Rope Preference

Bottom line is that it's going to be YOUR personnal preference. A wakeboard rope has little or zero stretch where as a salom rope will. I was going 75'rope when I went with 81nautique last year and after he watched me he suggested I go at 22'or 28' off. That change not only felt better but Alan said I looked better and that I had better control of the ski. That simple change was all it took for me. I enjoy slaloming much more and the wakeboard has taken a back seat. The adrenaline rush is much higher on the 2x4 than it is on the peice of plywood.

I've used Alan's advice to me on other folks who said they could slalom but haven't in years. They too liked a shorter jump as there is allot less rope bounce and slack.

Can't help you on the slalom handle as mine sinks too but is just something that I put up with.

Ya, I kind of felt that way too about 75 but it just seems to be such an industry standard for ski ropes I thought I was missing something. I use my 60FT wakeboard rope for pretty much everything and sometimes I take 5 off for a little bigger wake and slalom. Still working on that handle issues. Maybe I will just upgrade to something nicer. All I can find is a little Kwik tek bobber looking thing, it looks dumb.

alright, thats some good advice and it makes sense. I like the 60ft distance from what I have experienced for slalom, maybe I will just live with the non float rope.
I have never wakeboarded with the ski rope as I usually use the 60ft wakeboard rope. I feel like I drag less coming up with the wakeboard rope. Is that crazy? I have recently switched to the one foot deep water start which is making it easier to get up. Maybe I should just drop 15 lbs.

The no strech ropes do exactly what Brian says, and it makes a world of difference. A rope that streches means you loose your line in the air so everything gets a little harder because your rope isn't tight. Wakeboard ropes are usually set to the best spot on the wake, so that will change with from boat to boat. The Pro's ride long because they use a lot of ballast and ride fast, so they still have wake farther back.

Just to confuse y'all an bit, I foil with 80 ft of no strech and add a 5 ft section of light strech (poly e) wake line to take a bit of the shock out of the rope, but not enough to make it a spring. With the release it comes to about 90ft which works good between 24 and 26mph, I'll shorten it for new tricks and slow the speed to 22 or less. The little bit of give probably doesn't help me with new tricks, but my shoulders sure do feel better at the end of the day. I like the the cheap spongy handle that straightline packages with their basic wakeboard rope. Unfortunately I left it on the sunpad last week under my dark blue cover and it melted all of the grip down to where it feels like hydroturf now with no more sponginess. It also cooked the coating on my rope which was clear, but now it's amber colored. Got to love the TX sun.

Ya I usually leave the 60 out for slalom and for wakeboard. Has anyone upgraded handles on their lines or do you usually buy as a package? The ones on my prolines are the basic hard rubber honeycomb patterns. They are sturdy feeling but you must wear gloves or you will have a cool looking imprint on your hands.

Does your line stay taught when you do jumps on the wakeboard? I feel like mine gets slack in it. Not sure, maybe I am jumping too far forward and not laterally enough. OR maybe its a rope issue.

Are you sure you have a non-stretch wakeboard rope, such as spectra. Some of the lower cost wakeboad ropes are low stretch as opposed to non-stretch. If the equipment is there, then it is technique as TX Foilhead suggests. BKH

Here is a great place for some great wakeboard rope. You can tell the no stretch from the other because it is usually really really thin looking. like a small cable.

EVO wake ropes