The larger wake will not help you progress your riding, you may actually find it intimidating. If you are not able to clear the wake there may be a number of different factors to consider. I would recommend getting an instructor or hooking up with a more advanced rider through Wakeworld to offer some pointers to help you make the next hurdle. Or pickup the Book DVD or Mobile series, these videos are very good and are well worth the money. Just remember let the wake do the work(no jumping at the wake), maintain you edge through the wake, keep the rope low (near the hips/belly button), and take an easy cut to the wake and maintain that edge all the way through the wake. Again, your best bet is an instructor, instructional DVD, or a fundamentally sound rider offering suggestions. Good luck with your riding.

Also, if you go the instructional dvd route, something that helped me alot a while back with certain tricks was getting someone to video tape me. get a buddy in the boat with a camera and video you. You can compare to your dvd and whatnot, or post somewhere and ask for advise on wakeworld. But you'd be amazed at what you'll see when its video taped!

^agreed