When it comes to taking the next steps in wakeboarding, there's a few things that need to be taken into consideration, with speed playing a big factor in your progression, as well as initial knowledge on the most effective way to cut, which is essential to helping your jumps and in turn developing your trick bag, as well as how to do these effectively and minimise wakeboarding slams and mistakes.
How Fast Should I Wakeboard?
When answering the question of what speed should wakeboard at, the best wakeboard speed is always going to be what you feel comfortable with. For beginners, how fast you go when wakeboarding will vary slightly less, most will find around the 16-18mph around the right speed, though as you progress and want to know how to ollie on your wakeboard, you will find that a speed around the 21mph is going to be more suited to help provide you with carry.
Once you have built your speed up to the 20mph range this is where we can talk about the next step in ollieing and clearing the wake, as this speed will give you the line tension and ability to take that next step
Wakeboarding: Wake to Wake Jumps and how to Ollie
Ollieing on a wakeboard is as simple as cutting out and like a skateboard, rolling into the tail and leaping to give you clearance, this can also work when cutting off the tabletop, giving you extra pop and height on your cut out for a bit of extra fun.
When it comes to how to clear the wake on a wakeboard, there are a few things that will work in your favour. A proper non-stretch wakeboard line will go a long way to helping to keep your speed and carry tension once in the air to clear the tabletop. The second thing is your build-up to the wake. Cut out wide and then gradually build up intensity the closer you get to the wake, count through five stages, with 1 being the slowest part of your cut at the start of your turn and 5 being the hardest pull just before the start of the wake. This will help give you the necessary pressure to stand tall off the top of the wake and get that height and carry.
How to Avoid Wakeboarding Mistakes
When it comes to wakeboarding, there are naturally plenty of mistakes, and when you land wrong, wakeboarding mistakes can hurt. The simplest method to avoid big mistakes is the age-old trick of, if something doesn't feel right, throw the handle. When you toss the handle your going to land with less forward velocity and will generally fall to the side rather than catching the edge of your board.
Catching a toeside or heelside edge on a funky landing or an awkward movement is sometimes the worst feeling. Going from speed to zero in a split second that impacts your whole body is going to hurt, and unfortunately, it happens that quickly that there is no way to stop it once in motion. Though board with lipped up or rounded rails through the centre can help give you a better chance of recovery before the grab.
Despite all this, the most straightforward way to avoid wakeboarding mistakes is to gradually build up your skill and trick bag, one step at a time, which is always going to be better than trying to bite off more than you can chew. Another key to this is to diversify your trick range, don't just try flips, try inverts as well. Once you have both of these down pat, you can start to work on combining the two down the track to truly advance your riding!