CLOSE
Sign up to get news on contests, pro events, new products and special offers.
WATERSKI Magazine
The difference between a wakeboarder wakeboarding and a water skier wakeboarding is that a wakeboarder will immediately start to do the very thing that is most foreign to a water skier – ride switch-stance. To ride switch-stance you don't actually switch your stance, you simply switch the direction you are going – you ride backward while looking like you are riding forward.
Going back to your stance: The best way to do this is the simple backside wake 180. Not an air-to-fakie (which is the same move, only done by a water skier).
Pull out with your back to the boat about half as far as you think you need to go to clear the wake – you only need to be about 10 to 15 feet outside the wake. The key to good air on a wakeboard is not the pull-out, but simply building a progressive edge as you approach the wake. Keep your head up, your handle low and your weight centered as you progressively build an edge to the wake. It is fine to have a slight crouch as you build your edge but be conscious to keep the pressure on your heels (on a backside cut), not your thighs. As you pull through the wake, stand up tall to get that much-coveted “pop” wakeboarders are always talking about. Once in the air, simply let go of the handle with your front hand and pull the handle to (or even behind) your trailing hip. This will turn you toward the boat and bring your back foot around to the lead. Try to land slightly on your toe-side edge. To do this, keep your eyes on the shore you are headed toward instead of looking down at your board. When you land, don't think, don't stop, just immediately head into a half-cab.
