How to Wakeboard

Wakeboarding is the hottest new water skiing sport, as it well should be. Wakeboards can jump higher, turn faster, flip sicker and tweak gnarlier than any other boat-pulled water board. It is extreme, radical and mind-melting.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Ski Boats
• Wet Suits
• Wakeboard
• Life Vests
• Water Ski Ropes

1. Check out wakeboarding on television, a video or at an event like the X Games to see whether it's something you'd dig. Trust me, you'll know right away.
2. Find some friends who wakeboard and go with them on their next trip.
3. Watch your friends ride for a while and let someone explain the basics to you while you watch.
4. Strap in, get on and get wet.
5. Pull you knees to your chest, and point the nose of the board up and toward the boat as it begins driving. The resistance of the board against the water will pull you quickly to your feet.
6. Ride straight for a while to get the feel of the board beneath you.
7. Do some small turns to get a feel for your edges against the water.
8. Ride over and outside the wake, then repeat faster and faster.
9. Lean back and pop up to do a bunny hop.
10. Jump the wake and practice spinning in the air.
11. Bend your knees and twist your body in the air to get the feel of tweaks and tricks. Then try grabbing the board to stretch out your air time.
12. Combine your tricks: Bunny hop as you hit the wake, then spin, tweak and land riding backwards (fakie). Or try to spin, grab, tweak and roll in the air.
13. Get your own board, buy a boat then start your own wakeboard team.
14. Win the X Games.
15. Found your own line of wakeboards and wakeboard accessories and retire at age 35 to wakeboard out the rest of your days at your private lake.

Tips & Warnings

• Learn the fundamentals first, and the harder stuff will be a lot easier to learn later on.
• Always wear a life jacket and observe proper boating safety, no matter how good you are.