It is a combination of skiing, surfing, and snow boarding. Before it was known as wakeboarding, it was called skurfing, which is a combination of ski and surfing. Like water skiing you will be towed by a boat, but you don't go as fast as some skiiers. You may go up to tweenty mph, but you are more likely to go slower. Also the rope is much smaller than it is when you are water skiing. A begiiner will go about 18 mph with a 45 feet rope.
As you become more comfortable with the sport you are able to speed up and use longer ropes. Your wakeboarding rope should never go longer than five feet. The board in which that you ride on is shorter and wider than an average snowboard. Instead of having two skiis that you can on. You knee on the wakeboard and hold on as tight as possible.
You need to know that your edging is the most important aspect of the sport. You need to learn this skill before you try to attempt any type of tricks. Once you are able to edge you will be able to pick up your speed. This is what allows you to do riding tricks.
Wakeboarding is very simple and you don't have to do as much wakeboarding as you do on skiis. You don't have to worry about anything but your speed. Wakeboarding can be a lot of fun and it's that big of a step from water skiing. You have to pay attention to most of the same detail as you would skiing.
You will want to start your hobby off by the shore. You don't want to get yourself in deep and rough water without being prepared for the shallow end. When you are in the shallow end, you need to practice getting into the skis and out. This will come in handy when you are in the deeper water.
As for the basics, you will need to be confident in your swimming. If you can't swim, even if a life preserve, that could end up to be a hazard when water sking. You will also want to practice the position of your body, your movements, and your balance. You may want to pracitce your moves on the beach and then hit the water when you start to get the hang of things; again for your safety.
Before you get into the sport you will want to look up all the safety rules and the consequences of doing certain thigns. This will allow you to take it more seriously and you are more likely to aviod getting hurt. When learning something like this you want to have everything covered. You can find all that you need to know by hiring a professional to teach. If you get an instructor you are more likely to get it right quickly and you are more likely to learn everything about the sport.
