Wakeboarding for Beginners

Getting Up

Synopsis: Tips on getting up and kickin' your first time out on the water. We learned by trial and error so you don't have to! Whether you're eight or eighty, we've got a great guide for first-time wakeboarders.

Before you can start throwing sick tricks, you need to get out of the water. This is harder for some people than others. It takes some skill on the driver's part to get a new rider (especially one who has little water-sports experience) on his or her feet.

It's quite possible that you will get up and go for a ways on your very first try. I've had the pleasure of teaching a handful of these gifted (or lucky?) folks. It's also quite possible that it may take you an hour or two.

The only time I haven't been able to get someone up on their first outing was because they psyched themselves out. So that's lesson one. Don't despair. You can get up.

The first thing you'll need to do is strap the board onto your feet (If you don't have a board yet, check out our guide to buying a wakeboard. Some people are comfortable doing this in the water, but with modern wakeboard bindings this can be quite a trick. I like to have my beginning riders stand on the back of the boat with the board on the swim-platform. This may not be an option in some boats (especially non-inboards).

It is common to use soap or another lubricant to slide your feet into your bindings. Be sure to get them wet first. Slide your feet in and cinch up the laces.

Now for the first tricky part.. getting in the water without looking like a complete idiot. Chances are you won't look very graceful and everyone in the boat will have a good laugh. Shrug it off. The day will come when you're one of the ones doing the laughing. It's all in good fun.

Ok, now you're in the water. You've probably forgotten to grab the handle. You're going to need that, so have someone throw it to you.

Just relax. It will take some time before the boat is ready to pull you. If you're on your stomach, roll over. Again, the people in the boat will probably have a good laugh watching you flop about.

Once you're on your back with the rope in your hands, make sure the line is above your board. If it's under you or wrapped around you, yell at the boat driver to stop until you have it sorted out.

Now you're going to want to curl into a ball. Bring your knees to your chest and extend your arms. Having your elbows bent bent will cause a jerk when the boat starts to go and will likely rip the rope out of your hands.

Once the driver has taken the slack out of the boat, you're ready to go.

It differs with different crews, so ask the driver what their "go word" is. My group tends to use "gear" to tell the driver to switch into idle and "go boat" to tell him to hit the throttle. Other common ones are "go," "hit it," and "giddy up." The important thing is that both you and the driver are on the same page.

The boat driver should now hit the throttle. If they're used to driving more experienced riders, it's likely that the first hit will be too hard. The driver should take it easy and make the pull as progressive as they can. If your driver is having problems, have them read our boat driving tutorial.

Now it's your time to shine. Common wisdom tells us that it takes a lot of strength to pull yourself out of the water. This is very true. But you don't need to pull yourself out of the water! This is a common mistake of first-time riders. They try to muscle their way up. Don't. Let the boat do the hard work for you.

Stay in your little ball and lean back. Don't extend your legs yet. As the boat picks up speed you should plane off and be gliding along the top of the water in a squat.

This should be a sustainable position. There's no reason for you to stand up early. But ninety percent of first timers will. Once you've gotten into this sliding squat, then you can stand up.

When you stand up you'll start to go in one direction or the other. Don't worry about it. Just lean back a little bit, don't try to fight it. You don't have to strain to go straight just yet. Let the board take you where it wants to.

And that's it, you're up! Congratulations, you're a wakeboarder. Welcome to the club. But you're not a pro yet. Now that you can get up, you should learn how to stay up and how to carve back and forth.

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