BOARD STUPID!

[MazzaM01]

I thought I would spend some time working on my site. I havn't done anything for ages.

If you missed the previous discussions about this, it is a website I am setting up for female wakeboarders in the UK.

I am writing it just from my experience and have not done any coaching courses or anything. I have stated this through out my site.

I am just starting off with getting up and wondered if you could have a read and let me know where I can describe things better and where i am just chatting total nonsense.

cheers


Getting up,

There are different ways that you can attempt to get up on the board. I have not listed them in any particular order as I am not sure what I find the easiest, I think it is more about the confidence. If you are on a boat I would start with a water start, if on a cable then you normally start of with a sitting jetty start.

- Water start. The boat will take you away from the jetty and you can sit at the back of the boat put your board on and jump in. Grab the handle and wait until the boat has gone of a bit and the line is tight. Bring you knees into your chest, lock your elbows at a right angle with the handle out in front of you, point the top of your board towards the water. When you feel comfortable and the line is tight shout to the driver that you are ready. As the boat starts to pull you try and keep the handle in so that it does not get pulled out of your hands As it starts to pull you try and resist it and lean back slightly, do not try and straighten your legs straight away. As you feel yourself becoming upright stop leaning back and bring the handle around to your lead hip, this should make the board turn so that the board is travelling sideways, (like a snowboard or skateboard).

- Sitting jetty start. I learnt this on the cable and this is the easiest way I found it. Sitting on the jetty bring your lead leg up so that it is bent at the knee and the board is out of the water. I was always told to keep the weight on the back foot and what I think is an easier way to explain it is to push the back foot away from you. Lean back and keep the handle in. When the cable starts to pull resist the handle from being pulled away from you. Once you are up bring the handle into your lead hip. Once you get the hang of it you will not need to bring your leg up.

- Standing jetty start. I found this quickest to learn and think that it is all about the confidence and timing. Once in your board be positioned on the edge of the jetty. Hold the handle in front of you by your tummy. The boat should pull away slowly and the line will start to pull, when you see the line nearly taut, just before it is completely straight jump and keep your body straight and the handle in. The boat will pull you forward. When you jump bring the handle into you lead hip and the board should turn to face the direction you want to go.

- Sliding of the jetty slope. This is something that I have only really seen people doing on the cable, I done this a couple of times but didn’t see much point in it apart from being able to jump the queue a bit. Sit on the floor/slope and bring your knees up into your cheats. Hold the handle over the top of the board in front of you. As the line starts to pull let it pull you up, your slide along for a bit on the board, when you come to water bring the handle into your hip and the board should then be in the direction you want to go. I found this a classic for face planting and if you face plant before you reach the water can be quite painful.

[Dimmer]

Mazza

If it's a beginner's guide, you may want to put the standing jetty start & sliding dock start into a different section Also, on the jump start, you may want to point out that it's a jump forwards. The number of times I've seen people stack it at the cable by just jumping straight up 8O You're right about the timing. A lot of it is knowing the driver, and how he will power up when you call it.

Also, on the deep water start, when I was shown it, it was arms locked out straight, so the energy from the boat starts to rotate you up & over the board as it starts planing. If your arms are bent, there is a chance that they will get pulled out straight by the boat, and if this happens, the boat has usually picked up so much speed that the handle may get ripped out of your hands.

Just my twopennerth, and I'm prepared to be shot down - but when I first tried deep water starts, I had arms bent (like on the cable) - couldn't get up. Once I was told to keep my arms straight, got up no problem.

[chaterboy]

Mazz

I appreciate it's a really difficult thing to put into words and it's also usually different for women than men (weird though that sounds) But if people try and resist the pull at all with bent arms on a deep water start with a boat they will probably have no arms left.

The biggest thing usually with guys who I have taught to get up is they will try and resist, i.e. bend arms, pull etc. This squares off the board with the water and they will go nowhere. Big handle pops.

What most have to try and do to compensate for this is to push the handle away from them, thus changing the angle of the board in the water and will help rock their body forward, and start to rise as the water gets underneath their board.

It is slightly different with women as they tend to not fight it so much and dont try and pull themsleves up, so some of them get away with bent arms etc.

Not classing myself as some expert, but have had the pivilidge of teaching loads of people to get up on a board, which is a great feeling when they do it. And during this the most common mistake has been people pulling on the handle, squaring off the board and handle popping out of hands.

[Jules]

Mazza, what is the address of ur site??
Cheers Jules xx

[MazzaM01]

Dimmer,
It isn't a beginners guide I am trying to cover as much as possible, I also state at the beginign that iot is not in any particular order. I will make a note about jumping forwards, however I find that if you time it right you don;t need to and the boat pulls you, but i get your point. On the deep water start i think you may have a point, i will think about that one too.

Chaterboy,
Yeah, I think I got that wrong on the deep water start. I think because I don't really think about it anymore I couldn't remember what I done. Thanks for that!

Jules,
It is www.freewebs.com/wakechick. I have bought www.wakechick.co.uk but the people have been messing me around with changint he name servers, I just tried it and think it has been done now.

I am not a coach, or an expert I am just trying to start something to get the ladies in the UK more into the sport.

[Tower_boy]

and we all love you for it! hehe 8)

Keep it going, don't feel put down by people it will all pull off in the end