Editor’s Note: We are always proud when members of the greater wake community use their position for the good of others. We are equally happy to bring such news to your attention. we urge you to download the app and log you riding time as described in this article. Doing so ensures $1 for every minute you ride goes to St. Jude Children’s hospital.

MasterCraft Boats Surf to Save Lives is a charitable initiative undertaken by MasterCraft Boats, a leading manufacturer of recreational watercraft, with the goal of promoting water safety and drowning prevention. The program utilizes the popularity and versatility of wake surfing to raise awareness and funds for organizations dedicated to reducing drowning incidents and promoting water safety education.

From now until October 1, 2023, MasterCraft will donate $1 to St. Jude for every minute of on-water activity logged on the MasterCraft app, with a maximum donation of $75,000.  Boaters can raise funds while enjoying their favorite tow sports like wakeboarding, water-skiing or wakesurfing. This fundraising and awareness campaign is not limited to MasterCraft owners. Any boat owner can participate by simply downloading the MasterCraft app and logging their towing time.

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Wake surfing is a water sport that involves riding the wake behind a specially designed boat, such as those manufactured by MasterCraft Boats. It combines elements of surfing and wakeboarding, providing an exhilarating experience for participants. MasterCraft Boats Surf to Save Lives leverages the widespread interest in wake surfing to drive its charitable efforts.

The initiative collaborates with various nonprofit organizations and water safety advocates to support their activities. These organizations may include swimming and life-saving associations, drowning prevention programs, and educational initiatives focused on water safety. By partnering with such organizations, MasterCraft Boats Surf to Save Lives aims to raise awareness about drowning prevention, educate the public on water safety practices, and provide resources to communities to help prevent tragic accidents on the water.

The program typically involves fundraising events, such as wake surfing competitions, water safety workshops, and community outreach programs. Participants, enthusiasts, and sponsors come together to raise funds that directly support the chosen organizations and their initiatives. Additionally, MasterCraft Boats may contribute a portion of the proceeds from the sales of specific wake surfing models to further support the cause.

MasterCraft Boats Surf to Save Lives seeks to make a positive impact on the community by combining the joy of wake surfing with a commitment to water safety. By focusing on education, prevention, and collaboration, the initiative aims to reduce the number of drowning incidents and create a safer environment for water enthusiasts of all ages.

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Most people who try to water-ski, wakeboard or wakesurf think they don’t have good balance. That’s because they fall for no apparent reason during the start or once up, or they sense that riding skis or a board feels slippery. 

However, the problem is not a matter of having good balance. If you can stand up from a chair and walk, then you have the balance to do any of the popular wake sports.

The real problem is how you stand on the skis or board and where your body weight is focused on your feet. Typically, almost all wake-sports enthusiasts, even the competitive types, tend to have too much body weight focused on the heels of their feet.

The problem occurs when you push your feet in front of your knees toward the boat. Most do this to some extent because it’s a defensive reaction from getting pulled by the boat on top of the surface of the water. The line and handle complicate matters because most riders pull against the handle to some degree. Pulling the handle toward you also causes you to push your feet in front of your knees toward the boat. When that happens, your seat pushes back over the tail of the ski or board. It can also make you break at the waist. These common body-position mistakes will limit your progress, give a slippery feeling, or cause you to fall either on your back or face.

The remedy is to exhale and allow your body to relax during the start. Your hands should be relaxed with a light grip on the handle. This technique will reduce the chance of pulling on the handle during the start or once up. The purpose of the handle is to just tow you along and not to support any of your body weight. Instead, your feet should support all of your body weight no matter what the wake sport.

During the start and once up, you need to develop an awareness of where exactly your weight is over your feet. Most don’t ever think of this because they are focused on what they are looking at. To develop an awareness of where the weight is on your feet, first focus your eyes on the boat, looking just above the windshield. This will get you to stop looking at the water or the boat’s wake. Then think about your feet while skiing or riding, asking yourself whether your body weight is focused on the heels or evenly spread over your feet from heels to toes.

If you are heel-heavy, let your feet, ankles, shins and calves relax, and bring your feet under your knees while simultaneously raising your seat up until it is directly over the middle of your feet. Think of a stacked position with your feet under your knees and hips, and your hips and head directly over the middle of your feet. Imagine a vertical line running from your head to the middle of your feet.

Once in the stacked position, develop an awareness of where your weight is over your feet. By flexing your ankles and knees, you can direct pressure to specific points on your feet. This will allow you to control the ski or board much better, and it gives you the balance you need to improve and learn a lot while practicing your favorite wake sport.

Remember that it’s all in the feet, and the balance will follow—and so will your skill level and enjoyment.

The post How to Stay Balanced During Wake Sports appeared first on Wakeboarding Mag.

Clarion’s full-featured CMM-30 source unit boasts more tech than the space shuttle, giving you full command of the entertainment out on the water. Its color LCD display means it looks cool and makes it easily readable in any light. Connecting seamlessly to your boat’s onboard NMEA 2000 network allows multizone, multi-input content delivery, and it even handles Bluetooth 5.0 streaming, and features an analog AUX input and a USB port to accommodate smart devices. Mil-spec IP66 waterproofing ensures durability, while a built-in AM/FM radio, Weather Band and RBDS Global Tuner serve as further marine audio enhancements. Did we mention that iPhone Album Art is fully supported!

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We can’t think of another marine accessory that costs so little yet offers so much. Seat Step protects your boat’s marine upholstery against the wear and tear of your crew’s feet as they come aboard and climb out of your boat. Its patent-pending, anti-flex rigid core distributes weight while offering a slip-resistant stable surface for boarding. Weighted, it won’t go flying out of your boat. And you can even personalize Tidal Wake Seat Step with a special message, your name, your boat’s name or whatever. It’s available in five Marine-Deco colors. MSRP: $89.95.

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Foiling is the new frontier. Express your creativity, exercise your athleticism, and enjoy the unique experience of floating over the water with the Liquid Force Nebula board and Horizon foil set. The Nebula’s concave deck maximizes board control, while the CNC EPS core with a wrapped Dura-Surf outer shell is meant to take a beating. Choose the 160 wing if you’re over 180 pounds or riding the second or third wave. Lighter riders, and those riding larger wakes, prefer the 125 wing for more agile turns and responsive cuts. For the widest variety of foiling different wakes and boats and great for all abilities, the Nebula and Horizon combo is for you. MSRP: $1,849.99.

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Dary Znebel’s pro model, the DZ, delivers an unrivaled level of playfulness and park performance to unleash your creativity on the water. This board inspires progression, whether pressing or buttering around the park or creating mind-blowing unique lines on your favorite features. With its soft transitional flex, a full Paulownia wood core, and lifted catch-free edges, the DZ delivers a lively yet loose and incredibly forgiving ride on the water and on rails. Plus, its Impact Base allows you to charge big transfers and heavy kicker hits with the best of them. So, reimagine your riding with the DZ. Once you hop on, you’ll never look back. MSRP: $529.99

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With a full-length spine, explosive three-stage rocker and Vector Net Top, the Intent epitomizes a performance-boat board. It’s fast, insanely responsive, has the explosiveness of a rocket ship, and lands softer than an astronaut doing jumping jacks on the moon. Riding flat, it’s loose and lively. Put it on edge, and it morphs into an all-out wake-charging machine. From this feeling on the water to the explosiveness off the wake, the Intent is in a league of its own, capable of elevating everyone’s perception of what’s possible on a board. MSRP: $459.99.

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Take flight on the modern skim-style design that is the Torrent. SurfCap construction means it’s built to be ridden hard. It also features an enhanced semi-twin design and boasts a tri-fin setup. In all, this board is one of the snappiest skim shapes out there, perfect for pumping, building speed, and launching airs. Shaped to perform both forward and backward, the Torrent makes perfecting new tricks easier than ever, and with three removable fins, the rider can control the tracking to meet his or her needs. MSRP: $449.99.

The post O’Brien Torrent Wakesurf Board appeared first on Wakeboarding Mag.

Those who say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, don’t know too many water skiers. The Lake Ivanhoe Water Ski Club (the unofficially official name) is a group that gathers every Saturday morning on the iconic lake in downtown Orlando and takes laps through the slalom course. Ranging in ages from 45-69, the crew lives for glassy water and putting up big walls of spray. But that doesn’t mean they’re stuck in their ways. Far from it, in fact.

Wake foil boards have been all the rage in towed watersports the last couple years, and that continues heading into 2020. While you’d think riding a board that hovers over the water via a foil would be the last thing slalom skiers would want to try, you’d be wrong. In fact, a wake foil is a great alternative for water skiers because they don’t require boats with big wakes like a wakeboard or wakesurf board do. All that’s needed is something that can pull the rider around 10 MPH to get started, so everything from a PWC to a pontoon boat can suffice. For water skiers, the wake foil offers something fun to do when they’re done skiing, or an alternative should the water be too rough to ski in the course. Foils aren’t affected by choppy waters, so they can be ridden in all conditions.

When we approached the group with an opportunity to meet up with Slingshot pro foil rider Louis Floyd, five guys jumped at the chance: Mike Chadwick (owner of Orlando’s famed Ski World shop), Mike Cortese, Tom Lodge, and Gary Markman. None of them had ever properly ridden a wake foil before, and only Chadwick had ever tried it. Floyd came equipped with Slingshot’s Hover Glide Foil V3 setup – a board and mast/foil combo suited for learning the basics. Of course, getting up on a small slalom ski is much different than a large board with a mast and foil attached to the bottom. This proved the biggest challenge for all of the skiers, but with some help from Louis, each was able to stand up on the foil and start to ride it. Whether they rode for ten feet or ten minutes, the reactions were the same – lots of laughs and big smiles.

Much like you would on a wakesurf board, the key to getting up on a foil board is to put your feet in place on the board and have the captain put the boat in gear (with almost zero throttle). This pushes the board against the rider’s feet – and once that pressure builds, the driver can slowly accelerate, allowing the rider to stand up on the board. Where foil boards truly differ from any other towed water sport – and make them really unique and fun – is the hovering action. Put weight on your back foot a bit, and the foil will engage, causing the board to rise out of the water and hover. Weight forward, the foil dives and the board goes back to the surface. First time riders often buck back and forth as they try to find the proper weight distribution and balance, and the Ivanhoe skiers were no different. This just provided everybody in the boat with more laughs at the expense of whatever old dog was trying the new trick.

Again, with some tips from Floyd, several of the skiers were able to ride a ways. Chadwick, the most accomplished waterman of the crew, picked it up the easiest, thanks in large part to his experience on surfboards. At the end of the afternoon, and each skier having tried the foil at least once, the reactions were all the same – they wanted to do it more. For those who rode longer and felt the unique hovering sensation, they wanted to go longer and figure out how to arc bigger turns, while those who struggled had that determination of wanting to do better with something new.

If you’re a skier, or a boater with a penchant for trying new things, give the wake foil a try this summer. Chances are you’ll struggle at first, much like you did when you first learned to ski, wakeboard, or anything else. But you’ll get hooked, and you’ll want to do it more. And so will everybody else on your boat.

For more info on Slingshot wake foils, click here.

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Size: 11’6″

MSRP $1,200
wowwatersports.com

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