Tips by Ong Kian San
Video : Ryan Lee
Photo : Ryan Lee
Technique of the wake jump is pretty much the same as on a wakeboard. You want to have a nice progressive edge toward the wake and hold that edge through the wake, having maximum line tension as you are leaving the top of it.
The only difference is you want to kind of ollie just as you hit the top of the wake. You can’t stand tall for wake jumps on a wakeskate. You come off your board everytime, and you?ll be flapping wings. So edge right up the wake, and just as you leave the wake, pop off a little like an ollie, bringing up that front foot and snapping down that back foot (but not as hard as you would for an ollie). The board should leave the wake with the nose higher than the tail.
As you start to float up, keep your front leg bent, sucking that knee up as you would do on an ollie. It may be more comfortable to release your back hand off the handle, but do so only after you leave the wake, and remember to keep that handle in. When you’re reaching the peak of the jump, bring up the back foot to level off the board. Though this is not entirely necessary, it will help as you progress to do grabs. Remember, what’s keeping the board under your feet now is the air under your board that’s pushing against your direction of travel, so keep you toes pointed upwards.
At this point you’ll start descending. Float down with it and not straighten your knee to reach for the landing. Sometimes its a natural tendency to do so, but that pushes the board away and it’ll be hard to land when the board comes off your feet. So, float with the board as it descends, and slowly extend your legs, but just enough to keep in contact with the board, and absorb the landing. Remember to stay squatted a little longer once you land or you might bounce off the board.
On your heelside wake jump, weight distribution is generally equal on both feet, or maybe just slightly heavier on the back foot to snap down the tail. On the toeside jump, its easier to have more weight on the back foot. That helps you to lean against the pull of the rope and edge on your toeside, and not lean towards your back which will end up landing on your heels and slip out. Regardless of heelside or toeside, remember to take off and land on the same edge.
Start with inside-out one wake jumps, then progress to do regular outside-in one wake jumps the take it wake to wake as you feel more confident.