Re: some guys have the longest ropes!!!
I ride at 65' line lenght, from the tower that is probably a little more than 55' off the back of my boat.
I can ride anywhere from 60' - 80' line lenght on my boat based off the wake at 23mph. If you ride faster, it will stay cleaner for a longer distance.
The General "Pros" ride set up is at 85' line lenght and usually around 24mph.
No I know we are all amatuers and out to have fun and not throwing big tricks... so we should adapt to our boats as best as possible.. no doubt.
Though the real answer is, the longer the rope the bigger you can throw the tricks... more height, more distance into the flats, more time to build speed coming into the wake... and the ability to have slack longer.
Its true you don't want the bounce back effect in your wakeboard rope, but its very untrue that you don't ever want slack. Often, as you cut into the wake and jump, you are moving faster sidways than the boat is going forward, so you get slack until you get to the otherside of the wake. This is why you don't want boucne back and a steady lenght. It allows you to jump, flip, rotate, and land without getting pulled off axis and make handle passes easier. If you slow down and get more pop, but les speed in your cut, you can maintain tension, and usually this is done to aid in spinning.
It was mentioned above about the material of the ropes being different... this si true, and I believe the patented name used for the wakeboard ropes is Spectra... or that may be a different non-stretch material. At anyrate, it is still a braided line, it is just usually coated with a plastic covering that makes it look like cable. Since its stronger and does not stretch, it can be much thinner.
