Wakeboarding Trick Tips for Beginners

How to do Surface Tricks

Synopsis: Learn to do your first tricks: the frontside and backside surface 180s (along with switch stance riding), boardslides and lipslides.

Congratulations, you've gotten up, and are working on mastering board control. Now you're ready to learn to do your first tricks. The most basic type of trick you can do on a wakeboard is the surface 180. Once you have that down, you can move on to more advanced surface tricks like boardslides and lipslides.

First, we should define what exactly a surface trick is. A surface trick is a wakeboarding trick that is done without leaving the water. In other words, you don't need to jump.

Surface 180s are the most basic trick you can do. They consist of switching which foot is forward whilst you are riding. Riding with your non-native foot forward is also called "riding switch" or "switch stance." It takes a little getting used to, but starting early will help you with more advanced tricks down the road. Once you learn the surface 180, you should practice riding switch enough that it feels almost as comfortable as riding in a normal stance.

So how do you go about doing a surface 180? Well, first of all, you should slow the boat down a bit. Chances are that while learning this trick, you will catch an edge. Slowing the boat down will help ease the pain of this all-too-familiar occurance.

The first surface 180 that we'll learn is the frontside surface 180. This means that you will turn with your chest open to the boat (check the glossary for a more complete explanation). There are two keys to successfully accomplishing your rotation.

The first is to bend your knees. You want to get into a slightly squatted position.

The second key is to lean back. You want to lean against the rope a little bit so that you are back on your heels.

Now kind of pivot at your hips as if you are trying to fit your upper body through a narror walkway. You should naturally start to spin and your back foot should go forward.

And there you have it, you've completed a surface 180! At this point you'll probably lose your balance, look really silly, and fall. But with practice you should be able to control your switch stance riding just as you did your regular stance riding! One tip for mastering your switch stance is to focus on how your weight is distributed while you are riding regular. Then make a conscious effort to do the same things when riding switch.

Once you have your frontside surface 180 down, you can try your hand at a backside surface 180. Basically this is the same thing only spinning in the opposite direction. You will need to let go with your back hand. Then reach around behind you and grab the handle behind your back. Lean away from the boat and you should spin around, ending up riding switch.

After you've got that mastered, you can try your hand at a boardslide. What is a boardslide you ask? Well, it's basically like using the wake as a rail (it is also sometimes called a butter slide). You make a quarter of a turn so that your feet are pointing towards the boat and are on either side of one of the wakes. You stay balanced in this postition, "sliding" on the wake. Once you have the boardslide down, this shouldn't be too far of a stretch. Just make sure to keep your knees bent and lean back.

Also you may want to try a lipslide. This is the same thing as a boardslide except you have your back to the boat. Approach it the same way as you did your backside 180. Remember to lean away from the boat.

So there you have it, your first tricks! Once you've got those mastered (or are ready for a change of pace), you can move on to some tricks that involve jumping the wake.

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