Wakeboarding Plain and Simple
Click on underlined words for a brief visualization of their meaning!
Wakeboarding, what the Hell?
Wakeboarding is quite possibly the sport that put the extreme in extreme sports. Picture this: an average water-ski makes sweet love to, oh let's say, a surfboard. The passionate couple have a love child - a wakeboard. A wakeboard is a water sports device that is ridden behind a boat while the rider grips a handle at the end of a non-stretch rope. Average dimensions of a wakeboard are around 130-140 cm (50-55 inches) long with widths varying from around 38-43 cm (15-17 inches). Riders are held on with "bindings" which are essentially flexible boots made from rubber composites which are in turn bolted to the board. Now, most all boards on the market are twin-tipped meaning that the front and rear of the board are geometrically identical. Most wakeboards are equipped with removeable fins on each end of the board. Some boards have three fins on each end; some have no fins at all. Wakeboard fin design is among the fastest evolving aspects of the sport. This last concept brings us to the most important thing to keep in mind while reading this or any other info about wakeboarding: Wakeboarding is an ever evolving sport, some things written here or elsewhere may be old news by the time it is read by the viewer.
Wakeboarding is a true sport unlike baseball, football, and the like. The general public has the misconception that games and sports are the same, WRONG! Athletes participate and compete in sports such as wakeboarding, moto-cross, and skiing (be it water or snow). On the other hand, kids and some adults play games. Games such as baseball, basketball, etc. are meant to be played. You will never see someone playing wakeboarding or any other true sport. I admit that sometime it becomes difficult to distinguish whether some activities are games or sports, but it is simple if you just remember games are played, sports aren't. Balls are meant to be played with; therefore, if your using a ball, it's most likely a game, not a sport. Lastly on this aspect of the sport, I wish to convey to you that I do not mean to insult anyone who plays games (Hell, some call me a player), I merely want to inform the un-enlightened.
So, what can a wakeboard do that a ski can't do?
My dad used to ask this question when I was first becoming addicted to the world's greatest sport.
A wakeboard is ridden "sideways" like a snowboard or a surfboard with either the right foot forward or the left foot forward (my personal favorite). After "getting up", breaking plane on the water, the rider stands in a relaxed, knee's bent stance, with the leading hip toward the boat and the rope handle being held also on the leading side. As you become comfortable with the board, you can move the board back and forth behind the boat, thus crossing the boat's wake. If enough speed and force is obtained one can then catch air, allow the board to leave the surface of the water and fly into the air (also known as jumping). duh. When you get really comfortable performing wake jumps, an unlimitless list of tricks can be performed. Common moves include 720's, back-rolls, tantrums, crow-mobius', and hoochie glides. Click on some of my posted links to see some of these moves in real time. Pro riders can get as high as 15 feet or higher off of the water without the benefit of a jump ramp; They just use the boat's wake. By the way, all good wakeboard boats have water bags added to the interior (phat sacs) in order to add excess weight in order to boost the boat's wake even higher.
Yeah, but I'm a tough-guy football player and enjoy pain.
Wakeboarding is, I'm reluctant to say, a dangerous sport. Many top riders often have to sit out entire seasons due to knee and ankle injuries. With the gaining popularity of sliders, pvc pipe contraptions built for the wakeboarder to "slide" along while riding the board, it is certain that more stories of serious wakeboard injuries will arise. Personally, I've been fortunate. I've twisted only one knee, both ankles, seperated a rib from my sternum, and blacked one eye, and I suck. I can't go near as huge, jump really high, as many riders. When attempting new moves, you must just keep this statement in mind: Pain is temporary, glory is forever, and chicks dig scars.
Were wakeboards really first found after a UFO crash near Area 51?
No. Actually there is some debate as to who invented wakeboarding and when it was first invented. However, the most commonly accepted idea is that wakeboarding was originated by surfer, Tony Finn sometime in the early 1980's. He designed and was instrumental in the marketing of the first mass produced wakeboard known as the Skurfer. The term Skurfer was used as a generic name for wakeboards for some time. The first wakeboards were 3 inch thick hollow plastic shells filled with foam. Then, sometime in the late 80's or early 90's Herb O'brien (H.O.) produced the Hyperlite. This was a thin, composite board that started the wakeboard craze ongoing today.