GEAR DECISIONS: SKI, WETSUIT AND WATER KIT

The Technique

1. **Stand up or runabout.** A stand up ski is light, small and ridden with your legs, and it is the only machine that does real freestyle. Every trick that involves getting the hull vertical, submarined or rotating comes from a stand up. A runabout is heavier and far more stable, carries a passenger, handles chop and swell comfortably and is the better tool for freeride in the surf and for covering distance. The honest split is this: if you want freestyle, buy a stand up and accept a hard learning curve, because your first sessions are mostly spent swimming. If you want to ride ocean swell all day, take someone with you and get home comfortably, buy a runabout. Trying to do freestyle on a runabout wastes money and hurts your back.
2. **Hulls and what they suit.** A wide, high volume stock hull is stable, tough, cheap to run and the fastest way to learn to stand up and turn, and it will hold you back later because it resists rotation. A light purpose built freestyle hull is short, light and wants to spin and pop, which is exactly what makes it feel unrideable to a beginner. A surf or freeride hull is longer with more rocker, holds a line into swell and lands better off a wave face. The mistake is buying the competition hull first. Learn on something forgiving that you are not afraid to knock into a jetty, then buy the hull that matches the discipline you actually enjoy once you know which one that is.
3. **Engine and pump.** Two strokes remain the freestyle default because they are light, respond instantly to the throttle and are simple to repair, at the cost of noise, fuel use and carrying oil. Four strokes are heavier and smoother with strong midrange, and that weight is felt on every trick. More important than either is the pump. Nozzle and impeller pitch have to match the engine, and a mismatched impeller either kills your hole shot or lets the engine over rev and load up. The intake grate and ride plate change how the hull hooks up, how it survives shallow water and how it copes with aerated water, and for most riders correct pump setup gives more usable improvement than more power ever will. Whatever you buy, understand that a ski is a machine you maintain weekly. Flush after every salt session, without exception, or you are buying a corroded engine on time payment.
4. **Wetsuit: temperature first, shoulders second.** Match thickness to the water, not the air. A thin spring suit or shorty suits warm water, a full steamer in the three millimetre range covers mild conditions, four millimetres with a heavier chest panel covers cold water, and thicker again with a hood belongs to genuinely cold water. In tropical Australian water the risk is sun and stingers rather than cold, so a thin full length suit or a lycra layer is the right call. Freestyle changes the fit priorities. You fall constantly, you are in and out of the water all session, and you need full shoulder rotation to work the pole, so a suit that binds across the shoulders will cost you tricks even if it is warmer. Look for flexible arms and shoulders, a smooth chest panel to reduce chafe from the pole and bars, and a fit that is tight when new because every suit loosens. A wetsuit works by trapping a thin film of water against your skin, so a loose suit flushes and you get cold no matter what the thickness says.
5. **Flotation: impact vest or lifejacket.** These are not the same item. A neoprene impact vest is cut for movement and takes the sting out of hitting water and hitting the ski, and many of them provide no certified buoyancy at all. A lifejacket provides rated flotation, and Australian rules for personal watercraft require an approved jacket marked to the current Australian standard at the level your state sets, which is commonly the level intended for water skiing and personal watercraft use. The rules vary between states, so check the jurisdiction you ride in rather than assuming. Competition adds another layer, because many events specify a rating and some require back protection, so read the supplementary regulations before you buy. The practical answer for most riders is a rated jacket cut for impact and movement, so one item satisfies the law, the event and the beating.
6. **Helmet.** The main head risk on a stand up is not the water, it is your own ski arriving on top of you, and that risk is highest in freestyle and in shallow or reef backed surf. Buy a helmet made for water: it drains, it is light, and it does not fill and load your neck when you hit the surface at speed. A motocross or bicycle helmet is genuinely dangerous here for exactly that reason. In flat water freestyle a helmet is close to essential once you start rotating the hull. In open water freeride it is a judgement call, weighted heavily towards yes if there is reef, rock or shallow sand under you. While you are at it, use ear plugs, because repeated cold water in the ear canal causes bone growth over the years and it is a straightforward thing to avoid.
7. **Gloves.** Bare hands give the best feel of the pole and the finest throttle control, and they blister and go numb. A thin, tight glove keeps you warm and preserves grip strength late in a session, and it costs a little feel and can slip if it is loose or worn. The most useful decision here is not the glove but the grip: worn grips and a corroded pole cost far more control than gloves ever recover. Ride bare handed in warm water if you can, tape the hot spots early rather than after they open, and keep a thin pair in the bag for cold days and long sessions.
8. **Footwear and the tray.** Bare feet give the best feel and work well on a tray with a fresh, well cut pad. Booties protect against reef, oysters, rock entries and cold, at a small cost in feel, and in most Australian entry points they are worth it. The bigger factor is the mat itself: a worn, polished tray pad makes the ski feel unrideable and people blame their technique for months. Recut or replace the pad, choose a texture that grips your chosen footwear rather than someone else's, and check that the pad supports your feet where you actually stand rather than where the factory guessed.
9. **Open water safety kit.** The engine cut off lanyard goes on your wrist or vest every single ride, and you carry a spare, because a lost lanyard offshore turns a swim into a rescue. Know what your ski does when the lanyard pulls, because some stop dead and some circle, and that difference decides whether you swim to it or wait for it. Never ride offshore alone: a spotter or a buddy ski is the single most effective piece of safety equipment in this sport. Carry a tow rope and know how to tow a dead ski without swamping it, carry waterproof communication or a beacon if you are going beyond swimming distance from shore, and leave a plan with someone on the beach. Watch the wind, because an offshore breeze plus a dead engine is a very long afternoon.

Common Mistakes

Buying a competition freestyle hull as a first ski. Fix: learn on a stable hull you are not precious about, then buy the specialist hull once you know your discipline.

• Treating an unrated impact vest as a lifejacket. Fix: check for the approval marking and the level, and check your state rules for personal watercraft before you ride.
• Skipping the salt flush because the session ran late. Fix: flush every time, and set the hose up before you leave so it takes two minutes when you get back.
• Buying a wetsuit a size up for comfort. Fix: buy it snug, because it loosens and a loose suit flushes and chills you.
• Riding alone offshore. Fix: a buddy, a plan left onshore, and a spare lanyard.
• Chasing power before pump setup. Fix: get the impeller and nozzle matched to the engine and the ride plate sorted first, then reassess whether you still want power.

The Drill

Lay the full kit on the trailer before your next session and score it three ways: does it fit, is it rated, and is it maintained. Try the wetsuit and reach both arms straight overhead and across your body, and if it fights you it is the wrong suit for freestyle. Check the lifejacket for its approval marking, check the lanyard and its spare, check the grip and the tray pad for wear with your hand rather than your eye. Then do a controlled test in waist deep water: pull the lanyard at idle and watch exactly what the ski does, so you learn that behaviour somewhere safe instead of half a kilometre offshore.

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