Wakeboarding: Tips to Keep Your Kids Safe

If you are in search of a memorable outdoor sport involving your kids, then you might want to try wakeboarding. It is an excitingly thrilling water sport that combines aspects of speed, balance, and fun. Even though it comes with thrills and a memorable experience, safety can never be compromised, much more when children are engaged.

Such fun rides on water on the best wakeboats require you to choose the right equipment to ensure your children stay safe. We will share some tips for keeping your kids safe when you’re going on a wakeboarding trip.

Essential Tips to Keep Your Kids Safe While Wakeboarding

Here are tips that can prove helpful in ensuring your child’s safety whenever you go wakeboarding:

Choose the Right Equipment

It all starts with the proper gear for your child when participating in this water sport, including a life jacket, wakeboard, gloves, helmet, and so much more.

Make sure your child has an adequately fitted life jacket that meets the U.S. Coast Guard standards. This life jacket will afford him or her the buoyancy and freedom of movement in it that he or she would need on the board.

Teach Your Child Basic Wakeboarding Skills

Wakeboarding lessons to the kids must be undertaken before taking them to the water.

This will make them familiar with the skills of positioning themselves on the board, holding the tow rope, and balancing.

Let them practice on dry land or in shallow water. That would make them more confident, and they would get an idea of the basic procedures before trying to ride behind the boat.

Start in Calm Waters

For children who are just starting to learn how to wakeboard, it is best that they be taken to quiet or flat waters.

This option will help them to reduce the waves and turbulence for the beginners. Moreover, smooth waters are less intimidating, and a stable environment for kids practicing wakeboarding will be available.

Avoid places where there are many boats plying in the water. This might cause ruffles in the water, posing a danger to your child.

Use a Short Tow Rope

When your children are young, it is better to use a shorter tow rope. This keeps your children closer to the boat and reduces the chances of losing balance because of slack rope length.

But the moment they gain confidence and hone their wakeboarding skills, you can slowly increase the rope length.

Set a Safe Speed

It is very important to keep the speed safe and constant when towing your child behind a boat.

Do remember that going too fast may be overwhelming, and if going too slow, it is not enough to generate a lift for wakeboarding.

If your child is a beginner, the optimal speed should be between 10 to 15 miles per hour. This speed can be adjusted in relation to your child’s comfort and capability.

Teach Your Kid Proper Hand Signals

Let your children know that communication is vital in wakeboard safety. And so, you must teach them about the basic hand signals used in wakeboarding, such as signaling to stop, to slow down, or go faster.

These signals will enable them to communicate effectively with the boat driver without having to shout and thus have a smoother and safer experience on the water.

Stay Hydrated and Sun-Protected

Ensure that your children take enough water and wear sunscreen with high SPF to avoid dehydration and sunburn. You can also give them sunglasses and a hat to prevent their eyes and skin from getting affected by harmful UV rays.