How To Clear The Wake Wakeboarding

5 easy wakeboarding tricks to master

Once you get the hang of it, performing a wakeboarding trick is an exhilarating achievement. Clue up before you go and let your Neilson instructor know what your target is so they can best assist you with learning how to wakeboard. As soon as you've established what stance you are - 'goofy' or 'regular' - you can focus on perfecting your skills on the water.

Whether you want to master riding the wake, want to get some air, do grabs or complete rotational tricks, we have a range of beginner tricks for you to try out. This is your guide on how to learn to wakeboard and pick up some easy wakeboarding tips and tricks.

Cross the wake

Once you're comfortable and in control of your wakeboard, and have sussed surfing the wake, you can practice crossing the wake. Leaning into your toe and heel edges and pulling the rope away from the boat, you'll feel your wakeboard turn. Fluidity is key when executing a good turn so that you carve through the water.

Once you are riding along, look in the direction you want to go and turn your shoulders and chest towards the boat. Moving the handle from the outside of your front hip to the inside, you need to also transfer your weight onto your heels.

Keep movements slow and controlled. You need to make sure that the wakeboard glides over the water's surface often, and ensure that your knees stay bent. Avoid steering with the rope as this will mean you will fall. Only moving your lower body, you will soon begin to cross the wake.

If you are keen to cross the wake in the other direction, push your knees towards the water and press onto your toes, then turn your shoulder and hips to face the way you want to go. If you are directly behind the boat, change direction by following the other wake. Keep repeating these actions to continue crossing the wake.

Cross the wake

Jumping the wake

To begin this wakeboard jump, you must edge toward the top of the wake and gradually pick up speed on your approach. Keeping your knees bent, with the handle at your front hip, stand up tall and begin to straighten your legs as you approach the wake, which will give you the pop that you need.

You will feel yourself get some air and hopefully clear the wake. Finally, you need to 'load the line' or pull the rope a few inches into your front hip area. This will keep the rope tight and also keep your arms in for the landing. As always, when you land you must bend your knees, remembering to continue on, gliding outside of the wake.

To make another jump, you'll need to pull outside the wake as far as possible and sit there for a moment. When you feel like the boat is pulling you back in, you can make a turn then roll up onto your edge to make a nice progressive cut towards the wake. Once you're happy with jumping the wake, your goal is to try to perfect small jumps which build into bigger jumps, using the wake as a jumping ramp.

Jumping the wake

Surface 180

One of the best wakeboard tricks for beginners you can master is a surface spin. This is where you'll learn to rotate your board 180°. Because you don't actually leave the water's surface, it's a great way of getting used to the wakeboard, before you branch into wakeboard jumps.

To begin, you must keep your elbows locked into your body, bend your knees and turn your wakeboard by rotating your hip or by putting extra weight onto your heels. When the wakeboard turns to point in the other direction, you will be riding in switch, or backwards. There are two types of switch – frontside, or toeside, and backside, or heelside. When you ride frontside, you need to turn your chest towards the boat as you spin. When riding backside, you must move your chest away from the boat.

The best time to practice a surface 180 is when you are being pulled out of the water, when the boat isn't up to full speed. Whilst the boat is going slower, you'll be able to slide your wakeboard around easier without catching an edge. You can also practice going back and forth from regular to switch.

Surface 180

Ollie

Ollie is a basic wakeboard trick which is another way to jump or get some air. It's essentially jumping out of the water without using the wake to launch you.

To start the trick, you must jump down on the tail of your wakeboard to compress the water, pulling your front foot up also. This will apply up force against your wakeboard and will push you back up out of the water. The deeper you push on the tail, the harder you'll be pushed back out.

You should focus on the tail of the wakeboard and practice pushing it down in the water so that the water pops you. Then you can concentrate on bouncing down to bounce up. After you get more comfortable with an Ollie, you can work on manipulating the nose of your wakeboard by pulling it up.

Ollie

Tail grab

If you've mastered the Ollie then you can try this advanced trick, a tail grab. You can attempt a tail grab once you've popped up from your jump and are in the air. This is performed by grabbing the tail or back tip of your wakeboard with your back hand.

As the nose of your wakeboard is already quite high when you make a jump, it can be tricky to get the hang of a grab. Therefore, to make it simpler, you need to push harder off the heelside as you pop off the wake. This will mean that you to level out more in the air and make it easier for you to reach the grab. You can also pull up your back knee so that the wakeboard is closer to your hand. There is another variation of this trick which is the toeside tail grab.

Once you've got the hang of these wakeboard tricks and tips, you can move onto an Ollie 180 and maybe add in a tail grab to max up your routine. You're now ready to face the wake, so don't delay getting on that wakeboard! Browse our wakeboarding holidays, offered at most beachclubs, but check out Alana Beachclub in Croatia, Retreat Beachclub, and Vounaki Beachclub in Greece in particular.

Tail grab