How to Get Your Perfect Wake

Wakeboarding is one of the most popular watersports out there. With so much popularity, it’s no wonder that many people have experimented with ways to create better wake and a better wakeboarding experience. If you are thinking about getting into the world of wakeboarding, check out the guide below for some tips on improving your wake, and when you’re ready to check out some wake boats or other wakeboarding accessories, stop by Club Royale in Waterford, Michigan. We are proud to serve Rochester, so check us out and we will get you ready to hit the lake.

Piloting the Boat 

You can make all the adjustments to your wake boat that you want, but you still need to be able to successfully pilot your vessel in order to get a good wake. The ideal speeds for wakeboarding are usually between 20 and 25 miles per hour. Once you get up to speed, you’ll need to maintain the same speed. This will make the wake more consistent and it will be easier for the rider to follow behind the wake boat.

If your boat is on the smaller side, you will most likely need to slow down when the rider cuts in. In this case, you should open up the throttle to get back up to speed. However, do not apply abrupt adjustments to the throttle. When the rider is behind you, you will need to accelerate gently or the consistency of the wake will decrease.

Besides speed, you should also always try to aim the wake boat in a straight line. Even slight turns can cause the wake to fade or disappear. If you can’t avoid a turn, you should drive straight ahead towards where you have to turn and then make a hard cut to change direction. But don’t make this turn when the wakeboarder is cutting in.

Cleaning Up the Wake

Before you try to add size to the wake, you should make sure it’s clean and enticing for the wakeboarder. This starts with trim. If the wake isn’t just right, you can adjust the trim until the wake cleans up. When you trim the engine, the bow will rise and the stern will push deeper into the water, thus creating a better wake size. You need to be careful when you make this adjustment, however, because if you trim too much, the wake will get steeper and form too close to the wake boat. This is something that will definitely take practice, but after you figure out how to expertly adjust your trim, you’ll be well on your way to getting your perfect wake.

The next step in cleaning up the wake is to adjust the weight in your wake boat so the wake will be consistently shaped on both sides. One easy way to do this is to have passengers stand in different places on the boat to balance out the weight. If you don’t have a large number of passengers, you can use fat sacks (large bladders that can be filled with water) and put them around the boat. You should always make sure that the floor of your boat is capable of handling the weight.

Adding Ballast

Cleaning up your wake is probably the hardest part about piloting your wake boat. Once you have that done, you can focus on a simpler task: bulking up the wake by adding extra weight to your tow boat. Bringing extra people on board or using sand bags is one of many ways to add weight. The key here is to keep weight evenly distributed. You don’t want to lose the wake you’ve crafted by creating an imbalance vessel, so be cautious when adding heavy objects on board.

Now that you know what you need to do to get your perfect wake, come on by Club Royale in Waterford, Michigan and ask us any remaining questions and take a look at our large selection of wake boats. We are proud to serve Rochester too, so when you’re ready to have a blast on the lake, come on down and we will help you enhance your wakeboarding experience!