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Do you tow newbs wakeboarding?


shawndoggy

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As a "dad wakeboarder" I know that my slim quiver of "tricks" (must be in quotes cuz nobody is really impressed) is probably never going to get any bigger.  But I still really enjoy getting out and riding, even if it's just to pull the biggest mute grabs I can on no ballast and a 65' rope.  The sensation of flying is just really fun.

But my wife and I are seriously considering NOT pulling newbs anymore.  At least not grownups.  I hate to hear that I've sent a 40 something to the hospital to get an MRI after they do the butter slide to toe side edge catch.  

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Beginner wakeboarding should be super gentle. Everyone should be able to learn how to do all of their 180s without taking a hospital worthy slam. Big falls should start at 360s and bankrolls--but there is a lot to ease those too.

SLOW THE BOAT DOWN. I can't say that enough. With no weight the wake behind my 25LSV the wake is clean down to any speed. Also, shorten the line. My wife learned to wakeboard before she met me. She was riding 22.5 mph at 70ft and afraid to progress beyond wake to wake because of the slams. She rides no ballast, wedge at 2, @ 19.5mph on a 55ft line. Today she is doing all of her 180s and hasn't taken a slam since.

I learned my first 15 inverts or so behind a Sport Nautique on a 60ft line at 19mph. That is how you learn 15 inverts in a summer. Not how the pros ride.

I'm at a level now that getting broke-off every once in a while keeps in interesting, but guys like me are super far between. Most people need to be out there having fun and not getting hurt. 

Edited by JustinHarrelson
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1 hour ago, shawndoggy said:

As a "dad wakeboarder" I know that my slim quiver of "tricks" (must be in quotes cuz nobody is really impressed) is probably never going to get any bigger.  But I still really enjoy getting out and riding, even if it's just to pull the biggest mute grabs I can on no ballast and a 65' rope.  The sensation of flying is just really fun.

But my wife and I are seriously considering NOT pulling newbs anymore.  At least not grownups.  I hate to hear that I've sent a 40 something to the hospital to get an MRI after they do the butter slide to toe side edge catch.  

Teach skate, wife blew retina in 1st month 6 year ago wakeboarding , so she skated a lot, got her confidence back snd two years ago  I said, “I wonder if any of the girls on Chris’s G would want your Board”, BAM back at it even doing 1 wake hops heels n toes. Point is skate really can’t hurt you unless your trying airs

skate is a big kick to master just on all the varieties of surface turns  snd forwards snd back Board slide spins 

Edited by granddaddy55
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I didn’t have any friends that wakeboarded before I bought my boat, so almost every trip out involves attempting to pull a “soft a** office type” beginner. We haven’t had anyone injured in the process yet, but I’m sure if/when it happens I’ll feel the same way you do right now. 

I’ve had much better luck actually getting people up and riding on the skate. That’s usually a win for me because they don’t have the stamina to swim after the board many times after going down.

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I teach people all the time but I'm 30 so most of my friends are too. The un athletic people usually don't have much desire to learn and are happy drinking beers and being ballast.  Teaching them to surf is also easier than the wakeboard.  I've never tried a skate. 

I drove at wake the world last year and borrowed a zup board which was awesome for getting everyone involved. I'm too cheap to buy my own plus nobody in our regular crew would use it. We're all skiers / wakeboarders first.  Also since most of our boat time is towing non riders don't tend to come back very often.  Watching other amateurs ride probably isnt as fun as the drinking party boats. 

 

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10 hours ago, granddaddy55 said:

Teach skate, wife blew retina in 1st month 6 year ago wakeboarding , so she skated a lot, got her confidence back snd two years ago  I said, “I wonder if any of the girls on Chris’s G would want your Board”, BAM back at it even doing 1 wake hops heels n toes. Point is skate really can’t hurt you unless your trying airs

skate is a big kick to master just on all the varieties of surface turns  snd forwards snd back Board slide spins 

Just curious as I have never wake skated ( not sure if thats a word) but do you find it harder for new folks to get up on a skate? or the same as wakeboard?

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way harder on skate. The board surface area is smaller and less buoyant.  Order of difficulty from easy to hard is surf ----- wakeboard ---------------------------skate

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11 hours ago, granddaddy55 said:

Teach skate, wife blew retina in 1st month 6 year ago wakeboarding , so she skated a lot, got her confidence back snd two years ago  I said, “I wonder if any of the girls on Chris’s G would want your Board”, BAM back at it even doing 1 wake hops heels n toes. Point is skate really can’t hurt you unless your trying airs

skate is a big kick to master just on all the varieties of surface turns  snd forwards snd back Board slide spins 

My wife skates now too because the wrecks are uneventful. She hasn't been on a wakeboard in years.

11 hours ago, shawndoggy said:

haha we are talking about completely different "beginners"  I'm talking about soft office working grown-a** adults who probably can't run a mile and would have a hard time riding a bike three miles.  Think Wall-e.  We sent a 6'4" 230ish guy to the mri towing at 17.  Most adults in their mid-40s have one foot in the grave (or at least have one foot on a rascal scooter).  I'm not talking about "progressing," except maybe in the sense of "riding straight and not falling".

(I guess in reality this thread is a lament that my friends all appear to be aging at a much more rapid pace than I'm willing to concede myself)

 

Yea, we've had a couple of the "soft office type's" have trouble just getting back in the boat.

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35 minutes ago, obaro15 said:

way harder on skate. The board surface area is smaller and less buoyant.  Order of difficulty from easy to hard is surf ----- wakeboard ---------------------------skate

Not with a HL nomad skate, super buoyant , I agree that once up long line they have to go where skate sends them

my wife blue her retina by simply getting stuck on a Board slide switching goofy to regular by accident and caught front edge way out to the side of boat

but on skate it doesn’t matter

and I find when teaching the newbs surf 2/3 or more just lean back on rope and only ride and never surf until Board slips out from under them 

but I agree that if they can manage to flip the surfboard it’s alit easier learning curve 

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The skate provides so many options like nose  hang ten wake crossings (my favorite show off trick), you can stay on it longer and great exercise if you keep throwing surface tricks

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5 minutes ago, granddaddy55 said:

Not with a HL nomad skate, super buoyant , I agree that once up long line they have to go where skate sends them

my wife blue her retina by simply getting stuck on a Board slide switching goofy to regular by accident and caught front edge way out to the side of boat 

i did same thing same month even though been riding for more than a decade prior but only ended up with a black eye

but on skate it doesn’t matter

and I find when teaching the newbs surf 2/3 or more just lean back on rope and only ride and never surf until Board slips out from under them 

but I agree that if they can manage to flip the surfboard it’s alit easier learning curve 

 

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1 hour ago, MystiikVLX said:

Just curious as I have never wake skated ( not sure if thats a word) but do you find it harder for new folks to get up on a skate? or the same as wakeboard?

It’s about the same without being flipped over front of Board and drowning because your head stays upbecause your feet no longer attached to Board when you go over front 

and you can buy a cheap wood one with EVA fir $99, usually free shipping , they last one maybe two seasons and the ply’s start coming apart

As you know their is no learning until they get up, people fail at getting up on wakeboard just as much

Edited by granddaddy55
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I used to try to teach wakeboarding.  It's not worth it anymore as everyone is a "pro" (read- wants a pro level wake) until they catch a toe edge.  Frankly, I have been trying to stop bringing newbs.  For us, they just cause problems and are disrespectful.  Probably not the best attitude to have, but with such a short season, its hard to get good wake days.  When you have to cut those few days short, it takes the fun out of it.

Wake skating is fun for free riding.  I would agree that the falls aren't quite as bad, but would comment that landing on the board is a possibility.  My biggest fear when skating is taking a board to the face on a fall.

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That means you are trying heady tricks, please don’t scare others with your shuv it or air experiences , point of thread was to quit helping others learn or what’s the alternative

surf Board tricks really Bite you when you separate from Board and meet up agsin in the fall , but just surfing is pretty innocuous 

please elaborate when you say that!!

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There are so many issues with teaching wakeboarding.  1. You need a board thatll fit them, fitchik and tubbo cant use the same board binding combo. 2. You cant talk to them when theyre at line length trying to get up.  3. less upward pull on start makes it harder to learn to get up. 4. once theyre up you again, cant give them advice as to what to do etc.  5. One toe edge and theyll have no interest of ever getting on a board again(but it does give them an appreciation for what I do)

Ive switched to just pulling surfers.  Guaranteed to get them up and a decent likelihood of going ropeless.  They always have fun and always wanna go again. 

 

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Great, this thread has me shopping for a new skate... :( I gave up the wakeboard a few years ago but love a ride on the skate.. I actually turned a few older boards into a bench since they were just collecting dust.

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You are probably 100% correct, BUT IF WE STICK TO THIS , long line anything is going to go away

only the hard core buoy skiirs are teaching their kids slalom 

one day when your done we won’t have any long liners, we’ll just surf

i fell into that last two years since I shattered my femur, skate and surf only 

this year I ride 1st or I’ll never fly again, last year went across 10-12 times and let go of the rope every single time , this year one wake hops till I grow a pair

im pushing skate cause at least we’re still long lining it

agree though just going straight to surfing is easier to everyone 

maybe we needthat harbor freight mic and loudspeaker from the WS 420 EQ thread about the mic doesn’t work

Edited by granddaddy55
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7 minutes ago, jcon44 said:

Great, this thread has me shopping for a new skate... :( I gave up the wakeboard a few years ago but love a ride on the skate.. I actually turned a few older boards into a bench since they were just collecting dust.

Right now their sold out everywhere but get another cheap wood 9ply Eva $99,  and when the HL nomad catalyst production picks back up get one !!!, expensive but extremely durable , extra floaty snd great for surface tricks but a very talented wskeboarder who never skates pulled 2 wake airs and a 2wake olly air 180 in 1st 5 minute on it. He almost pulled a an olly 3!!!!

Edited by granddaddy55
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19 minutes ago, 05hammerhead said:

There are so many issues with teaching wakeboarding.  1. You need a board thatll fit them, fitchik and tubbo cant use the same board binding combo. 2. You cant talk to them when theyre at line length trying to get up.  3. less upward pull on start makes it harder to learn to get up. 4. once theyre up you again, cant give them advice as to what to do etc.  5. One toe edge and theyll have no interest of ever getting on a board again(but it does give them an appreciation for what I do)

Ive switched to just pulling surfers.  Guaranteed to get them up and a decent likelihood of going ropeless.  They always have fun and always wanna go again. 

 

I definitely won’t lend my Board and bindings to teenagers anymore cause last time the kid gsve me athletes foot, treated the binding for a month till I put back on!!!

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32 minutes ago, 05hammerhead said:

There are so many issues with teaching wakeboarding.  1. You need a board thatll fit them, fitchik and tubbo cant use the same board binding combo. 2. You cant talk to them when theyre at line length trying to get up.  3. less upward pull on start makes it harder to learn to get up. 4. once theyre up you again, cant give them advice as to what to do etc.  5. One toe edge and theyll have no interest of ever getting on a board again(but it does give them an appreciation for what I do)

Ive switched to just pulling surfers.  Guaranteed to get them up and a decent likelihood of going ropeless.  They always have fun and always wanna go again. 

 

I had my bindings stretched because of your second type of newb.  Never again.  Surfing for all newbs from now on.

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