How To Wakesurf – Beginner Wakesurf Tips

Wakesurfing is one of the most fun ways to spend your summer – you get to stay cool while cruising an endless wave, or you can push the adrenaline and style, learning new tricks. The initial learning curve can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. With a couple of tricks and tips, you can be up, dropping the rope, and wakesurfing in no time.

Giving yourself a good foundation will set you up for success. This means starting with the right equipment and choosing the best wakesurf board for you. Wakesurf boards for beginners focus on stability, which will help you gain confidence. We recommend starting out with a surf style wakesurf board with a large surface area, and a stable three-fin setup. This will give you the most stable and forgiving platform to learn the basics on. Once you have your board picked out, it’s time to grab your life jacket and get on the water.

The most tried and true advice for getting up on the board is to relax. The most common mistake that beginners make is tensing up and trying too hard to pull themselves up. When you relax, getting up should be effortless as the boat does all the heavy lifting for you. With this in mind, check out the video for some more specific pointers on foot placement, timing, and other tips.

Getting up wakesurfing might feel like hard at first, but once you’ve got it locked down you can move on to the fun part. Riding the wave might feel foreign at first, but with a couple of key tips, you’ll be able to shred like a pro. Think of your front foot as your gas pedal and your brake. Pressing down on your front foot will shift your weight forward making you speed up. Moving your weight backwards slows you down. One helpful tip is when you’re figuring out how to maneuver around the wave is to have someone manage the rope for you. This means someone in the boat holds onto the rope gently feeding it in and out so you don’t get snapped off the board if you run out of slack.

Once you have a feel for navigating the wave and keeping up your speed, you can drop the rope. This is when you’re really surfing! From here, you can take it any number of ways, from slashing cutback turns, to hopping on a skim-style board and learning tricks.

Our final set of tips aren’t about the rider at all, its about the driver of the boat. Start with the right boat setup for wakesurfing and your life will be a lot easier. The way you drive can help the rider, too. We recommend a “three-speed start.” This means first putting the boat into gear to take up slack in the rope, slowly accelerating to pull the rider up, then cruising up to surfing speed.