T
KIDS FIRST
As any parent will tell you,
kids learn at their own pace.
You might want them to be
the next wake prodigy, but
they might just be doing their
best by strapping on a board
and getting in the water.
Don’t push them. Instead,
let them learn and prepare
in gradual, nonintimidating
fashion. The following
drills have been designed by
LearnWake to help your child
conquer any fears and absorb
skills in a fun way. Timeline?
That’s up to your child. What
one might conquer in an
afternoon might take another
weeks, months or even years
to feel comfortable with. Let
them dictate the pace, and
everyone will be a lot happier
— and more successful.
One of the best ways
to ease young kids into
wakeboarding is simply
allowing them to get
acclimated to the boat and
the water. With the engine
off, encourage them to jump
off the swim platform and
tread water in their life
jackets, getting used to the
flotation and how it will affect
them in the water. If you have
access to a larger wakesurf
board, stand-up paddleboard
or even just a tube, let them
float on it with the towrope
in hand, and push them out
to the rope’s full length to
become accustomed to the
distance from the boat. Next,
reel them in. This will help
the child learn to resist the
pull and to enjoy the feeling
of gliding over the water
without fear of the boat
leaving them or going
too fast.
When they begin to show
interest in doing it for real,
don’t rush the process. Start
with some land training on
a grassy lawn. Tape a large
piece of cardboard to the
bottom of the wakeboard,
have them get into the
bindings, then use a towrope
to drag them across the
grass. The cardboard will
protect the board and
create a slick surface to skid
on; the child will learn to
resist the pull of the rope,
maintain his or her stance
and balance, and acclimate
to wakeboarding’s sideways
stance. If you have access
to a lengthy shoreline with
a gradual, sandy drop-off,
To make it easier
for everyone look-
ing to get on board,
we turned to the
pros at our sister
brand, LearnWake, a
web-based instruc-
tional platform put
together by profes-
sional watersports
coaches. Its primary
goal is to ease the
learning process
by teaching riders
and drivers how to
do it the right way
the fi rst time. Along
with LearnWake’s
Brandon Judd, we
hit the water to
focus on four key
areas for budding
’boarders: intro-
ducing kids to the
sport; learning to get
up that fi rst time;
understanding the
proper hand signals
to communicate
with the boat driver;
and for that driver,
how to properly
retrieve a rider after
a fall. After learning
the basics, everyone
can move forward
with learning all the
tricks and maneu-
vers that make
wakeboarding so
popular. Find the
results here, as well
as online in an in-
depth video series.
SCAN
ME!
80 BOATINGMAG.COM JUNE 2016
