New to this wakeboarding thing

wake-up-australia · Newbie Joined: 08 Feb 2005 Posts: 4 City: Woodside

Hey. New to this forum. We've just bought a new Sleekline Contarge Series II (Australian boat) & we're new to wakeboarding (but have been skiing for 30+ years). I just bought an O'Brien Cyprus Gardens board for my kids. I'd say this is an entry level board, velcro binding & so on. Has anyone tried one? My main area of interest is the durability of the bindings.

Secondly, can any of you experienced riders suggest some easy tricks for my kids (& me & the wife) to start with?

Thanks.

nick e[V]ans · Posted: Feb 08, 2005 2:07 am Post subject:

wake-up-australia, good to see another aussie around the boards. ummm not familiar with the boat or board but for beginners the boat shouldn't have a massive impact. without knowing much about the bindings and being too lazy to search i have no idea how durable they will be. but if you bought new most shops/companies offer a decent warranty that covers a lot of things, including abuse sometimes. if you wanna know a good video for learners try detention if they still sell it or any other instructional dvd's that you'll find at ski/wake shops.

good luck and have fun.

wake-up-australia · Newbie Joined: 08 Feb 2005 Posts: 4 City: Woodside

Cool. The Sleekline is made in Victoria and distributed around the country through a distributor network. It's a top looking boat. Pick it up in a couple of weeks so have not had the chance to drive it yet. Took one for a spin last thursday at Blanchetown (on the Murray in SA). One of the driest boats I've ever driven. Check it out at www.sleeklineskiboats.com.au

Where in aus U from anyway?

nashvillematt · Addict Joined: 15 Jul 2004 Posts: 823 City: Nashville

It looks like a Ghecko (?sp) that is a US manufacturer......

Funny how boats look so different being produced in another country. There is no telling what they think of our pimped out wb boats....

MS

Catch This Wake · Addict Joined: 03 Feb 2005 Posts: 590 City: Miami

Hey I have had velcro bindings before. They are nice for beginners and such becasue of the easyness of getting into them and out of them. One negative however is that if you fall you have an 80% chance of falling out of the bindings. Also there is no support for your ankles and feet. As far as durability is comcerned, I bought mine last year at around this time or earlier, and mine are still kicking.

Now a good idea for some begginer trick is first of all learning how to pop an ollie. That is the basis for anytrick that is not a surface trick. After that you should try riding switch footed this will help in the process later on as you begin to preform tricks that will land you in a switch stance. Learning how to switch on the surface is also nice to know. Lastly a good try to learn and experiment with is a ButterSlide, in which you just basically grind the wake. That will come along once you learn switch riding.

i hope this has helped. Mr. Green

wake-up-australia · Newbie Joined: 08 Feb 2005 Posts: 4 City: Woodside

Thanks for the feedback. nashvillematt, I agree about the look of boats from other countries. To me the styling of a Malibu looks like a fishing boat (no offense intended to Malibu owners). But then again, in the US they had sleek boats long ago with makes like Sanger & so on. The sleek, "smoothie" look is all the go in Australia with some nice lookers like the Camero Stealth & Legend & the new Gilflite. No doubt the Malibu & other US boats are every bit as good as an Aussie built boat.... lol

Thanks also to Catch This Wake for his help here. Im a skier from way back and I have only ridden a wakeboard once so far. Pick the boat up in a week or so, run it in and then go nuts..

Cheers.

KristianB · Posted: Feb 11, 2005 2:56 pm Post subject:

Have fun! That is the most important bit. If you do not hav experienced riders to help you out watch videos! You're gonna have alot of fun. Loose the velcro bindings. Getting some "real" bindings is a great improvement once you get up and start hitting the wake hard!

/K

PwR-HoUsE · Posted: Feb 11, 2005 3:02 pm Post subject:

welcome to the boards(ive only been here a couple days)

Insanetoast · Newbie Joined: 13 Feb 2005 Posts: 21 City: Wisconsin

Haven't heard of the boat or board. as for the bindings i used them and their great but can really suck trying to get them on tight, and like catch this wake said they fall off a lot. Tricks i would say ride switch and do ollies. 180s aren't that hard after practice off of 1 wake. another fun thing that is kinda fun is to take off both fins and slide around.

wesgardner · Posted: Feb 14, 2005 8:01 am Post subject:

Hey wake-up-australia,

You may want to invest in "Higher Education"...it's a pretty good training vid that'll take you from the beginning to very advanced stuff.

Get a good rope (no stretch) and practice, practice, practice...as others have suggested, learn the basics first particularly riding switch, then just try easy jumps and/or surface spins....time on the board is where it's at...

I'd upgrade my bindings a bit - no need to go crazy....we started with something called "Hold UM" universal bindings and have just gone on from there - my older daughter (15) still likes the Hold UM's so that's what she has...

As KristianB, says, have fun with it! My daughters and I ride a bit, my wife drives when I'm not - she broke her elbow several years back and it gives her too much pain to board - we all laugh, ALOT... (this is KEY!)

Wes