Sons 2nd try at wake boarding

Here is my 11 year old on. A old board we found on Craigslist ( which is a 144 cm board)(way too big). This is his 2nd ever attempt at wakeboarding. But he is having issues keeping speed. Looks like he is jerking bad. What does he need to do.

View My Video

If it's only his second attempt, he's doing pretty good already. Video has really bad lag so it's hard to tell, but one thing I noticed is the boat speed. Slow the boat down to between 12mph-15mph so he can get used to the board (it's much easier to learn and make corrections when you're going slower). Then have him try to stay behind the boat for a bit practicing.

Yeah, you appear to be going too fast for a person his size on that big board. He's probably jerking so much because at that speed the board has so little friction that it's not creating enough tension on the rope to allow a stable consistent pull.

Not sure why the video has lag. Maybe the site I used to upload it. Any other sites to use to upload here? It was videoed from a iPhone 7

vimeo.com. It lagged in the beginning and they played smooth the rest of the time for me. Probably just too much spam slowing down the connection in the beginning.

Mark, my 10 year old daughter just learned as well. We had success the first time out and here's what we did.

-Practiced on the hardwood floor with a rope and handle (board on). Doing this I was able to have her move the handle from hip to hip with me keeping tension on the line so that she could see for herself, that where you put the handle, controls where the board points. This worked very well. The very first time she popped up she put the rope to her lead hip and rode straight as an arrow. She even did a surface 180 on her second time up.

-Again on the hardwood floor we practiced getting up. Straight arms, bent knees, pointed toes. When I pull the line, she pulls the handle in and she stood right up and went back to lesson one ^^ We also talked about body position. Stand tall. Don't bend over. We practiced popping up, handle position and riding down the hall way about a dozen times. It was a good confidence builder and on the water she remembered everything.

- Speed: with a board that big, you should be able to slowly drag him up to speed. He should be able to stand on the board as soon as it starts moving. Try to create as little fluctuation in speed as possible. My daughter rode at 12 mph....just a tad faster than a wakesurfer ;-) And we creeped up to that speed very slowly.

I'm not sure if you have a cable park near by, but the System 2.0 was the absolute easiest time my daughter had.

Yes we have a cable park. But his board has find on it and wasn't sure how that worked. He is getting a new board for his bday in august. Looking at hyperlite or ronix. But he is hooked

. Try this video. Also I have no clue speed cause odometer is broke. Fixing it this week

You could try a gps phone app. Or some handheld gps unit like a garmin until you fix the speedo.

as you know, boards way a bit big, thats making it float on top instead of track through the water like it would with a 180 lb dude on it. grab a smaller when you can. get him using his edges, then crossing wakes

with running a I/O boat is this wake descent for him at moment? and should I look at investing in ballast bags for it?

Originally Posted by Pnut80

with running a I/O boat is this wake descent for him at moment? and should I look at investing in ballast bags for it?

When just starting out, your I/O is fine. The biggest challenge is going slow enough. As others have said here, you want to take the speed down, and let him work on board control. He is very crouched in the video, with all of his weight on his heels, hence the shooting out to the side. One of my kids did this initially too. You will want to start the boat slow so they don't shoot out to the side, work on getting a taller stance, shoulders up and back, hips turned 45 degrees towards the boat, with shoulders almost square to the boat. Start with carving drills between the wakes, Shifting weight from the heels to the toes, and back, going up to but not over the wake. Once good balance and control are achieved, then start crossing the wakes. It may be difficult to clean up the wake depending on the size of your boat, you can play with the trim a bit to see if it cleans up. Don't be in a rush for ballast, and probably not in your I/O, as more weight may make it more difficult to clean up the wake without going too fast. Ideal target speed once comfortable at this age is 18-20 MPH.

Good luck and have fun!

Hasn't been mentioned yet: get a real wakeboard rope. Looks like your using a ski rope which has stretch in it. May sound like a good thing, but you can load it up and it'll pull tight, which could be contributing to some of the jerkiness

Originally Posted by willyt

Hasn't been mentioned yet: get a real wakeboard rope. Looks like your using a ski rope which has stretch in it. May sound like a good thing, but you can load it up and it'll pull tight, which could be contributing to some of the jerkiness

after reading a few post on here today I have been wondering that same thing too.. its just a cheap rope that came with the boat when we bought.
actually looking at buying him this one

https://www.amazon.com/AIRHEAD-AHWR-...wakeboard+rope

actually looking at getting him this rope!
https://www.amazon.com/AIRHEAD-AHWR-...wakeboard+rope