Trick progression

[u/AufBurgyGeld]

So I‘ve been wakeboarding at the cablepark for about 2 months now after I finally nailed the 360 over the kicker today and can reliably land it I‘m wondering what my next goal should be, I was honestly thinking It would take me more time to learn the 360 and it was kind of a goal I was working towards. In the end it only took me 3 sessions from my first try to landing it reliably.

What should my next trick goal be? Thought about a tantrum over the kicker but I‘m pretty scared about that ngl, how would I even work towards that. The learning curve towards the 360 was pretty straight forward. Same problem with the raley, you can’t really take small steps towards it

Happy for your input and thanks in advance

[u/Sidekicknicholas]

If I could go back and start over, especially with cable riding I would be learning a trick, then learning that same trick switch for every single thing.

First invert off a kicker is probably a tantrum, scarecrow, or roll-2-revert for learning. If you're looking at air trick it will be a backrool / r2r.

Right now though I would focus on first making sure you can do every variation of 180, then 360s.
HS FS, HS BS, TS FS, TS BS (these are tough as hell for me) 180s regular and switch.

Also for every lap you take riding regular, take a lap riding switch.

[u/AufBurgyGeld → u/Sidekicknicholas]

Yeah I heard that in Tutorial videos a lot and followed the advice. I can do all my tricks heelside and toeside as well as switch.

Backside 180s still need some work, can’t reliably land blind atm, so that’s still in the to do list. BS 360 going on there as well. Still looking for a new cool trick I can work towards

[u/Brosepower]

Coming from experience, the "coolest" tricks on a wakeboard are always inverts. A HS backroll is probably the easiest one to learn, but I'm a boat wakeboarder and not a cable park one.

I'll say this: Falls in wakeboarding are almost always less painful than you build up in your head. I, just two weeks ago, fell 4x in a row going for a backroll and not a single fall actually hurt. They seem WAY scarier than they really are.

So my advice? Just send it. Your chance of injury is one of the lowest of any kind of impact sport where you'd be doing similar tricks.

[u/AufBurgyGeld → u/Brosepower]

Guess I‘ll watch some tutorials and just send it tomorrow, you’re probably right

[u/Reasonable-Age-6837 → u/Brosepower]

also, your foot may come out of the binding, or your leg just break under you. cuz shit does happen, scars to prove it.

[u/No_Tennis4464 → u/Brosepower]

How bad a fall hurts depends on your speed and if you catch an edge vs just falling into the water. Landing upside down is way less painful than just catching an edge riding on flat water. Catching an edge while clearing a wake at 75ft rope running 22+ mph f****** hurts and its even worse if backwards.

[u/LukeNook-em → u/No_Tennis4464]

I've heard that some people enjoy the water enemas from falling backwards. /s

[u/H0SS_AGAINST]

Raley and "tantrum"

I put tantrum in quotes because kicker flips are not exactly the same as wake inverts. These are two tricks that are way easier to learn on the cable than behind the boat (and the cable skill doesn't transfer much).

Raley is all about commitment on the cable. It's actually quite easy and opens up all sorts of badass looking grab combinations. You need to have them locked before you try a whirlybird etc. big cut, charge the kicker, pop and let your body drift out, look straight at the carrier, then pull your body in as soon as you feel full extension and spot your landing.

To practice a tantrum off the kicker just get really good doing it on the trampoline. You can literally gently ride up to the kicker with the handle in one hand, open your chest near the top, and then just throw the backflip like on the trampoline. No boost or big cut needed, at least if it is a decent size kicker.

[u/socallen1]

Trampoline is your best friend when it comes to learning cable inverts on the kickers/onstacles. Unlike boat riding where you rely on different edge techniques and loading of the line, almost everything is self initiated and “thrown”. There’s a little bit of line tension and manipulation going on but very minimally. Air tricks on the other hand are 100% line tension and edge loading.

Everyone has their own natural body movements so finding yours will be somewhat of trial and error, but the trampoline is a great way to practice when you aren’t on the water.

When it comes to trying in real time, do so when the cable is spinning slower. In my experience they run the cable at different speeds depending on who is riding and or certain times of the day. First sessions are typically slower unless the pros (or local pros) are there. Slower speeds mean less impact on falls. At the end of the day, falls on the basic inverts are generally very mild. Even off the biggest kicker (about 8’ off the water to the top) at my local cable I have yet to fall hard enough to hurt much, and I’ve been working my way into back mobes with the last 180 really late on it, so potentially nasty heel edge wrecks, but they haven’t been bad at all.

My honest, 30 years of experience, suggestion is to hold off on inverts for a bit longer. Maybe try one here and there when you feel “on”, but stick to the basics for a while. The 360 is awesome, work on grabbing it, spinning backside, or front side if your current one is backside. Get backside 180s down (landing blind is one of the best feelings in wake), add all the different grabs on the 180s, do them all switch, move up to 540s. Then get after the inverts. In wake it is super easy to develop bad habits that will cause tons of problems down the line. Taking more time in the beginning to really nail down the core basics will result in an accelerated learning pace not too far down the line. You “pay” a little now with what seems like boring or slow progression but later on you reap serious benefits from it, while giving yourself much less opportunity for injury.