Wakeboarding - tips and tricks for beginners

The popular sport of "wakeboarding" involves you standing on something which looks a bit like a snowboard, and letting yourself be pulled across the water with a rope hoist. The wakeboard is firmly connected to your feet with a special binding. As a beginner, it is advisable to get some experience in water skiing before switching to the wakeboard.

Equipment

Along with the wakeboard itself, the most important pieces of equipment are a wet suit with additional protection for your back, a helmet, and a life jacket. A complete set of equipment costs approximately 700 euros. However, you can, of course, also borrow the equipment if you just want to try out the sport.

Start

The easiest way to start off is to sit at the edge of the water and to allow the winch to pull you across it, whilst firmly grasping the dumbbell. People usually only manage a few meters on their first attempts. But with good body tension you can get the hang of it relatively quickly.

Wakeboard basic technique

It is advisable for beginners to attend a course.

It is important to bend your knees deeply and to shift your body’s center of gravity far downwards. It will therefore be easier for you to ride the waves and have better balance on the water. This is not possible with outstretched legs. You should hold the dumbbell, which is connected to the rope winch, at about the same level as your hip.

The first curves

By shifting your body weight to the left or right, you can control the direction of the board. This will not be easy at first, but people often manage to master the techniques after a few hours.

The most frequent mistakes made by beginners and how you can avoid them

Most beginners don’t pay attention to the fact that the upper part of the body should be kept relatively straight, and the balancing movements should only come from the legs. If the upper part of the body is too far forward, you will quickly lose your balance.

The dumbbell is often held too close to the body, which leads to the arms quickly getting tired and restricting freedom of movement.

If you do not make sure that the rope is always taut, you will briefly lose speed and then quickly accelerate forward again. It will then be impossible to keep with the board on the water.

We hope that you have been able to obtain a few helpful tips from this article, which will facilitate your introduction to the great sport of wakeboarding.