Wakeboard bindings are the thingies that stick your feet to the wakeboard and let you ride it and jump it and abuse it any way you like. What you need to know about them? Read on…
Wakeboard bindings or wakeboard boots be set up properly on the board for maintaining the comfort and to match ones riding skills. A rider should first know the better stance for his/her skill levels that suite. Stance is that how a rider positions or stands in the wakeboard. Stances differ with beginners, intermediate and advanced riders. First the rider should determine the dominant leg that will be forward or front foot on the board, which helps the rider to do better set up of the binding.
Wakeboards come with binding plates i.e. the plate on which the rider rests his boot, which have pre-drilled holes and allows the rider to change positions, and angles of the boots on the wakeboard. Angle of the binding on board is referred as ‘degrees’. To determine the width of the bindings apart, rider can jump up in the air and the width between the feet after landing on ground will be the width. After all this the rider should test if the boots are snug properly before getting into the water, for safety that will prevent him from injuries.
The stance you have on board will help you do tring tricks and jumps.
For beginners, it is called the ‘Recreational Stance’ which is good for deep water starts, basic jumping and hopping, curves. For this the rider’s weight should press on the rear fin, so the back binding should be kept at the backmost position on wakeboard and the front binding at15 to 27 degrees which is 2 to 3 holes from center on boot plate.
For Intermediate it is Advanced Stance, here the bindings are brought more in center of the wakeboard that aids in spins, fakie tricks and so on. In this rear binding is placed at 0 to 9 degrees i.e. one hole from back of the board and rear binding at approx 18 degrees i.e. 4 to 5 holes from back.
Finally Advanced Riders stance it is Expert Stance, here rider keeps his rear binding just a little back from the center and front binding a little forward from the center which resembles the stance of one standing normally on land with feet slightly departed outside which can also be called as duck’s stance, angle somewhat outward. Back binding is placed at 9 degrees that’s about 3 holes from back of the board. And front binding is also placed at 9 degrees which can be about 4 holes from the front. This stance provides the facility of performing in whichever direction of his/her choice. After all one should have the knowledge of wakeboard bindings like its components for buying the right one.
The binding has the components – Overlay, Underlay, hardware, Footbed, Baseplate and Entrance/Adjustment.
Majority of the foot support is provided by the Overlay by pulling the toe and the heel section together that creates a snug and safe attachment for wakeboard. Underlay, made up of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) a hybrid of foam and rubber, makes contact with crest of foot and Achilles tendon area. These differ from very stiff to extremely flexible. Hardware, made of nylon holds the binding pieces together. Footbed offers foot to rest comfortably.