Cable Park

[Oasis137]

Hey guys,

My buddy and I are hitting up our first cable park. A new cable park just opened up in Allendale, Michigan for anyone who is in the area.

So my question is, what tips or advice would you give for a first time cable riders.

My buddy and I would be classified as intermediate riders. We can do 360's, backrolls, and tantrums. We also also snowboard for 4 months out of the year, so rails are not new to us. What are the differences between wakeboarding rails and jumps? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[Stephan]

I recently had my first cable experience as well and was nervous going into it. I'd say cable riding is very easy and fun, you will get the hang of the obstacles rather quickly. Air tricks are another thing, it may take awhile to figure them out, I never did in 3 days. The rails are very similar to snowboarding except you are probably going faster than you are on the snow.

One recommendation, when coming into the obstacles get low and pin the handle to your hip.

[jondextan]

here's a tip, perform your biggest tricks near the dock, that way when you don't land it, it's closer to walk to the dock for your next ride.

but seriously, if you have removable fins, take them off -- even if it leaves your board flat on the bottom (like slingshots, company, etc) it's more fun. wearing HELMETS is a must. cable is a good place to try out and start wakeskating, so go and bring a deck. try all the dock starts possible, jump starts and their variations. check the handles on your park if it's padded, here in our country they use wood handles and you need gloves if you want to ride the whole day.

safety first! check your rear for trailing handles and riders when you're treading water.

have fun!

[tprkolbas]

so how is placid wake park anyway? a few friends and i have been thinking of making the trip to allendale to try it out, but i haven't heard anything about it & there is little out there on the internet since it is so new. i saw one news article showing a video with a box slider and a rail - any other new obstacles yet? is it worth going to or should i just make the longer trip to wake nation in cinci again?

any feedback would be greatly appreciated. thanks

[Oasis137]

tprkolbas, i had a blast. However, with that being said I would be extremely let down if I already went to another wake park before this because I guarentee this is the smallest cable park out there. It was one cable, with only one rider at a time. 25$ for an hour and you share that hour with up to 6 people. So its hit or miss if its busy or not. I wouldnt pay 25 to get a 10 minute ride.

They had a box, rail, and a kicker. They said they are adding up to 4 more obstacles. The cable line is about 100 yards long.

With that be said, I had a great time and would go back again. Great to have another close wakeboarding spot in Michigan.

[GnarShredd]

Oasis137, Holy crap! Is it a system 2.0 i take it?

[Oasis137]

GnarShredd, not sure....not really familiar with cable systems. But if I had to guess yes.

The system was just an elevated rope tow with cable obviously. The handle would run the full length of the lake then it would stop at end which forces the rider to do a circular turn to keep momentum while the handle switches directions back to where you came from.

Extremely simple concept, yet still incredibly fun.

[Christobull]

I just hit up a cable park for the first time with a buddy this past weekend. It was a blast. Wore my arms out, so I didn't try any air tricks. The dock starts felt pretty natural, but quite a bit faster than ones I did behind the boat. I remember snowboard rails being quite a bit slicker, but the obstacles weren't sticky by any means. Bottom line, I had a great time until I body slammed a fun box and had the added benefit of having to walk the full length of the pond to get back to the start dock.