How to drop the rope and keep surfing

Dropping the rope is the best feeling in wakesurfing. Get this right and you can surf as long as you like — or until your legs give out. Everything below is what I teach on the boat in the session where a rider lets go for the first time.

Shoulders square to the wave. Keep your front shoulder closed, facing the wave ahead of you. The moment that shoulder opens, it steers you away from the wave and out of its power.

Hips forward.Wakesurfing is all in the hips. Lean back and the rope stays tight. Shift your hips forward and the rope softens as the wave's push takes over. That slack rope is the whole signal.

Gas and brake.Front foot is the gas, back foot is the brake. Press the gas and you accelerate toward the boat; press the brake and you slide back in the wave. You're never done with these two pedals — riding the wave is a stream of tiny corrections, each one compensating for the last. Micro adjustments: a little bit does a lot.

Most new riders hunt for power right behind the swim platform. The real power lives further back — just in front of where the wave curls over. Sit back into that spot and the wave carries you. Crowd the boat and you end up stomping the brake, then overcorrecting with gas, then brake again, in a seesaw that eventually tips you off the board.

Two falls tell you your balance point is off. Nose underwater — the nosedive — means too much gas. Sliding out the back of the wave while it rolls on without you means too much brake.

1. The plain drop. Your first time: keep your stance exactly as it is and simply open your hand, with a spotter on the boat ready to pull the rope in immediately. No throw, no wind-up — a throw rotates your shoulders, and rotated shoulders pull you out of the wave.

2. The toss.After a drop or two, start reaching across and laying the rope on the far side of the wake, then coming straight back to your stance. Now nobody has to catch it, and it's never bouncing around your feet.

3. The throw into the boat. The advanced finish you see from pros. It momentarily opens your shoulders, so it comes last: throw, then close your shoulders straight back to the wave and find the pocket again.

The moment the rope leaves your hand, get on the gas. Riders who let go while leaning on the brake watch the wave leave without them. Shoulders square, hips forward, weight to the front foot — and you're surfing.

Hips forward, shoulders square, and you're still losing the push? Reach your front arm toward the opposite corner of the boat. That reach loads your front foot and toe edge with a little more weight — and buys the burst of speed that gets you back to the pocket.

Then use the whole wave. Drift to the back of it, come forward, play with the gas and the brake. That range is what turns surviving in the wave into actually surfing it.