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WATERSKI MagazineEverything, and I mean everything, you will ever do in the air on a wakeboard depends on what you do on the water – meaning your cut. Cutting hard at first and flattening off at the wake is the bane of many a recreational wakeboarder. Progressive edge is what it's all about.
Progressive edge is a term we hear all the time in wakeboarding, but how do you do it? Easy. Think of your body as the weight in a pendulum. If you cut out all the way to the side of the boat, eventually the momentum of the boat combined with the pull on the line will swing you back in ever so slowly. Put a little weight on your heels (heel-side cut) or toes (toe-side cut), and this is a progressive edge.
From the start, cut all the way out to your heel-side edge. Stand straight up and put slight weight on your heels. Keep that position all the way to the top of the wake, slowly standing up with slight weight on your heels, and see what happens. The boat does the work of lifting you in the air and plops you down on the other side of the wakes. Easy. Now try toe-side.
Once you are comfortable doing this, progressively add weight on your edges:
Heel-side – Crouch like you're sitting in a chair on the way to the wake, and then stand tall at impact.
Front-side (toe-side) – Lower your whole body by leading with your back shoulder and keeping the line tight with your back arm, and then stand tall on impact.
Edge all the way through the wake, no matter how weird it feels at first.
