Tips by David Ngiam
Photo :
Ok. If you haven’t noticed yet, there can be a lot of different terms used in wakeboarding. Some are pretty straight-forward, while some are just confusing. And there’s some pretty weird trick names as well! Here’s a glossary of some commonly used terms.
EQUIPMENT TERMS :
Wakeboard : The board itself.
Bindings : The footwear that’s attached to the wakeboard
Fins : These are the blade-like things found at the bottom of the board that help your board track better on the water.
Molded Fins : Fins are traditionally removable from the wakeboard. However, more and more wakeboard designs are incorporating fins that are molded into the wakeboard itself. They are sometimes used in combination with removable fins.
Board Rails / Edges : Refers to the edges on the long side of the board.
Nose / Tail : Refers to the opposite ends of a wakeboard
I
nserts : The holes in your board where you screw your bindings in.
Length / Width : The dimensions of the board. Length of the wakeboard is usually refered to in centimeters.
Rocker : It describes the amount of curvature in the wakeboard. This is usually described in inches and it is the distance between the ground and the nose / tail of the wakeboard when the wakeboard is placed flat on the ground.
RIDING TERMS :
Goofy / Regular Footer : Refers to whether you ride with your right foot in front (Goofy) or left foot in front (Regular)
Heelside / Toeside Edge : Refers to your edging position. If you are leaning on your heels over the board, its a heelside edge. If you are leaning on your toes, its a toeside edge. HS or TS for short.
Frontside / Backside : Frontside and Backside refers to spinning direction. A frontside spin (most common) is when the front of your body faces the wake first as you leave the wake (ie. If you are a goofy footer, you would be spinning in a clockwise motion). For a backside spin (also known as a blind spin), your back faces the wake first as you leave the wake). It can get pretty confusing, especially when used together with edging terms (eg. Heelside Backside Off-Axis 720), but you’ll get the hang of it after a while.
Loading the Line : Refers to creating tension in the rope as you approach the wake for a trick.
Progressive Approach : Refers to building up from a soft edge to hard edge in a gradual manner.
Switch / Fakie : Refers to riding the board in the opposite direction. For example, if you ride with your right foot forward, riding switch means you are now riding with your left foot forward.
Stance : How wide your feet / bindings are positioned over the board.
Half Cab : Refers to a trick that was executed from a fakie stance to a regular stance. Eg. Heelside Half Cab (Switch 180), Half Cab Roll (Switch Roll-to-Revert)
Pop : Refers to the point where you push off the wake to get air.
Release : Refers to the point where the board leaves the wake.
Blind : Refers to either the direction of spin (backside spin) or how a trick was landed (eg. Tantrum to Blind). A blind landing is when a trick is landed after a backside 180 spin.
For more terms and trick names, check out the Tricktionary.