The "newbiest" question anybody could possibly hav

[water_girl565]

Hey,
I just go a wakeboard for my bday and tried it out this weekend. Problem is, I can't even stand up.... I hope that it's because I have the wrong technic and not because I don't have a wake tower. Please give me all the advice you can! If it's because of the technic, can you tell me how?

Thanx

water girl

[Robert Harp]

dude, it isn't the tower (or lack therof) because I used to ride behind a PONTOON boat. just keep ur legs like ur sitting in a chair, bottom o board to the boat (do NOT keep it sideways until you stand up) stand, THEN pick a direction and go with it. hope this helped and good luck.

[Robert Harp]

*****dudeETTE. haha my bad. didn't notice ur display name.

[QNev]

Well, welcome to the sport

Here are some pointers to get things going:

1) Know which foot is forward. You can test this by getting someone to randomly push you forward and you can see which foot goes down first (there are some other ways too)
2) Like Rob said, make sure you are sitting in the water like you're in a chair but have your board floating up in front of you. The rope should be between your feet resting on the toeside edge of the board.
3) Let the boat pull you up. Keep your heels in the water and just hold the rope.
4) Turn the board AFTER you are up and out of the water.

Good luck.

[ozwest]

When you are being pulled forward and it's not quite time to get up, there will be a lot of water rushing over the top of your board. This is okay and you will eventually float up on top of the surface. Lots of times people I've tried to teach ride will see that their board is still under the surface and try to pull themselves up out of the water instead of letting the boat eventually pull them up and out. Thjis often results in a face plant or the handle being torn out of your hands as you slowly fall forward.

A friend once told me to pretend you're (pardon my bluntness here) "taking a crap in the woods" as far as your posture goes. Okay, so it's not the best advice but funny nonetheless. Sqaut down was the point of that...I think?

You can also practice on land (take off the removeable fins if applicable) with a friend playing the role of the boat and you sitting down on the carpeting or grass. As they pull you with the rope, let yourself and your board start to slide forward. Your butt will move forward towards your heels. Follow the rest of the good advice above and the next time you get out to ride...you'll but up and riding in no time. Keep trying...it's well worth it.

[Keepsta]

Everything they said but to add, make sure when your "taking a crap in the woods" (lol ozwest) that you keep your arms around your knees. If you hang on, the boat will do all the work for you and like they all said....DONT RUSH TO STAND UP!

GL