posted by Travel Cat on Jun 14
Have you ever wanted to snowboard on water?
Rather than the cold weather and excessive clothing required to board your way down a ski slope – why not try a similar sport but in bright sunshine in your shorts!
Wakeboarding is gaining in popularity across the world and can take place in many more countries than snowboarding due to natural lakes and waterways being more common that snow-capped peaks!
Of course you will need access to a boat or land-based vehicle to tow you – but many people prefer the locations and warmer weather!
You also get to choose your funky wakeboard – which is much easier to use and carry than water skis!
What Is Wakeboarding?
It is a combination of snow-boarding, water-skiing and surfing techniques and has been growing its own language and following for some years.
There is the connection to a boat or other vehicle to consider, as many stunts and jumps will need to have you using one hand to hold on with and so will affect your ability to do many twists and turns – and adds a bit to the balance that isn’t needed in surfing or snow-boarding.
You can’t just use any old boat though – as the wake it creates (and that gives this sport its name) is all important. Boats with low wake just will not be very conducive to stunts and tricks – like Butter Slides and Tantrums – which involve jumping over or onto the wake itself.
Creating Your Own Style:
There are many different wakeboards to choose from – each specific to your needs and the jumping requirements of your technique.
Whether you want to do more surface tricks (with smaller fins) or you want to create good grip in the water for great take-offs (with central channels) – you’ll need a different board set up.
But it can also depend on your mode of propulsion as some set ups like cable parks work better with finless boards – and pipes and rails can be affected by fins and channels on the board too.
There are many places to find all the wakeboard equipment information you need to match your style to an actual board – as well as great tips.
Learning More:
If you haven’t tried this before, or you want to try out different boards or techniques, then why not consider a course or lessons to extend your experience?
Large training schools and experienced operators will have a variety of boards for you to try out as well as differing propulsion methods to see which suits you best.
And learning to wakeboard can actually be a great first step to trying out other freestyle sports like snow-boarding or surfing.
If you are 8-18 and near the West Coast and want to start or improve on your wakeboarding, wakeskating or wakesurfing – take a look at Shasta Wakeboard Camp for some inspiration…..





