Eshin Direct

Pulling Off the Two Wake Jump

I think they really should call me “Two-Wake” Eshin because I have embarrassingly stayed on the same trick for the last few years. It’s something that I still haven’t nailed although I am hopeful at this rate that it will be before the end of the year. So you could call me “Two-Wake” Eshin to poke fun at my elusive holy grail of wakeboarding or when I finally do pull it off flawlessly each time, that will be a badge of honor since, at the rate I am going, my next trick will be mastered by the time I am forty.

Here’s is how I am pulling off my heel-side two wake jump (and this is more for my own reference than anyone else’s). Some photos at the end for those patient enough to have read through the post.

1. Set up

Get the board to about a metre out from the foam of the heel-side wake. I use this time to mentally prepare myself for what I want to do and go through the checklist of things to do. I always return to this position before edging out. I prefer a handle grip with my knuckles next to each other to give me more strength on the handle.

2. Edging Out

It feels like you should be pulling away from the boat to get the tension on the line. In some ways, I see it as turning your torso as much as possible away from the heel-side wake and in the direction of travel. I find it useful to remember that I need to drop my right shoulder to get good tension on the line.

3. Turning In and Set-up for the Return

This for me was perhaps the most complicated part of the two wake jump to get my head around. Keeping the tension on the line that you built in edging out, you want to turn slowly and let the board feel almost like it is sinking heavy in the water. Turn to face the wake with your head, and slowly let the boat pull you back into the wake. It should do this naturally. If you must actively turn, use your front leg to navigate the board (as opposed to your back leg that I was using).

Rather than look at your board, turn your head to face the wake. I only started doing this recently since I realized I spent way too much time looking down to ensure that my board was doing what it should. This should probably have been done on feel initially, and looking at the wake helps you face what you need to do. Of course, this did lead to an interesting situation where the wake intimidated me for a while. A healthy dose of falls did lead me to the question, “You want me to jump those two?”. But now, my fear of the wake is almost conquered.

4. Edge Progressively

Important for me since I was edging in instantly rather than progressively. Let the boat pull you in slowly. Again, front leg for navigation gives you much more control but you shouldn’t really need it. Over navigating might mean you come in too hard for the jump, is what I found for myself. Instead, when you hit your starting point in Step 1, go into a sitting position, putting more weight on your heels. I think they call this tracking.

5. Hitting the Wake

Approaching the wake, for me it is more like riding up the top of the wake and then standing tall. This gives you your pop. Two things I need to remember at this stage are to keep my arse in (remember, you are supposed to be standing tall) and to avoid looking at the wake. This last one is important for me at this stage since I keep looking down which alters the body position. It also give me the fear of hitting the top of the wake which is quite painful the few times I’ve pulled that off.

And there it is. I know what needs to be done and I’ve found myself more often than not pulling off good jumps towards the end of my second run lately. Consistency is now a matter of practice.

Here are some photos from where I wakeboard and this give me the opportunity to show off my O’Brien Vision board with it’s new (second-hand) Liquid Force Watson bindings.