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WATERSKI MagazineNext time you miss that wake-to-wake jump, don't start altering your edge into the wake. Don't mess with your lift or your body position either. It's probably not that complicated. The reason you can't clear the wake may have more to do with your line length and boat speed. The two have more impact on your tricks than you might think.
Rope Length: First things first – forget your entire eight-loop slalom line. Most wakeboarders, professional or otherwise, only need to worry about rope lengths between 60 and 41 feet, so we're basically talking about the first four line-offs.
Common knowledge states that if you aren't clearing the wake, go with a shorter rope. If you are riding in the rooster tail, lengthen the rope. A shorter rope puts you at a narrower part of the wake and makes clearing it on a jump easier. We recommend 28 off as a short length for starting. Most people eventually move up to and are comfortable with 22 off, which creates a 53-foot line.
Today's top pros are even using lines longer than that. Wake Boarding magazine instructional editor and top competitor Dave Briscoe says the reason everyone has gone longer is that when they're up higher, a shorter rope pulls them down. Briscoe, also an instructor, teaches beginners at 32 off, “so they're comfortable clearing the wake.”
Pro rider Chris Bischoff says longer line lengths will let him “float” his tricks more. He uses a 15-off line, and claims riding partner and former world champ Scott Byerly even goes a little longer.
“We just added another section,” Bischoff says. “The longer rope puts you at a wider point on the wake so you get the softer landing on the downside of the wake. When you watch riders like Zane Schwenk and Darin Shapiro on the short line, everything has to happen so much faster, but they land out in the flats. When you watch Scott, he's floating his moves longer and going just as big, even though he's landing on the downside of the wake, because his rope is so much longer.”
Boat Speed: How rope length relates to boat speed is slightly more complicated but still fairly simple. As you increase the weight in the boat (for more wake height), you'll also want to increase the speed of the boat. And when you bump up the speed, you should lengthen your rope. If you find that the wake is “washy” at 18 mph, you'll either have to raise the speed or shorten the rope. Don't get stuck in all the white water.
“We started out a couple of years ago at 18 or 19 mph,” Bischoff recalls. “But now we go about 22 mph. The longer the ropes, the faster you need to go.”
For beginners, stick with 18 or 19 mph. Advanced riders should kick the speed up to 20 to 22 mph.
Rope Type: A rope's elasticity is very important to wakeboarding moves. If you're serious about boarding, then get a non-stretch rope – your ordinary slalom line won't do. Standard 64-strand-weave slalom ropes can stretch as you edge toward the wake, then recoil during the jump and rob you of the very height you try so hard to achieve. You want a nice solid line against which to load.
Most of today's top wakeboarders are forgoing the 64- and 80-strand-weave polypropylene slalom ropes and hooking up a polyethylene (poly-E) braid.
Some riders are even going for a poly-E with Kevlar (gold-colored non-stretch line) woven in, former world wakeboard champion Russell Gay says. Before you choose a rope specifically for wakeboarding, make sure you know the difference between stretch and non-stretch. Overall, the stiffer the rope, the more control you'll have. And the more control you have, the bigger you can go – especially if you have your speed and rope length dialed in.
Heather Lee is the managing editor of Wake Boarding magazine.
