Nowadays, you see all different styles of riding and different kinds of stances for wakeboarding. Some people love to ride a big board with a smaller stance and some ride the complete opposite on their wakeboard. But why?
What are the differences? What are the advantages and downsides of riding a different boardsize or stance? When it comes to stances, it’s always a good idea to play around with the stances and angles, to find out your perfect wakeboard binding setup.
Boardsize
The size of your board is really personal and can have a big influence on your way of riding. A big board is big hype and softens up your landings. This makes is it easier on the knees when you want to go big on your wakeboard. One of the cons of riding a big board, is the extra weight you gain by using this board. A smaller board is lighter making it more direct but puts more pressure on the knees when landing tricks.
Stance
It’s all about the narrow wakeboard stance nowadays, giving you that parkrat look when riding. The reason people like to ride a narrow stance, is the fast control it gives you over your board. But riding a stance that’s wider gives you more stable landings on your board.
Degrees
Setting your wakeboard bindings on a certain angle degree is really personal. Most of the times, we see people ride around the 15 degrees on both bindings, also known as: duck stance. A few of the riders out there, like our Sam de Haan, love to ride with an uneven degree. Making the foot with the higher angle, your front foot and giving you more control on that foot.
Jobe athetes and their stances
To give you some extra info, we’ve asked Dominik Gührs, Sam de Haan and Maxine Sapulette what they use for their boards.
Dominik Gührs
- At what angles do you mount your binding? Do you have a specific reason to ride with these angles?
14 degrees! It just feels the most comfortable for me!
- Do you like to ride with a narrow stance or wider and why do like this?
I like to have the mix between! I like the narrow stance cause you can spin faster but it´s harder to land that´s why Ii choose the middle so it´s good for everything!
- What size board do you ride and why do you like this size?
I ride a 143cm! Not too big and not to small! It´s perfect!
Sam de Haan
- At what angles do you mount your binding? Do you have a specific reason to ride with these angles?
I ride my EVO bindings on 11 and 9 degrees and ride them on the inner inserts, which is the smallest stance.
- Do you like to ride with a narrow stance or wider and why do like this?
I love to ride a narrow stance, for faster movement and I personally think this just rides better and more playful. It also looks better!
- What size board do you ride and why do you like this size?
I ride a 145 for more stable landings, and certainly I wouldn’t mind to try a bigger board ;)
Maxine Sapulette
- At what angles do you mount your binding? Do you have a specific reason to ride with these angles?
I’m a goofy footer and mounted my EVO bindings on 15 degrees on both sides.
- Do you like to ride with a narrow stance or wider and why do like this?
I don’t have the widest or most narrow stance, I ride in between these stances. This is perfect for me and makes sure I can land properly
- What size board do you ride and why do you like this size?
My wakeboard is a 138, I’m 158 cm tall so this is a pretty big size for me. I like it though, it makes my airtrick higher and it’s easier to land with this size. I wouldn’t want to change a thing, not even a bigger board because this would be too heavy for me.