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Are you planning on going water skiing on your upcoming Miami yacht charter? Here is what you need to know about water skiing 101.
Stand Up Slowly
One of the most common mistakes beginners make when learning to waterski is trying to stand up too quickly as soon as the rope starts to pull. When starting in the water, keep your arms straight and your knees bent all the way up to your chest. As the rope starts to pull, continue to keep your arms straight while you slowly start to stand. Remember to keep your arms shoulder level and the rope between your skis.
Posture Matters
Once you are up, your head should be directly over your feet. If you lean too far back, you will immediately fall over backward, and if you lean too far forward, you will fall flat on your face. Remember to always look ahead; looking down will throw off your balance. Once you start to feel yourself losing balance and falling, let go of the rope. If you don’t, you will just get dragged behind the boat.
Use Your Weight
Remember to evenly distribute your weight between both feet on each water ski. To turn, put more weight on one ski. Specifically, to turn left, put pressure on your right ski and vice versa to the right. Point your body and hips in the direction you want to go.
One Step at a Time
If you aren’t picking up water skiing right away keep in mind that you might not get up right away – and that’s okay. Once you do get up, remember to focus on one thing at a time; such as standing up slowly, and then adjusting your posture. After you get the basics down, you can move onto picking up new tricks.
Find Your Center
You can tell that you have too much weight on your back foot if there is water spray coming out from under the front of your ski while in the forward position. Instead, place the majority of your weight on your front foot. To do that, bring your hips toward the tip of the ski. This will allow you to edge with more control, get more air off of the wake, and will help prevent “catching an edge” in the back position.
Wear a Life Vest
Sure, you may be a great swimmer, but wiping out on water skis is not the same thing as swimming. It does not matter what speed you are going, you may need to take a minute to collect yourself after falling while water skiing. And trust us, regardless of if you are a beginner skier or have tried it out a couple of times, you will probably fall while water skiing. Wearing a life vest will keep you afloat while you catch your breath. And, it will help protect you from too much impact. It also makes you easier to spot in the water so that the captain of the boat is able to quickly come back around to pick you up.
Now that you know the basics of water skiing, you’re ready to take your charter experience to the next level. Add scuba diving, wakeboarding, or any of our other water sports to your next luxury yacht charter experience with The Advantaged!
We don’t offer water skiing at this time.