How to Pull a Wakeboarder
For many water warriors, there's nothing better than a weekend at the lake. Wakeboarding in increasing in popularity, and there are a couple of things to keep in mind when you're pulling a wakeboarder that are different than pulling a tuber or skier.
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Instructions
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Use the proper equipment and signals. Often wakeboarders use a shorter rope than a standard water-ski rope and attach it to a pylon. The pylon gives the wakeboarder extra height for doing jumps. Also have a Coast Guard approved life jacket for the wakeboarder, boat driver and all passengers. The driver, wakeboarder and spotter should also be familiar with standard hand signals for speeding up, slowing down, going home and stopping.
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Maintain a constant speed. The exact speed will vary depending on the wakeboarder's size, weight and experience, but it's usually slower than one would use for water skiing. Some boats have PerfectPass, which is a cruise control for boats. Other boats just have speedometers, so that you can tell how fast you are going, and some boats have neither. In the case of neither, the driver needs to pay extra attention to the boat's speed and the factors that can determine it such as wind, weight in the boat and the roughness of the water.
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Drive straight. This makes fewer waves for the wakeboarder and will allow him or her to make more cuts across the wake. This also goes hand-in-hand with finding smooth water. Avoid busy areas and really rough water.
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