Hopping on a wakeboard and riding the wake is one of the most popular recreational watersports today. With a board, tow rope, and boat, there’s no limit on where you can wakeboard – but the type of wakeboard you pick will have a significant impact on performance.
What Type of Wakeboard Should You Use?
All wakeboards can do everything a skilled rider wants to do – tricks, slalom courses, cable tows, boat tows, jumps, and spins – but if you want to excel at a particular type of riding, you need to buy a wakeboard that’s designed for one task.
Some boards are made for casual riders. Others are made for tricks, while some are made for making quick turns, riding at high speed, and carving tight corners. There are a few main components of a wakeboard that determine which riding style it’s best suited for: Rocker profile, length and width, edge thickness, core material, board shape, and features like fins and channels. Don’t worry, we’re covering it all in detail.
Wakeboard Rocker Shapes
The rocker describes the physical contour of a wakeboard, measured length-wise, from tip to tail. There are three main rocker profiles to choose from:
Continuous Rocker
The continuous rocker profile describes a wakeboard that is shaped to have form a single, sloping curve from tip to tail. There are no angular transitions, profile a smooth surface along the whole length of the board for water to flow across.
Continuous rockers provide a smooth ride, with dialed-in control that makes turning and carving easy for all riders. The continuous rocker doesn’t grab as much air as other profiles, but it will soften the blows of landings, making it a good choice for practicing jumps off the wake.
Three-Stage Rocker
The three-stage rocker is the opposite of the continuous rocker: Steep, angular bends appear at the tip and tail of the wakeboard, transitioning abruptly to a flat middle. Wakeboards with these rockers are intended for aggressive riding and grabbing big air off the wake.
The hard, angular transition between the tip and middle of the board helps the board to “pop” when jumping, though the flat bottom means riders will need to learn to stick landings to soften the blow. This rocker also introduces friction atop the water, reducing overall speed – this can, in fact, be an advantage for riders who prefer technical riding over high-speed carving.
Hybrid Rocker
The hybrid rocker is – you guessed it – a compromise, combining the profiles of the continuous and three-stage rockers into one “middle-of-the-road” profile. The hybrid rocker includes distinct changes in angle between the tip, tail, and middle of the board. But these changes aren’t angular – they’re sloped, providing a smooth transition.
And while the middle of the board makes more contact with the water than a continuous rocker, it still yields less surface area of contact than a three-stage rocker.
In other words, the hybrid rocker is great for intermediate riders who prefer both high-speed riding, and casual, smooth carving without sacrificing much performance nor stability in either category.
Wakeboard Edge Profiles
The edge of the board cuts through the water. So, it plays an important role in how the board performs – nearly as much as the rocker profile itself. Thankfully, edges are simple: There are thin, sharp edges, and wide, thick edges. Let’s compare.
Thick, Rounded Edge
These wakeboard edges are best for casual, controlled riding. Like the continuous rocker, this edge shape reduces friction and promotes good flow of water across the board, lending stability and smooth riding.
Thin, Sharp Edge
A thin, sharp edge cuts through the water abruptly and promotes greater responsiveness when making turns and performing technical tricks. But this edge profile is less forgiving, and less stable in turns – an inexperienced rider using a board with a thin, sharp edge risks “catching an edge.” This happens when the edge suddenly cuts into the water too deeply, increasing the risk of a rebound and wipe-out.
Variable Edge
Like rockers, the edge of a wakeboard can have a hybrid design, called a variable edge. This edge profile provides sharper, thinner edges near the tip and tail, to promote responsiveness. But the edges along the middle of the board are thicker and rounder, promoting stability and taking some of the risk out of carving too deeply.
Variable edges are best for riding fast and carving sharply, as this edge combination provides the best balance of turning ability and “traction” atop the water.
Wakeboard Cores
All wakeboards are formed with a fiberglass shell. Board edges may also be made of fiberglass, but they’re also often made from urethane or ABS. But inside the fiberglass shell of a standard wakeboard, you’ll find just two types of core materials: Foam or wood.
Foam is the core choice for most riders. It reduces weight and adds buoyancy, while absorbing the energy from hard impacts. All these attributes make a foam core ideal for an easy, smooth ride.
Wood cores are made for performance. Their higher density, stiffness, and strength retain more energy and provide greater control. Wood cores absorb less energy, so they don’t have that same level of comfort as a foam core. But in exchange, wood allows advanced riders to transfer more of their energy through the board and into the water, increasing responsiveness. This makes it easier to perform bigger jumps and master more technical tricks.
Board Shapes
Wakeboards all look similar at a glance – but take a closer look, and you’ll notice subtle differences in tip and tail shapes, and board width.
Board Nose
Boards with pointy tips (also called noses) provide quicker turning and more responsive carving while boards with flatter, wider notes provide better tracking and stability when making turns. The shape of a board’s nose doesn’t affect riding style greatly – most of the time, the tip of the board will be above the water. The nose only digs into the water, affecting performance, when making quick maneuvers.
Board Width
Board width is pretty straightforward: Wider boards are more stable at lower speeds and are more comfortable to ride, while providing less responsiveness. Skinnier boards require greater speed to be responsive – but, in exchange, they’re more capable at providing high-performance maneuvers.
Other Wakeboard Features
Beyond the main components we discussed above, there are some extra features that’ll determine how a wakeboard performs:
· Cut-outs. Cut-outs are concave features molded into the board, promoting lift and reducing the energy needed to ride with good control.
· Channels. Channels are like cut-outs, but they’re not designed to generate lift – they’re instead meant to promote smooth flow of water beneath the board, while also breaking the surface of the water when landing big jumps.
· Spines. Spines are like big channels, but they’re much wider and larger. They’re meant to reduce rolling mass and lateral resistance, effectively making it easier to turn your board left to right, and vice versa.
· Fins. Fins greatly improve the overall stability and control of your board, helping to dial in directional changes and keeping the board tracking straight, rather than letting it float across the water in an unstable manner.
