There are other towed sports than Skiing & wakeboarding .. one of which I would like to put up as a consideration.
Water-skiing is often one of the first steps after playing about on tubing, and I’m not knocking this, I ski myself, but it has limitations, to progress you need to move to a mono-ski and that means you need significant increase in speed.
With that speed comes a number of things … cost (fuel) and injury, this is no joke, you wipe out on a mono-ski, being towed at 36mph .. means you were probably cutting at close to 50mph …… you have a tumble at that speed – it hurts.
I have had broken ribs, and some serious muscle injuries.
No you could instead do wakeboarding ……… lower speed, but due to stand up position & aerial work, can also give hard wipeouts. It is also requires a fair amount of physical fitness & flexibility, great if you are starting as a teenager.
There is an option that allows you to have the feeling of speed, allows you to do tricks if you want, but all at a much lower speed and relative safety.
I refer to Kneeboarding ………….
I started Kneeboarding in mid 90’s, and it was a very rapidly growing sport …….. but it dropped off in popularity as wakeboarding became to the front with its ‘presence’ from snow boarding.
However I think that Kneeboarding has a place, and can be very useful for people new to boats & towed sports & great for families.
I have taught many people to kneeboard ……… the big advantage is that you can kneeboard from about 14mph upwards, and you don’t need to go above 20mph to do any of the tricks.
What this means is that learners feel safer as they are closer to the water – and if you fall, you just get wet … and come off the board …. Rather than be strapped in to wakeboard bindings.
A knee-board consists of a moulded base – thick & buoyant made by Rotocasting for learner boards with extra soft kneepads, or thin hard edged performance boards made by compression moulding.
The basic premise of kneeboarding is simple, you lie on the board holding the leading edge with your forearms on the board, the tow starts and the speed increases smoothly until sufficient to make the board ride on the water supporting you lying on it … then you have to do the difficult part, a transition from lying to kneeling … the aim is to do this in one smooth ‘hop’ pulling on front of board as you hop forward ………. To get your knees as far forward into the shaped knee pads as possible.
If you don’t get your knees all the way up initially you need to shuffle forward until they are all the way up, without falling over the front or sides
At the same time you need to be leaning backwards to make sure the tip of the board does not go under the water – or it will flip.
Then once you settle into a towed kneeling position you pull the lap strap up over your knees to top of your thighs and tighten the Velcro down … the tighter the better – don’t worry it pops off if you wipe out.
You then lean back and keep your arms straight and enjoy ……… it will only take a short time, and you will be happy to slalom, side slides, 180’s to ride backwards and the first real buzz when you manage to pull off your first 360.
Soon you will be jumping the wake and loving it.
For kids under age of 14 … best for them to learn without bothering to do the strap up – the board will support their weight.
We often put 2 or 3 boards out at a time behind the boat … or start off with board on the sand … skimming across this and straight up onto the water – real buzz.
I have an O’Brien Black Magic purely for learners - the built in buoyancy will hold the weight of rider up out of the water …….. and importantly it is fitted with an Aquatic hook …
The Aquatic hook .. is a moulded in clip that the rider puts the ski rope handle on .. and then does not have to worry about the handle at all when learning, they just hold the board – once they are relaxed and comfortable they can grab the handle and lift it up ………… everyone gets up that way 100% success.
You can teach kids at speeds as low as 12 mph …….. safely.
The Black Magic also has retractable fins …..you put fins down for learners .. makes board track in a straight line, and then retract them once you want to start moving around.
Once you have mastered the basics, get up without the hook and can get in right position every time – you will want to move on.
This is where the performance style board comes in, it is much thinner in comparison, ,has little buoyancy, and relies on speed to keep rider on the surface.
I have an HO Striker which is a great performance board – now sold as the Joker.
It has a pronounced rocker front to back, which allows it to spring off the wakes giving great air. To keep you firmly fixed to it you have a double locking strap, that does a much firmer hold that a basic lap strap.
The first time you get up on it you are amazed on how reactive it is … initially it feels very skittish, but once you get the hang of it – you will love it.
So if you are looking for a towed water sport that is safe for all ages, can be a serious adrenalin rush if you want it to be, and is cheap – give Kneeboarding a go.
You can kneeboard when it is too rough for water-skiing, it’s pretty forgiving.
Happy to help with any advice.
Just to show you can have fun on a kneeboard take a look at some of the tricks – this is an extract from a great teaching video I bought by World Champion Mario Fossa … and that is on VHS ... gives you an idea how long ago I bought that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aty_GIsEAPQ
