How to start riding

How to start riding

Watch the walkthrough

Watch on YouTube ↗ · JETSURF USA — new owner series #10. Timestamps below follow the video's on-screen counter (0:30–6:15). Same for petrol and electric.

Getting up is a progression: you start lying on your stomach, move to your knees, then to your feet. Don't skip stages — each one teaches the throttle and balance you need for the next.

Set your stance

1. 0:30 — Decide which foot goes forward: left foot forward = regular, right foot forward = goofy. If you skate, wakeboard, snowboard or kite, use the stance you already ride.
2. 0:52 — Put the start magnet on your front hand — so you reach the handle without riding cross-bodied.

Get in and wake the board

3. 1:07 — Carry the board into about waist-deep water — front hand in the near handle, back hand over the tail.
4. 1:32 — Insert the magnet into the handle to wake the board. Petrol: the bilge and fuel pumps run. Electric: it buzzes and a light flashes. Either way, that means it's ready.

Start and get on your stomach

5. 2:06 — Put the magnet into the control handle. On a petrol board you get a three-second delay — use it to get both hands on the front handles, lean over, and look ahead.
6. 2:27 — When the engine starts, pull the throttle, ride forward a little, and lie on your stomach looking ahead — enough throttle that you don't sink.
7. 2:40 — Once you're planing, practise throttle control with the accelerator handle and leaning side to side to steer.

Up to your knees

8. 3:05 — Pick your side of the board: regular riders on the left, goofy riders on the right.
9. 3:26 — Start on your stomach, build speed, then shuffle your knees up to the middle of the board. Ride upright on your knees, looking ahead, leaning to turn.

Up to your feet

10. 3:52 — From your knees, hands still on the handles, carrying speed. It's one motion — broken down here into the next three steps.
11. 4:09 — Shuffle your back foot back into the rear binding.
12. 4:18 — Push up on the handles, more upright, and bring your front foot out from under you into the front binding.
13. 4:27 — With both feet in, stand up tall. Pull lightly on the front handle — it's a third contact point for balance and turning.

Turning

14. 4:48 — Lean on your toes to turn one way, on your heels to turn the other (which is which depends on your stance).
15. 5:02 — Look where you want to go — your shoulders follow — then commit the lean, heels or toes.

When you fall — and the deep-water restart

16. 5:08 — You will fall off. When you do, the magnet pulls out of the handle and the engine stops (electric: the motor cuts and it coasts). Swim back to the board and compose yourself.
17. 5:23 — A deep-water start is the same as a waist-deep one — you just go straight onto your stomach.
18. 5:39 — Swim alongside the board, grab both handles, magnet in (three-second delay on petrol, immediate on electric).
19. 5:51 — Being on your riding side (regular = left, goofy = right) makes it easier to swing your back leg over into the stomach position, then knees, then feet.
20. 6:12 — Magnet in, wait out the delay, and as soon as it fires get on the gas — enough speed to get onto the board and run the progression again.