Brent87LT1 wrote:
Warning! "The Book" will help everything but your pocketbook.
If you buy the entire set, that is correct. However, you only need Volume 2 right now. You are already doing pretty much everything Volume 1 covers, and the next few volumes are all about tricks that you aren't ready to try yet, anyway.
OK, in response to your stuff:
1. Good that you have the right line.
2. You will constantly have to play with the trim if you have different amounts of weight in the boat. The best and cheapest ballast is 3-4 people sitting in the bow and passenger seats. Don't let anyone sit in the aft cockpit seats. I/O's do best with all or most of the weight in the front half of the boat. You can use the trim to get it right. More weight will make that sweet 18" more like 22-24" of wake with a decent lip on it. It will also harden the wake a bit so that it doesn't feel soft when you hit it. You will go up the wake more instead of crashing through it. Trust me on this. Get yourself at least 500 lbs in the boat outside of the driver. Doesn't matter if it is water or people, but do it.
3. I'd HIGHLY recommend you slow down to about 20 MPH AND knock 10' off that line. No offense, but you're never going to make it wake 2 wake ("w2w") at 22MPH/75 feet until you get a LOT more weight in the boat and get your progressive edging technique down perfectly. If you slow it down a bit, the wake shape will be better 10' closer to the boat but it will be a narrower jump for you to get w2w much easier and build your confidence.
4. Progressive Edging Technique is the term of art used by the wakeboard pros and experts to explain the continued building of energy and speed as you edge harder and harder toward the wake. If you just cut hard and flatten out, you'll pull a little bit of air but you will never be able to consistently w2w and you'll never get enough pop up into the air to try 180's, 360's, or any inverted tricks. The edging technique basically builds all of the energy and tension into the rope so that you get launched when all the energy releases as you hit the top of the lip of the wake.
5. Yes, the hip is fundamental so good that you start sooner. Same thing with the arms. They bend at the elbows to hold the rope at the hip. They are NEVER straight out like a 2-skied water skier.
6. You are basically trying to avoid absorbing the wave with your back or knees. If you were ever a skier, BMX or mountain biker, or snow skier, this pretty much cuts against EVERYTHING you learned over the years. In those activities, your fundamentals included absorbing bounce with your knees, hips, spine, and elbows. In wakeboarding, you have to unlearn this habit. As a former slalom skier, 2-skied skier, BMX/mountain bike rider, etc., this was easily the hardest part of me learning to w2w.
Get that video of yourself. I'm willing to bet you are a LOT closer to getting it than you think. You will feel even more that way when you shorten your rope and slow down a bit.
Here are a few links to help you out a bit with understanding weighting and jumping. Keep in mind that the discussions on weighting pertain to inboards. I/O's require almost no weight in the rear, so keep that in mind.
Discussion of weighting your boat
http://wakeworld.com/Tricklist/TrickTip029.aspDiscussion of wake jumping using progressive edging technique
http://wakeworld.com/Tricklist/TrickTip002.aspAnother discussion of jumping using p.e.t.
http://wakeworld.com/Tricklist/TrickTip009.aspVideo of a heelside w2w jump
http://wakeworld.com/TrickList/TrickTip009a.asp_________________
Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)
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). One other suggestion: get a copy of "The Book: Volume 2." I cannot put into words how great it is and how much it helped me.
