Wake Skiing?

L

Lubibaby

Member
So in preparation for the summer, when I won't be able to ski, I'm thinking about getting wake skis. I usually wake board in the summer, and I'm decent. I'm a beast at slalom skiing though. Can anyone who currently wake skis tell me about it and if its worth it. I hate the feel of regular water skiing on 2 skis because I always feel like I'm gonna go into a split. The main things I wanna know are how difficult of a transition it is from wake boarding or snow skiing, if its worth it if I don't have access to a cable park (only a boat, but its a nice ass malibu so the wake is fucking huge), and if you can recommend any brand or model of wake ski. If theres anything else you wanna add about it, go for it. If you know nothing about the topic, rather than make some shit up about wake skiing, troll productively and post a nice meme, gif, or video for everyone to enjoy. Thanks guys.
 
for people to tell him about it, if its worth it, is it a hard transition and any recommended brands
maybe if you read what he posted....
 
go to a cable park. itll be much easier and you will get used to it faster. i tried it once for 30 mins and i was jsut getting the hang of it. its super fun and alot like snow skiing. just takes a bit of time to get used to it.
 
Don't try it with an outboard, I did when my inboard boat was getting repaired and I almost lost my arm, not really though but I could have
 
Wake skiing is basically the same thing as water skiing, but its tall tee compatible...and the skis are completely different
 
So where is this cable park? I live in New York and based on a quick skim of Google, there aren't any in my area, although I could be mistaken. If you know of any in or near New York, hook it up.
 
i'm a pretty decent water skier. i've been show skiing competitively for about 20 years or so. i've owned a pair of wake skis for a couple of years now. they're dope.
in some aspects it's similar to snow skiing/boarding, but in a lot of ways it's different. you're being pushed by gravity on a mountain where as you're being pulled by a boat when you're on the water, so the motions are a little different. if you have a hard time water skiing, then you'll have a bitch of a time on wake skis. they're much more squirlie than water skis are. ultimately though, it just comes down to practice. the more you ride them, the more comfortable you will become.
as for the different models of wake skis, your main manufacturers are stereo wake skis and HO wake skis. the stereo wake skis are about a 153 (ish) and have a tip and tail rocker. the HO wake skis are about 145 and have a continuous rocker from tip to tail. the HOs are a lot more playful, but are a lot less stable if you're just getting started.
if you've got access to a malibu, then you'll have more than enough wake to throw anything. and to whoever said that you can't throw behind an outboard - bullshit. I throw down behind an outboard all of the time. you can't go as big as you can on an inboard, but you can still go big enough to throw shit.
 
Thanks for the site bro, but the closest one to me is Ohio, and theres no way thats happening unless I start the Stereo Traveling Circus.
 
Huge help man...really clear and useful. I still have a couple questions that just arose. Will it mess up my (snow) park skiing in the winter? Basically, will I get thrown off by not having a handle or a boat pulling me when I'm regular skiing? Also, landing is really easy from relatively big heights on a wake board because its one solid piece, but is it difficult on wakeskis because they shift around? Also, is weird edging on them? I'm probably overthinking all of this, but I wanna make sure I'm spending my money wisely. The Stereo skis definitely sound better because a continuous rocker sounds a little weird. Thanks again though.
 
Yeah, I have a wake skate, but I don't skateboard and I find it impossible to land anything past a small pop 180. It is really fun going full speed into the wake and launching into the air though.
 
yeah dude, i have a blast on mine. i'm more of a boarder when it comes to water sports, cuz i skateboard and longboard.. but wakeskiing would be ill for the summer. i just find that they don't look very sturdy under your feet
 
I never said you can't behind an outboard, it was just incredibly hard behind my boat which is a deep vee hull, 26 ft and has twin 250 outboards. You couldn't really get up easily because it though out a lot of turbulence and it was really choppy so we tried slowing down, throwing a big ass wake and do something similar to wake skating but on the skis and it was really sketchy
 
No problem at all, dude. feel free to ask whatever you'd like. more than happy to help a fellow skier/water skier out.
yes, the transition from water to snow and back will mess with you a little bit. the main thing that screws with me is that you land down hill when hitting snow ski jumps, so your tips are facing down and your weight is more over the front of your skis. landings from water ski jumps are on to a flat surface, so you don't want to be out the front and you don't want your tips facing down. really though, it's not a huge deal. it only takes a couple of jumps to get back in the feel of things.
landing from really high isn't really any different than it is on snow....except for the whole landing to flat part. i'd say the stereo skis would make for a better, more solid landing because they're flat underfoot where as the HO skis are shaped kind of like a banana - there's not any flat spot to break the tip and tail rockers. plus they're a little longer so there's more ski to land on.
the opposing side of the longer ski though is that it's that much more ski to try and flip or spin on wake tricks. depending on whether or not you've got access to a jump, or will be strictly hitting wakes would be another thing to consider when determining which skis are right for you.
they're both easy to edge on. they have fins in the tips and tails, so cutting on them isn't really all that different than it is on skis or on a wakeboard.
check out ebay for a set of used sticks. i picked up a brand new pair of HO wakeskis with HO Shock high wrap slalom bindings for about $300. just keep your eyes open and you'll probably come across a good deal there.
good luck, man. they're lots of fun...especially if you've got the boat and the balls to get dirty on them. if you've got any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.
 
for sure. i didn't mean to directly call bullshit like that. i can see how it would be a little rough coming out of the water, but once you hit 20 mph, those twin 250s should throw a gnarly wake to hit. you probably need a little longer rope on a boat that size though - get ya a little further back on the wake.
i wouldn't ever want to ride slow on those things - you need a decent amount of speed to throw anything big on them.
 
You can't really go over 25 cuz after that you start to get an intense 20 to 50ft rooster tail, but it just adds to the challenge.
 
i feel like you could roll your ankle pretty easy, or the bindings wouldn't give you very good control of the ski. if the bindings are anything like wakeboard bindings they'd be a bit flexy. but wakeskiing looks awesome. hitting sliders especially.
 
I have stereo skis and ride behind a malibu wakesetter. Honestly I'm disappointed with the skis. the bindings are so soft. The only way to describe it: It's like at the end of the day when you are trying to (snow) ski from the lodge to the parking lot in your street shoes.
I've contacted them before and they said they are working on a stiffer binding that has some sort of release technology. Right now you have to settle for an elastic string setup that doesn't really snug up on your foot. If you mount boots that are too tight/wont release, your bound to blow a knee. In my opinion there needs to be some sort of binding that a stiff boot could release from the ski itself. Don't worry, I've already got a patent pending on the design. I'm up for licensing it out though.
That being said, the skis are pretty cool. I'm able to squirrelly jump the wake. Honestly I've only had them for one boating season so I'm not that good on them. The other guys in their videos make them look pretty sick behind a wake boarding inboard. I can't though. I wound up wake boarding more than wake skiing.
I don't mean to be negative on a good company, it's just an honest, particularly unbiased review. They need stiffer bindings.
 
i'll second that a lot of the bindings they advertise for wake skis suck. I've ridden the stereo bindings and the HO wake ski binding and they're both shit. Wake skis line up with just about any slalom binding though, so I went with the HO Shocks.
I don't really think you want boots that release from the skis though. then you're stuck in the fucking water with boots on your feet. you just need a binding that fits nice and snug, but you'll still peel out of if you splat hard. most of your nicer slalom bindings fit this bill. i picked up two of these front bindings
http://www.skipro.com/detail.aspx?ID=438
they're snug enough that you can flip and spin without them coming off, but loose enough to peel out of when you dig tips. plus they're light weight and have excellent padding in them.
 
Just thinking aloud and it would be somewhat cost inhibitive, but couldn't you modify a pair of Ho Exo's to fit on a wake ski and essentially create what you guys are trying to get? My roommate just got Exo's on his new A2 and the system seems like it would address the issue of being able to release from the skis while also addressing your stated issue of control.
 
get a winch..theyre not a ton of money and the are so fun and SO worth it. you put it on the back of your car and just back up to any pond or lake. we did in in a pond in some hood once and got the cops called on us for trespassing..pulled the rope in, left, saw the cop on his way in as we were leaving.
 
I have the radar rails which are a little stiffer than the shocks that you linked up. Radars are sold by stereo. In my opinion they're still just too nimbily bimbily.
 
wakeskating is the shit next to wakesurfing of course...never herd of wake skiing but it sounds like if u land weirdly your gunna get messed up. I stopped wakeboarding for that reason looks super sick though.
 
i have a mumba they are like the same thing as yours arnt they the fucking best with 3 water bags wake plate and inbound prop beast
 
yeah, the shocks aren't as stiff as the bindings that I have on my jump skis, but they're more than adequate. i don't feel like I'm going to break my ankles in them, nor do i feel like they're going to just pop off in the air. i haven't liked any of the others that i've ridden because they feel like they're just going to shoot off of my feet.
 
It's not a matter of them falling off mid-air. it's like (snow) skiing with your boots and power strap totally undone. Try it in some crud some day. You'll realize why racers cram their feet into small stiff boots.
I guess some people (snow) ski with really soft, loose boots these days but I just can't see the benefit of it. Personal preference really.
 
I have HO wakeskis, but if I bought another pair I'd probably buy stereos. I do like the HO bindings though.
 
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