Wakeboarding

Wakeboarding is a surface water sport which involves riding a wakeboard over the surface of a body of water behind a boat. It was developed from a combination of water skiing, snow boarding and surfing techniques. The rider is towed behind a boat; typically at speeds of 18-24 miles per hour depending on water conditions, rider's weight, board size, and most importantly, the riders personal preference. But wakeboarding can also be performed on a variety of media including closed-course cables, winches, PWCs, and ATVs. Wakeboarding can be done pulled by a motor boat and recently more often by Cable skiing as well.

Boards are buoyant with the core usually made up of foam or honeycomb mixed with resin and coated with fiberglass. Metal screws are inserted to attach bindings and fins. The most popular wakeboards are Ronix, CWB, Hyperlite and Liquidforce.

The configuration and positioning of the fins and bindings varies according to rider preference and is adjusted for a variety of reasons. A wakeboarder will change the type of fins they use for different types of tricks. For example, shallow fins(which do not protrude into the water very far) are better for surface tricks, such as flat spins. Many newer board models contain small molded fins on the board which allows the rider to use smaller center fins and also to create less drag.

Board hardware is often set up to allow a rider to ride "Switch" or Fakie, with either foot forward. Such setups are usually symmetrical in layour. New riders normally set up their boards to be comfortable to ride with their "natural" foot forward, which does not allow for riding Switch without modifications.

The "rocker" is the bend in a wakeboard from tip to tail. There are many various types of rocker shapes, but the most common are the continuous and three-stage rocker. A continuous rocker is a smooth curve that does not change from tip to tail, while a three-stage rocker has two distinct bend points, almost like a skateboard deck but not nearly as drastic.

Wakeboards with continuous rocker are faster to ride because the water flows without disruption across the bottom of the wakeboard. Wakeboards with a three-stage rocker push more water in front of the wakeboard, making the ride slower but riders are able to jump higher off the water.

Wakeboarding arose in the late 1980's after the advent of skiboarding. The actual sport of skiboarding is credited to Tony Finn (who invented the Skurfer in San Diego, CA) Jimmy Redmond (Austin, TX)later drilled holes in skurfers to affix bindings. The term "wakeboard" was coined by Paul Fraser(Vancouver, Canada), as well as the concept and design, along with his brother Murray and a Pro snowboarder they sponsored. Paul approached Herb O'Brien with the idea and the introduction of the "liquid force" wakeboard, named by Eric "The Flyin Hawaiian" Perez, laid the groundwork for evolution of the wakeboard throughout the 1990s.

The World Skiboard Association was founded in 1989 and the First World Skiboard Championships was held on the Island of Kauai, Hawaii, on the Wailua River. The next year Eric Perez defended his title against Darin Shapiro. This is when the Hyperlite wakeboard was introduced and blew everyone away. The first US Nationals were held later that same year in Colorado Springs, CO on Prospect lake, hosted by Tommy Phillips. Competitions began popping up around the United States throughout the early 1990s. Wakeboarding was added as a competitive sport in the X Games II. The World Skiboard Association "changed it's focus" and was re- named the World Wakeboard Association.

As with many freestyle sports such as snowboarding and surfing, there is almost a separate language of terms to describe various tricks. The more height, the more "pop". So therefore the rider's edge is very important to the height of the jump. Heading towards the wake chest facing the boat is known as a heelside edge; approaching from the other direction with chest facing away from the boat is known as toeside edge. A typical beginner to intermediate rider will tend to have an easier time hitting the wake heelside because it tends to come more naturally to the rider. While more advance riders can hit the wake both heelside as well as toeside.

• Raley - the rider hits the wake and allows their body to swing backwards, up overhead, parallel to the water. The rider then swings the board and his or her body down and lands on the other side of the wake.
• Fakie or switch - the rider rides the board with their weak foot forward (opposite of their normal stance,i.e. If you normally ride with your left foot forward you would ride with your right foot forward).
• 911 - A raley tweaked out(shifty) with a whole ton style
• Switch air raley - the rider starts and ends an air raley in the switch position.
• Batwing - Toeside raley with Indy grab with the board perpendicular to the water as opposed to parallel.
• Butter slide - a rider approaches the wake, "snaps" the board sideways so that they can slide on top of the wake.
• Surface 360 - a rider spins the board 360 degrees while riding the surface of the water.
• Tantrum - a rider back flips over the wake on an axis perpendicular to the direction of the board.
• Backroll - a rider flips (or rolls) over the wake on an axis parallel to the direction of the board, as if he/she were following it around like a continuous loop
• Frontroll - a rider flips forward (or rolls) over the wake on an axis parallel to the direction of the board.
• Boardslide - a rider approaches an obstacle and slides the board-- perpendicular with the obstacle-- along the obstacle,with the obstacle in between the rider's feet.
• Half-cab - when doing a trick from your switch stance and landing it with your regular stance.
• Tootsie Roll - Front roll to blindside 180.
• Blind Judge - Backside raley to blindside 180.
• Scarecrow - Toeside front roll with frontside 180.
• Crow Mobe - Scarecrow with an extra 180 (Frontroll with a frontside 360)
• Dev-glass - Butter slide one side of the wake and from that side jump all the way to the other side of the wake landing on a Butter slide.
• Bel Air - Tantrum without using the wake for air.
• Air Krypt - Toeside air raley with 180 degree turn, land opposite direction from take off.
• Hoochie Glide - Air Raley with method grab.
• Whirlybird - Tantrum Mobius with overhead 360 (no handle pass)
• Tweety Bird - Whirlybird without using wake for air.
• Osmosis 540 - Frontside 540 where instead of passing the handle behind the back, the rider pops the handle and catches it again upon the end of the rotation.
• Backslide Alley-Oop-Huge jump with 180 turn landing on reverse butter slide on same side of wake as you hit.
• S-bend - Heelside raley with hands overhead spinng a backside 360 horizontally
• S-Bend to Blind - Heeliside raley with handside overhead spinning a backside 360 horizontally finishing with a quick 180 with one hand behind your back
• S-Bend 720 - Heelside Raley with hands overhead spinning 2 quick backside 360 horizontally landing in triumph.