Wakeskater - Tricks and Stunts

Tricks and Stunts

A number of tricks and stunts are possible while wakeskating.

Lip tricks- Using the lip of the wake like a rail, these tricks can be done behind any watercraft. Lip tricks can be very basic (frontside lipslide to bs 270 shuvit out) or very complex (kickflip to frontside boardslide to body varial to frontside lipslide to backside 450 bigspin out), but most deal with the 4 basic lipslides. Frontside lipslide, frontside boardslide, backside lipslide, and backside boardslide. Lip technicians are known to trim down the technical names of these moves by dropping the "side" and "slide" off any of these moves, i.e. "Front lip" or "front board". Lip tricks are a unique facet of wakeskating that, during its formative years, gave it much of its flow. This was something that appealed to riders from all action sports and helped to build wakeskating's budding reputation as a fun and legitimate board sport. While progressive lip tricks are often overlooked in the upper echelons of wakeskating now, lip tricks are still an important part of wakeskating's identity and continue to be popular among its amateur and casual participants. Defined by frontside or backside.

Flats tricks- The equivalent of flatground in skateboarding, doing technical moves in flat water on either side of the wake is another facet of wakeskating helping to separate it from wakeboarding. In the nature of wakeskating's evolution most flats tricks are directly translated from skateboarding and continue to progress as fast as any other facet of wakeskating. Defined by heelside or toeside.

Re-entry- Using one side of the wake as either a quarterpipe (per skateboarding) or a wave (a la surfing) are the two most common ways to describe re-entry moves and this distinction can also help shape the style of a wakeskater if he/she subscribes to either method of boardriding . Starting from the bottom of the wake and riding up to the top, a wakeskater pops the trick from the top of the wake and lands coming back down the transition of the same wake he/she started from. Most re-entry moves are first learned in the flats and then brought to the re-entry for either more pop or for the new experience. Doing more than one re-entry move in a "line" is also more likely to "flow" when compared to flats tricks. Defined by frontside or backside.

Inside-out- Starting in the middle and doing moves off the back of the wake into the flats is called inside-out. Like re-entry and flats, most inside-out tricks are heavily influenced by skateboarding. This method of doing tricks involves more lateral motion than flats or re-entry, making it slightly more difficult but the transition of the wake from the inside-out can give a wakeskater more height on a move than simply doing it in the flats. This lateral motion is also useful when learning wake to wake moves. Defined by heelside or toeside.

Wake to wake- This method of doing tricks on a wakeskate has the most potential to get maximum height. Usually done on a boat that puts out at least some semblance of a wake, it involves 1. cutting out into the flats and 2. cutting back in towards the wake, the rider then uses the wake to 3. launch into the air, 4. crossing over the middle of the wake in the air, and 5. landing in the transition of the next wake to soften the landing, this technique can put a wakeskater 10+ ft. into the air. Wake to wake is comparable to vert ramp skating as it is generally less technical than other facets, but allows for big air and is generally more appealing to non-endemic spectators. Like vert skating, wake to wake was one of the first aspects of wakeskating in the early years and even though there are a few people still pushing the limits of both, they are no longer at the forefront of their respective art forms. Defined by heelside or toeside.