No
Wakeboarding is more like Snowboarding. Slalom waterskiing & jumping are more similar to skiing. Slalom is all about carving. Technique, tactics, timing, vector forces, angles & acceleration!
Makes it look easy…
Not so easy…
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Water skiing…
- Thread starter Tex
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Wakeboarding is more like Snowboarding. Slalom waterskiing & jumping are more similar to skiing. Slalom is all about carving. Technique, tactics, timing, vector forces, angles & acceleration!
Makes it look easy…
Not so easy…
Not even close.
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- Dec 2, 2015
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Hmmm….No
Wakeboarding is more like Snowboarding. Slalom waterskiing & jumping are more similar to skiing. Slalom is all about carving. Technique, tactics, timing, vector forces, angles & acceleration!
Makes it look easy…
Not so easy…
That Nate Smith video at 41' off is incredible!
For the uninitiated, a "standard" rope is 75'. 41' off means they've shortened the rope 41', which means he's actually skiing a rope that's 34' long. ...And the buoys are set 37.5' from the centerline. So his rope doesn't even reach the buoys. He's extending his body to get the ski far enough out to round them. Timing, athleticism, technique...
For the uninitiated, a "standard" rope is 75'. 41' off means they've shortened the rope 41', which means he's actually skiing a rope that's 34' long. ...And the buoys are set 37.5' from the centerline. So his rope doesn't even reach the buoys. He's extending his body to get the ski far enough out to round them. Timing, athleticism, technique...
Does this count?
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That’s true water skiing!
Now waiting for him to skin up the waves for AT water skiing.
Thread Starter
TS
If you are on boards sking H2O, its all similar to me!
Thread Starter
TS
Wakeboarding is more like Snowboarding, because they are both fat boards, catching air doing tricks..... Slalom is more like snow skiing, skinny boards, sharper turns...No
Wakeboarding is more like Snowboarding. Slalom waterskiing & jumping are more similar to skiing. Slalom is all about carving. Technique, tactics, timing, vector forces, angles & acceleration!
I used to Waterski a bit. Man you go through gas quick...
Long-time water skier and snowboarder here. The answer to your question is no. Compare the stance of a wakeboarder to that of a snowboarder. In addition, compare the shape of a wakeboard to a snowboard. Those two recreational activities are far more similar to each other than to water skiing.
The content of this reply from @4ster is spot on. Water skiing on two skis is the most similar to alpine skiing given one's stance and the number of boards being ridden but slalom water skiing is far more similar to alpine skiing than wakeboarding is. Purely from a stance standpoint, slalom water skiing is similar to the now-rarely-seen teleboarding. I probably saw only 6 - 8 people riding teleboards all last season, a new low for me.
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Agreed on the difficulty. Smooth water and a skilled boat operator are helpful to one's success. Nice to see someone else riding their surfboard with a waterski rope handle in their hand. Was doing the same on occasion during about the same timeframe as you!
Thread Starter
TS
Yes it counts. He is on boards, sking H2O...Plus he has that ski knee angulation...
I returned on Sat. from 8 nights camping at lake in Sierra foothills where friends I met on San Jose State snow ski club trips have been going for 44 years. (They moved to another lake the first year my wife attended due to very low water levels and the two years before this they went to a nearby lake as Army Corp of Engineers campground at New Hogan was closed due to COVID). I last tried single skiing at least 3 years ago and strained my hamstring enough to be black and blue when friend gave me too much throttle getting up (and I tried to hang on and then gave it one more try). Friend who boat is pulling me in photos is also over 60 and used to do barefoot deep water starts, but didn't even go off his boom this year. I wondered why my Dad and his friends gave it up in their 60s. I think it has to do with power to weight ratio changing for the worse. Picture is view from our campsite before sunrise on last morning when all our boats were off lake and canopies, chairs, etc. where taken down.
Another friend who lives in Truckee and was there this year also single-skied into his 60s and tried to get up last week to say he did it after turning 70, but failed. I've wake-boarded easily off boom and off rope on boom, but have never been successful behind boat. Pull just seems to be too much and awkward compared to single ski where I would drag a foot and muscle it up and get my foot in once up. So I knee boarded last week which another friend less than a year older than me thought was impressive for someone on Medicare for over a year. Pictures taken by my wife.
Another friend who lives in Truckee and was there this year also single-skied into his 60s and tried to get up last week to say he did it after turning 70, but failed. I've wake-boarded easily off boom and off rope on boom, but have never been successful behind boat. Pull just seems to be too much and awkward compared to single ski where I would drag a foot and muscle it up and get my foot in once up. So I knee boarded last week which another friend less than a year older than me thought was impressive for someone on Medicare for over a year. Pictures taken by my wife.
Thread Starter
TS
Are those jumping skis?
Son's pretrip run.
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^This
We used to use old jump skis but they all wore out then the fatties came along.
The buoyancy really helps. Here is one with 3yo Aksel where I am skiing on Junior skis & having a hard time not sinking.
Waterskiing rocks! It lets one look forward to and enjoy those hot days. While it's pretty physical, the water is relatively soft and doesn't hurt you too much (unless you are barefooting!). The average age of the top competitors is pretty old - I think the slalom world record holders are in their 30s. So @Tex no excuses due to age!
Traditional waterskiing is slalom, tricks and jump. Slalom is six turns in 16.95 seconds, carved turns, G-loads (the ropes are rated for 1000 pounds!) and the winner gets the most buoys at the shortest rope. Tricks is a display of how many difficult tricks a person can do in two 20 second passes. Jump is just how far can you go off a ramp after cutting hard enough at the ramp to generate tremendous speed.
Wakeboarding is a separate sport similar to trick skiing except style is emphasized over speed. Very different feel.
Barefooting is another aspect with its version of slalom, tricks and jump.
Speed skiing is another if you have a really fast boat.
All these sports require dynamic balance and core strength - like snow skiing. To get good, you need experience. But there is some crossover with snow sports. Warren Witherall is a legendary instructor in both water and snow skiing. I've skied with Dahron Rahlves and Tamara McKinney and they are skilled waterskiers. Glen Plake is another waterski standout who we know as a snow skier. Dave Goode was on the US Ski Team and also a top competitive waterskier (as well as being a brilliant equipment designer for both sports). Lots of the good waterskiers are also phenomenal snow skiers (and vice versa).
When the snow isn't there, enjoy the water!
Eric
Traditional waterskiing is slalom, tricks and jump. Slalom is six turns in 16.95 seconds, carved turns, G-loads (the ropes are rated for 1000 pounds!) and the winner gets the most buoys at the shortest rope. Tricks is a display of how many difficult tricks a person can do in two 20 second passes. Jump is just how far can you go off a ramp after cutting hard enough at the ramp to generate tremendous speed.
Wakeboarding is a separate sport similar to trick skiing except style is emphasized over speed. Very different feel.
Barefooting is another aspect with its version of slalom, tricks and jump.
Speed skiing is another if you have a really fast boat.
All these sports require dynamic balance and core strength - like snow skiing. To get good, you need experience. But there is some crossover with snow sports. Warren Witherall is a legendary instructor in both water and snow skiing. I've skied with Dahron Rahlves and Tamara McKinney and they are skilled waterskiers. Glen Plake is another waterski standout who we know as a snow skier. Dave Goode was on the US Ski Team and also a top competitive waterskier (as well as being a brilliant equipment designer for both sports). Lots of the good waterskiers are also phenomenal snow skiers (and vice versa).
When the snow isn't there, enjoy the water!
Eric
Warren Witherell died in 2014. Amazing coach. Pretty sure he would hate the instructor tag….having been coached by him in both sports. He was a different guy, but genius bright. The amount of equipment modifications that he very effectively tinkered with in both sports….amazing. Pioneer in things that we take for granted these days.
He lived an amazing life. The water ski career began on Lake George in NY.
One of a kind. When I began working with him on snow, seriously, I spent day one {ALL DAY} having him check my alignment and put canting strips under the bindings on a pair of my skis. The next three days, essentially doing perfect stem turns and dialing in the canting. He would check my tracks after 3-4 turns in a row. Then….the first real directed free ski coaching that I had been through. I was one of the top in my age group in the country and I thought he was NUTS…but it worked. My skiing needed to be fixed and perfected before my racing.
Similar was his taking 4-5 waterskis into his shop, and creating edge bevels, narrower tails, etc. No stock skis. Of course I don’t think the best Northland skis were close to $50 back then!!! Some experiments failed a bit. Not many. I wish I put more into it.
Nostalgia meter is fully pinned!!!!!
Then if you want team sport, you throw in Show Skiing. Strong as ever in the Mid-West.
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