wakeup -- july 09
DESCRIPTION
Personal Watercraft Illustrated, July 2009. Frame-by-frame analysis and how-to of wakeskating tricks and tips, taught by leading industry athletesTRANSCRIPT
71 PERSONAL WATERCRAFT ILLUSTRATED • JULY 2009
1. As you approach the end of the dock, keep both the handleand wakeskate at waist level. Jump off of the dock with your backfoot. For regular stance riders, this would be your right foot (leftfoot for those who ride goofy).2. This is where the fun starts.As you jump off of the dock, keepthe handle low and the wakeskate centered on your body. Asyour back leg extends, you are going to want to lift your front legup toward your chest.3. After your back leg leaves the dock, bring that leg up to yourchest, as well. Start to move the board from the side of your
body to under your feet. Keep your headdown to make sure that your feet are
centered on the wakeskate.
4. The handle should still be at waist level as you let go of thewakeskate with your back hand. The moment you let go of thewakeskate with your hand, start to extend your legs, pushing thewakeskate down toward the water. You should still have yourhead down watching the wakeskate under your feet.5. As soon as the board hits the water, slightly bend your kneesto absorb the impact. Remember you still aren’t up to speed, soyou’ll want to have slightly more pressure on your rear foot sothe nose of the board won’t submerge.6. It is now time to give a look back to the girls on the dock asthey ask each other,“How did he do that?”
T E X T B Y J U S T I N S T A N N A R D A N D D A N N Y E V A N SP H O T O G R A P H Y B Y D A N N Y E V A N S
Deep-water starts on a wakeskate are pretty cool, but nothing scores heropoints like jumping from a dock and landing on your deck with all the studli-ness of a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick to the face.To better prepare you
for your first dock start, we thought we’d ask pro wakeskater and Nike 6.0 teamrider Nick Taylor along with action sports photographer Danny Evans to walkus through the basics. Pay attention to these pros, and you’ll have the dockstart nailed by the time Chuck counts to infinity – again.The Setup: You are going to want to hold the handle in your lead hand.Use your other hand to hold the wakeskate in the middle of the boardwith the bottom facing out. Make sure you give yourself room on the dockto take a couple steps before jumping on the board.
The Approach: Make sure you communicate with the driver of thewatercraft (especially if your driver has never driven a dock start before).Also,
think the entire start through before you are ready to go. Once the rope tightens, thedriver should start to slowly accelerate. It is also important that the driver drives straight,
to prevent pulling you crooked off of the dock. Keeping the handle in your lead hand, take a coupleof steps and get ready to jump off of the dock.
71 Wakeup_PWI6 6/12/09 10:08 AM Page 71