Wakeboarding at a Cable Versus Behind the Boat

Whether you’re a veteran boat rider who hasn’t felt the unique pull of a cable before, or you’re just getting started with the sport of wakeboarding, we want to clue you in on some differences between the cable park and the boat. Both are a blast, so stay tuned to learn a little more about each.

If you haven’t wakeboarded at a cable park before, it’s a pull like no other. Here’s the setup: A network of towers high above the water suspend a cable that moves around in a circle or rectangle. That cable has multiple ropes attached with handles at the end. Wakeboarders line up at the starting dock and wait for their turn to ride, and after a few minutes the cable is full of wakeboarders carving, hitting rails and booting off kickers. Sounds like fun right? It is.

Cable Wakeboard Speed Versus Boat Speed

Wakeboarding behind a boat is similar, but the pull is coming from a boat tower instead of a cable, so it’s not as high. This lower pull means you have to go a little faster behind the boat. The driver can start out slowly, but typically a boat rider will be going anywhere from 20 to 25 miles per hour where a cable is about 19 miles per hour because of the extra lift the rider gets from the cable’s high pull.

Cable Wakeboard Turns Versus Boat Turns

Turning on the cable can be a little tricky until you get used to it. Then it’s simple. The cable will be pulling from above you, so you just need to follow its general path and you’re good to go. To help with this, Ski Rixen has buoys in the water that give you an idea of where you can ride to make the corners. In other words, stay between the buoys and you’re set to make the corners. For the boat, you just need to stay between the wakes when you turn, and as long as the driver maintains speed you should be fine.

Cable Wakeboard Tricks versus Boat Tricks

Wakeboarding needs to have a wake, right? The word is right there in the name, right? Wrong. Ski Rixen’s cable park has just as much opportunity for tricks as a wakeboard boat, and most people would say there are even more. Where you send it off the wake behind a wakeboard boat, a cable park has obstacles. These obstacles can range from kickers (ramps to jump off of) to rails (obstacles to slide your board across) to a hybrid of the two. And don’t worry, you don’t
have to hit the obstacles, they are just there if you want to use them. On top of all this, you can also do air tricks on a cable fairly easily thanks to the high pull. Here’s a quick rundown on air tricks. Advanced and intermediate riders will cut away from the cable to load the line, then release the tension to spring up into the air. It can be hard to picture, but hang around Ski Rixen for a few minutes and you’re bound to see some air tricks that will blow your mind.

So there you have it, a quick overview of the difference between wakeboarding behind the cable versus the boat. Like we said, both are a blast, but they’re totally different. When you’re ready for a whole new wakeboarding experience, give us a call or come on out to America’s first cable park in Deerfield Beach, FL, and we’ll show you how it’s done. You’ll be a pro in no time!