Eshin Direct

Today I’ve perhaps had my toughest wakeboarding experience to date. It was the first time that I rode in the rain since I wasn’t about to let some drops of water spoil my weekly dose of the wakes. Actually, the rain conditions had left the water very flat and almost perfect for riding. The only issue was the heavy rain which reduced visibility and served as an additonal distraction factor when trying to pull off some of the moves.

I went with my mate Ray who is also into it quite seriously. He improved in leaps and bounds since the last time I saw him. I think it had something to do with him getting some solid water time in Brighton which is bound to improve your skill with all that chop going on. He got some good air on his jumps today.

My jumps were less than spectacular. Apparently my timings are erratic and I’m either too fast or too slow. It’s this idea of having to stand up and push your chest out to get more air out of the jumps. I think it’s the fear of the dreaded faceplant that is keeping me from really getting it right. Also I’m still only doing toe-side jumps since the heel-side jumps are still at, in my opinion, at an awkward angle.

There was another rider on the water that was much more advanced than us. I got the opportunity to look at his posture and position, and how he executed some of the moves. He leaned back more and his arms were straight at all times. It was useful and I spent one of my sets really just focusing on getting the right body posture, or correcting any issues that I might have had. I figured that all the control is in keeping the line low and keeping your arms straight. This basic rule kept me from falling in a number of times when I rightly should have.

I practised the bunny hop again. Last week’s video helped to demonstrate to me what I was doing wrong so I had an idea of how to rectify it. Of course, theory is always different from practice and despite knowing what to do, my execution sucked. I did eventually get air between me and the surface on three or four attempts.

One thing that became abundantly clear to me was that I really need to be in better condition physically if I want to be more advanced. Just trying the bunny hops was beginning to kill my arms. I avoided riding the curve on the u-turns a number of times just to save energy. Eddie explained to me the concept of a double up (?) where he crosses the boat’s wake with another wake, creating one large wake to play with. It was clear on the boat where the wake was but from the rider’s position it was less clear. Oh well, something new to play with.

All in all a great session. I’m going to feel it tomorrow but hey, no pain no gain. The more advanced rider in the other boat taught me one thing. If you are good, it looks cool. He was running a boat with two gals on it. Then again, I’m getting to a point where I don’t really care what others are thinking and am just really focusing on improving my technique.

Tags: wakeboard