Take Your Tow-Sports Skills to the Next Level

When you first learn to get up on water skis or a wakeboard, it’s an exhilarating experience. The feeling is euphoric when you let go of the handle and surf behind the boat for the first time. But once you’ve mastered getting up and following the boat on skis, kneeboard, wakeboard or wakesurfer, you might ask yourself, “What’s next?”

It’s human nature always to want more. Once we accomplish a goal, we’re ready for the next step.

When you’re ready to move past just following the boat, there are two keys to work on. The first is to direct the ski or board away from a straight path. Water-skiers and wakeboard riders do this by crossing the boat’s wake back and forth. Wakesurfers do so by carving the board up and down the wave.

The second key is to execute a 180- or 360-degree rotation on a wakeboard, wakesurfer, kneeboard, or trick ski. By moving past merely following the boat, you can improve your skill level and ­develop a long list of tricks.

The first golden rule to understand is that the lower body does the work when crossing from side to side or when doing rotations. The upper body follows the lower body. Many incorrectly use the upper body to create movement ­either across the boat’s wake or when initiating a rotation.

Crossing the Wake

In water-­skiing and wakeboarding, because the skier or rider is holding the handle, the tendency is to lean away from the boat, and that pull on the upper body causes the skier or rider to pull even more against the handle to initiate movement.