In your opinon, how much does a tower help?

[NHWakeRider]

How much does a tower helo jumping?

[jpminter]

Not enough to really notice until you start going big.

[BoarderX]

towers are great for kite tubes and excessive speed /nod

[Roos]

Depends on how fast you are going, which length on the line and how big your wake is.
I noticed the difference for sure when I had a shorter rope-length, but with 75 feet ropes the angle isn't that extreme, though it help while making handlepasses I think.
I would guess it help quite a bit when doing inverts, rolls and raleys.
If you have a very small wake you can take more advantage from the tower then you can with a big wake. People can do frontflip-ollie's with a tower, which I have a hard time figuring someone do with constant pull downwards from the rope.

I've seen some flatsurface or whatever competitions and people can do lots of stuff without the wake, it's quite incredible to see acctually.

Mike

[J_DOGG]

Not much, you are either doing it right or you are not...

The tower just pulls up not down, nothing magical about it. If you can't jump the wake the tower is not going to instantly change that.

[hyperlite58]

the wake has more of an effect than a tower...

[timmyDecker]

I thought it helped out quite a bit. Well, I should rephrase that...I can definitely tell a difference between having a tower and not, and I like having a tower much better. That said, when I started riding with a tower, I didn't improve overnight. Like J_DOGG said, all a tower does for you is pull up and away from you instead of down and away from you. So, a tower doesn't affect how much pop you will get off of the wake. What a tower does is allow you to stay in the air a little longer once you get the pop.
I hope that helps. Let me know if that doesn't make any sense and I'll try to explain a little better.

[Craig-R]

i think a tower helps an incredible amount. i wouldnt call it magical either but it definitely is a must if you want to start learning bigger tricks. ...especially when you start hitting double ups. The most important things to have in order to progress in wakeboarding would be a reasonably nice board, a non-stretch rope with a soft handle, a tower or pylon, and a decent wake. if you all of those than you're set

[ontrider]

Craig-R, true... but most people who ask this question are beginners trying to get air. As it's been said already, if you can't get any decent air to begin with, the tower isn't going to help.

[Darin]

Towers are attention getters. Someone who can go big with a tower can go big without one. Some who cannot go big without a tower, cannot go big with one. That being said. You should still get one. They're cool.

[Craig-R]

Darin, i think they're more than attention getters...if you get big air, the rope will pull you down and off balance.

ontrider, yeah true. david and i learned without a tower! but i think after u learn w2w you should have a pylon or tower of some sort to help you progress, it's a good investment

[Darin]

[Epic]

[Craig-R]

Darin, simple logic, not geometry, if the tower puts the rope at say 6-7 ft high, and you're getting more about 6-7 feet of air, then you arent going to get pulled downwards. but if the rope is only a foot off the water, and you try to get 6+ feet of air, you're going to get pulled off "balance" and down towards the water...

[editor 661]

c just look at Craig-R photo that’s what happens lol . actually it is geometry and all about the Inclination of the articulation.

[ragtopdave06]

[wakedjs679]

Im actually not sure. ive always boarded behind a tower .

[Epic]

[Incredibly wrong. I wakeboarded one year behind our boat without a tower, pulling from the ski-eye, then after we got a tower, I noticed a LOT more air. No, nothing like making me a beginner to a pro, but enough that I and the people pulling me noticed. It makes a difference. If you can't realize this, or why a tower can help, go back to school and take a physics course.[/quote]

You don't even need a physics course, just a common sense course......wait, they don't teach that.

[Craig-R]

Epic, they should for people like darin

[Epic]

[wildbill]

Someone do the math.
Say your ski eye is 2 feet off the water and you get 5 feet of air 70 feet back
So the angle of the rope to the horizontal is the arcsine of 3/70= 2.5 degrees.
Then you multiply the force of tension by the sine of 2.5 = 3/70 times the tension
Not much downward force

*edited to correct mistakes made when original post was made drunk*

I believe this math is correct if my physics knowledge serves me right, correct me please if need be.

[Roos]

To be more correct:
3 feet diffence between you and the eye and 70 feet rope.
arcsine of 3/70 = 2,456 degrees.
Lets say you apply a power of 200 lb on the rope when eding through the wake (don't know if this is reasonable).
200 lb = 882,9 N

The power in the lines direction that affects you is 882,9 N.
With this formula we get the power that affects you downwards:
sin(2,456) * 882,9 = 37,84 N

With this formula we get the power that affects you in the boats direction (not that it really matters at this time):
cos(2,456) * 882,9 = 882,1 N

37,84 N is the gravity power that the earth will apply on something that weighs: 8,5 lb

If the rope is attached to the tower at a height of 7 feet we get the following equation:
arcsine 2/70 = 1,637 degrees.
Still 882,9 N
sin(1,637) * 882,9 = 25.23 N
This is a upward power that equals: 5.66 lb
8.5 lb + 5.66 lb = 14.16 lb

So the difference, if the power to the line is 200 lb would be the same as if you were riding with or without a 14 lb weight attached to your waist.

Another thing not so sientific is that when you tie the rope to the tower the rope will probably be longer to get to the same point at the wake and then you will be able to cut further out and thus get more speed when cutting in towards the wake.

Mike

[Epic]

Everybody is going to drop 14lbs now, sell their towers and buy some new gear. I do realize that dropping 14lbs of body weight is A LOT different that strapping 14lbs to your waist.

[HHI Dave]

I want a tower for my boat for 3 reasons (in order of my priority)

1. To get all of those dang wakeboards up off the floor and out of the flippin' way.

2. It looks flippin' cool.

3. As my technique improves, the tower will be an asset. I understand that the tower alone is not the key to big air.

[Roos]

Still, I'm not sure how much pressure you put on the line and I don't have a dynamometer to put between the line and the tower so I won't find out, but still... I think it makes a difference.

And dropping 14 lb would probably help your wakeboarding as long as they are not muscles...

Mike

[ontrider]

I can't believe this has come down to equations and Newtons.

"Hey man, I'd like the ProFlight tower with the 75.3 ft spectra line. I'm hoping to get 2.63 inches more of air."

[Dillard]

I've been wakeboarding with out a tower for the past three years until i recently have been gettin pulls behind a supra. The main difference i noticed is the air time, not the amount of air. It literally feels like i just float in the air with a tower, w/o one, i feel like i just go up and come right back down in a very very very short amount of time. However, i can still do all the same tricks without a tower, just with a lot less style. Also i should mention that the wake without the tower is probably half the size of the supra's.

[arof]

ontrider - lol.

I was actually discussing this with friends the other day. The argument was weight vs. tower. There was a good thread about this a while back, with alot of good logical comments. I think intotheflats was a big poster in it (I might be wrong) ... anyone remember/want to find it?