Do you tow newbs wakeboarding?

[Bird]

Have been surfin with a new group of younger guys. One mentioned he likes to bare foot so I made a few passes in his older direct drive malibu. I still get a rush when you swing out on a handle on the boom. He ask how old I was and told him I’m 65 yrs old. Showed him shoe skis and how to go backwards, he didn’t quite get it. Teaching footin is still the best entertainment you can get, even better when I can SCHOOL these guys. Now have a 22vlx and mostly surf. Started with a skim and now have a Soul Craft Voo Doo and love it. For any of you wanting to improve it is a must have

[TomH]

We teach a bunch of new folks (kids/adults/soft-office types) every summer on just about everything including skiing, slalom, boarding, surfing, and barefooting among others.  With the exception of a foil, absolutely everything we do starts on the boom and then the 5-foot off the boom as it lets you coach the starts and fix form where you can easily talk with them.  Then we move it behind the boat and generally will run doubles to allow additional coaching.  With doing things this way, I've never had any new folks walk away with any injuries beyond exhaustion.  I know a boom isn't an easy addition for lots of folks, but it's the one piece of ski equipment I'll never be without in a ski/wake boat I own.

[MalibuNation]

Late to the party here.  If I have a newbie coming over I ask them to watch some YouTube videos first as it is so weird getting up especially if the newbie is/has been a skier.

I'll be 62 next month and the biggest problem I have is having someone over around my age who *used* to be a good skier.  Well we all know what age does to your muscles and like me it goes to your gut.  Last 2 people my age who hadn't skied since their youth insisted on getting up and I'd say no.  Finally let them try and both pulled a groin.

[itznowonder]

I'm closer to 60 than 50 and I  wake, surf, slalom and skate ,snow ski and snowboard totaling around 100 days a year. my days on the lake was so low last year but hoping to get every week in this summer. I love teaching the boat related sports but can't stand to teach the winter stuff. Had a guy take a hard toe slam (he knew the risks, was trying to progress) later that night his wife called and said "what the H3((  did you do to my husband?' I'm thinking, oh crap, what does she think I did with her husband. he couldn't walk, pulled all the muscles in the top of both feet, had surgery 6 months later and has never really been the same, that was 12 years ago. I'm just glad she didn't think I was sleeping with her husband!!

[granddaddy55]

 

I do all of the above same age just don’t foot anymore, but got myself this winter by just happening to fall with my fist under my ribs on January snowboard fall, rib cartilage hurt for each cough or sneeze for a month

Stay off the stand up Flowrider on a cruise, rode for 2 years snd 20+ hours at an Alabama Gulf Waterville,  3rd year exsctly end of 21 hours snd butterfly fractured my femur

in fairness 33 year complete knee reco contributed cause I was wearing a metal reinforced brace and lack of maintenance through years knee only had 100 degrees of flexion and at full flexion it sheared/exploded the end of femur by knee when bent knee went under my body on a fall by harder apron.  lost 9 months of surfing from 7/15-3/16 after femur nail surgery 

comes with the territory , I just don’t do hard surfaces any more like my favorite Ripstik 

shame cause ripstik is great surf pump practice as well as balance when doing slow miniature(5 foot circle) figure 8’s

And you can do 100 yard sprints repeatedly fir cardio, I’d fo figure 8’s at end of each sprint  and immediately do another , I wore out 2 sets of wheels in 6 months  one winter

Edited April 19, 2018 by granddaddy55

[granddaddy55]

20 hours ago, JustinHarrelson said:

I'm 37 and everything you just said is sad, but true. I know so many 40 year olds that are 100% committed to getting old. I'm getting older, but I'm still going to ride the very best I can for as long as I can. 

Hate to say it, but you need a crew of riders and you may need to start inviting out young guys that still have a rider's mentality.

Yea I agree but you basically have to run a welfare system to get them consistently out there if they want to go with the “older” folks

but if riding is the priority may be worth it

its definetly what I need now to buck up snd grow a pair in my comeback from injury

[granddaddy55]

19 hours ago, minnmarker said:

15 years since I last bare footed!  The falls really hurt - about 6 hours later

And no one else uses my slalom ski.  Bindings are just how I like them.

My last foot run behind my outboard 5 years ago the wife forgot the trim setting for 42, trimmed full got to 47 and did 4 back to back head to toe head to toe front flips with full back bends included.  I’ll never forget it, don’t deep up anymore cause to fat for barefoot suit

last time on s boom 10 years ago I pulled tumbles to one both directions at ski/wakeboard camp

 

[granddaddy55]

18 hours ago, shawndoggy said:

No I didn't post that part... concussion that time.   Actually quite a few concussions over the years.  Then at Boarding School last week one of my co-workers did something to his eye... potentially a detached retina.  Probably why I have this on my mind.

That’s what happened to my poor wife at 52 in her 1st month of riding, that’s very serious s*** requiring surgery and a long recovery , glad the wife had the balls to ride skate as soon as we returned to water

i got a real bad shiner the same month from the same fall but I wasnt a newb then , just got out to side got into a Board slide and caught edge just like she did 

Edited April 19, 2018 by granddaddy55

[granddaddy55]

17 hours ago, Bird said:

Have been surfin with a new group of younger guys. One mentioned he likes to bare foot so I made a few passes in his older direct drive malibu. I still get a rush when you swing out on a handle on the boom. He ask how old I was and told him I’m 65 yrs old. Showed him shoe skis and how to go backwards, he didn’t quite get it. Teaching footin is still the best entertainment you can get, even better when I can SCHOOL these guys. Now have a 22vlx and mostly surf. Started with a skim and now have a Soul Craft Voo Doo and love it. For any of you wanting to improve it is a must have

I loved the jay skis long line, you can go slow and do all the tricks, one foot wake crosses , tumbles, everything gets easier, and nownaftet skating backwards I bet I could do a bunch of front to back and back to front, wish I still had them, made thebdeep up a joke 

before he moved to California we had the master William Farrell down here that really helped the footing movement in the 80’s here, we all footed, we all taught each other to ski , then slalom , then barefoot , we only had truck skis back then so it was the natural progression 

I learned toe holds in the 1st month, it was then naturdl progression , they told me to lean towards boat when hooked up, Bam 1st try

Edited April 19, 2018 by granddaddy55

[Bird]

I live in the Bay Area and in the 80’s Mike Seipel had his school in the delta some times with William and John Albright. Buddy if mine just purchased Mikes Nauti and will be bringing out to west coast soon. Mike, John and Scott Pelton were the bomb footin. We all joined in for the pull of the century, tried 100 skiers behind a ferry with huge booms. Man I feel old.

[Bakes]

Super short line...like 35 feet is kinda fun for old man crowd

also..don't forget about the sky ski.  Foils are great entertainment for both riders and watchers alike.  They can thump a little but really don't cause the wrenching injuries. 

[JustinHarrelson]

What if their was a "Wakeboard" built around shorter ropes in lower speeds? Something with no ceiling at 18mph and a 45ft line. I'm not talking about a goofy fun-shape, but a performance board that splits the gap between wakeboarding and trickskiing. It would be a way for aging riders to hang on to their spins and inverts without worrying about breaking a hip. I have a friend in his late 40s that can rip, but a few injuries in his 40s has really dialed back his riding and we were talking about it. 

[minnmarker]

10 minutes ago, JustinHarrelson said:

What if their was a "Wakeboard" built around shorter ropes in lower speeds? Something with no ceiling at 18mph and a 45ft line. I'm not talking about a goofy fun-shape, but a performance board that splits the gap between wakeboarding and trickskiing. It would be a way for aging riders to hang on to their spins and inverts without worrying about breaking a hip. I have a friend in his late 40s that can rip, but a few injuries in his 40s has really dialed back his riding and we were talking about it. 

Not hips.  I'm worried about my knees and toe side slams.  How about upward releasable bindings?  I don't think it's as much about age as it is about willingness to get hurt and healing time afterwards.  Easy for me to say cause I'm old(er), in shape, and have been hurt often enough not to want to get hurt again!

[JustinHarrelson]

The hip part was a joke. I have had it explained to me by several insiders that a lot of great releasable binding designs exist, but no manufacturer wants to touch them because of liability. For water, they have to be super precise. Snow provides some slippage. when you catch an edge on water the board stops almost immediately. They don't want to go back to the one in/one out problem.

This is my 25th season wakeboarding. The transition for releasable LF ultras to the snowboard style boots was really tough for me. I built my own up to 2009ish. When I finally had no more spare parts, I had to completely relearn how to fall. It was brutal.

Edited April 23, 2018 by JustinHarrelson

[Bozboat]

At age 18 or so, I used a friend's dad's big ol sea ray to wrap a similary aged kid attached to a parasail around a tree and  pull it over.  20 or so stitches for the kid's foot.  Bigger gash in the parasail.  Angry lake home owner re her tree.  No way I would pull a parasail any more.  Back then, I did enjoy the freedom of being judgment proof, although thankfully I didn't know what that meant.   Now I am properly risk adverse and well insured.  While I do everything I can to be careful,  if someone gets hurt, I will feel bad and then call my insurance company.  That and I don't have any friends that would wakeboard.   

Edited April 23, 2018 by Bozboat

[UWSkier]

For your fat out of shape friends, you guys should get a disc.  They're hours of fun.

[ibelonginprison]

2 hours ago, Bozboat said:

At age 18 or so, I used a friend's dad's big ol sea ray to wrap a similary aged kid attached to a parasail around a tree and  pull it over.  20 or so stitches for the kid's foot.  Bigger gash in the parasail.  Angry lake home owner re her tree.  No way I would pull a parasail any more.  Back then, I did enjoy the freedom of being judgment proof, although thankfully I didn't know what that meant.   Now I am properly risk adverse and well insured.  While I do everything I can to be careful,  if someone gets hurt, I will feel bad and then call my insurance company.  That and I don't have any friends that would wakeboard.   

You sound like you were way more fun when you were younger..... 

[Bozboat]

15 minutes ago, ibelonginprison said:

You sound like you were way more fun when you were younger..... 

Why yes, yes I was.

[05hammerhead]

23 hours ago, minnmarker said:

Not hips.  I'm worried about my knees and toe side slams.  How about upward releasable bindings?  I don't think it's as much about age as it is about willingness to get hurt and healing time afterwards.  Easy for me to say cause I'm old(er), in shape, and have been hurt often enough not to want to get hurt again!

Id be more worried about just one releasing and really messing up the other leg.  I tore my ACL wakeboarding and it was strictly related to too much height not enough distance nothing I could have done differently except cut harder.  Also more quad strength might have helped.  I wont ever hit another double up. 

[minnmarker]

2 minutes ago, 05hammerhead said:

Id be more worried about just one releasing and really messing up the other leg.  I tore my ACL wakeboarding and it was strictly related to too much height not enough distance nothing I could have done differently except cut harder.  Also more quad strength might have helped.  I wont ever hit another double up. 

You are correct about the "one foot still in" issue but I think that could be fixed with a common or linked release system.  Not that I will ever do big jumps or inverts again.   A Summer (or Winter) on crutches is just too much to pay now for a few minutes of thrill.  Man, I must be getting older

[05hammerhead]

2 minutes ago, minnmarker said:

You are correct about the "one foot still in" issue but I think that could be fixed with a common or linked release system.  Not that I will ever do big jumps or inverts again.   A Summer (or Winter) on crutches is just too much to pay now for a few minutes of thrill.  Man, I must be getting older

Im with you and every spring I say the same thing, then when I get on the water with a boat full of people asking if I can do flips my mind changes. 

[AJwakedevil]

Being responsible enough to fool my parents into letting me take the boat out, I was getting my 16-18yr old friends up left and right like no ones business back in the day. Funny thing is, girls with no experience were getting up first time more often then their boyfriends were getting up at all.

Fast forward 10 years and I have had some different experiences.. already.. A friend brings a friend, whos boyfriend had seen it before. Hes a boy scout so he knows everything. Not your typical boyscout.. he looked like he learned everything from sitting on a computer, googling it, and wiping his cheeto fingers on his shirt. 5'6" and pushing "heavy" (edit)? Long story short, half way getting up he leaned back, loaded the line, and snapped it. I didnt even have time to get off the throttle. BUT HES A BOYSCOUT. Tied the rope around the corner of the handle and called it good. Didnt even offer to replace the rope. I do not let anyone use my stuff anymore. I have that same shotty rope with a old handle, and have some old boards for noobs to ride. I normally dont take anyone out that doesnt have their own gear. 

I even had some friend of a friend loan his surf to another friend on our boat. He rammed the back of the boat and the nose got damaged. The kid was stunned. You could tell the board was his baby.

Edited April 24, 2018 by AJwakedevil

[minnmarker]

5 minutes ago, 05hammerhead said:

Im with you and every spring I say the same thing, then when I get on the water with a boat full of people asking if I can do flips my mind changes. 

Fortunately I crossed that bridge before it bit me, on the water, snow, dirt, or race track.  I only do risky stuff for me now, not for my ego or for others.  If YOU want to do flips then do them but be smart out there.  I doubt an invert will get you laid

[granddaddy55]

Glad I didn’t give up, finally gave in shortened rope 10 feet used short approach and went w2w  Saturday snd held on to rope for first time in almost 3 years since I broke my femur snd had surgery. Did many  an unsuccessful attempt last year and a half.  Cased both landings but held on, it’s like a big weight has been lifted, did my usual toe side come up a little short back to  back with each heal side 

BUUUT, then my brain said that’s enough for today don’t push it, I regret that

dont know if I wsnt to teach that to a newb anymore cause I’m not confident myself right now!

without confidence no older newb should even bother, the young ones shouldn’t care but I’ve seen some  teenagers who surf only cause they watched their daddies kill them selves long line 

Edited April 24, 2018 by granddaddy55
B

[MystiikVLX]

What are your thoughts on protecting the transom from errant surf boards etc? I have seen the site sell transom pads in the past and some people have mentioned 3M protective tape.

Any thoughts or experience?

Edited April 24, 2018 by MystiikVLX