Wakeboarding
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Wakeboarding is a surface water sport which involves riding a wakeboard over the surface of a body of water behind a boat or Cable System. It was developed through a combination of water skiing, snowboarding and surfing techniques.
The rider is towed behind a boat or a cable park; typically at speeds of 18–24 miles per hour (29–39 km/h), depending on water conditions, rider's weight, board size and most importantly, the rider's personal preference. Wakeboarding can also be performed on a variety of media including closed-course cables, winches, PWCs and ATVs.
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[edit] Riding
Using edging techniques, the rider can move outside of the wake or cut rapidly in toward the wake. Jumps are performed by hitting the wake and launching into the air. This can also be done by hitting a kicker (a jump). There is also the slider (a rail bar) in which a rider approaches and rides along keeping his balance. Once a rider improves in the sport, he or she can progress to tricks high in the air. As the rope tightens the rider gains speed toward the wake. When the rider goes airborne he or she may attempt to do intense tricks.
[edit] Personalize
Different styles of wakeboards have various shapes and sizes. With this in mind, it’s important to keep personal preference and weight in mind. The larger the board (width and length), the better it floats and edges. Larger boards also make it more difficult to perform advanced tricks.
In addition, riding styles are determined by a boards camber. Manufacturers refer to this as the boards “rocker.” The two main rockers are known as the Continuous and the Three-Stage. A Continuous rocker, self-spoken, has a continuous curve throughout the top sheet. These allow for a smoother, faster ride without surface resistance. The Three-Stage rocker is made up of a flat center and abrupt changes to the tail and nose. This design was manufactured to provide more “pop” when launching off of the boats wake, allowing for more hang-time (time spent in the air).
Most wakeboards are designed and manufactured with fins. Some are molded into the board; others are detachable usually made out of aluminum, carbon fiber, or plastic. Each design determines how aggressive the board will track (“catch”) the water. Although designs cannot be altered, fins of different sizes are sold separately to better personalize the ride. Advanced riders are sometimes known to remove the fins while beginners will use them to provide better stability.[1]
[edit] Development of the sport
Wakeboarding arose in the early 1990s after the advent of Skiboarding. Early wakeboards were based on surfboard designs with a directional nose (designed to ride in one direction) and triple tail fins for stability and holding power. Bindings consisted of a simple rubber pad for the feet with a bungie type cord to hold the foot on the pad. A small rocker (curve of the board along the base) was shaped to help keep the nose of the board above the water. These boards provided good traction and edge holding, but the large triple fins hung up on jumps and spins and the directional design limited switch riding. The poor bindings also made crossing wakes and chop tough. Early wakeboarding consisted of the rider surfing the wake and performing small jumps across the wake. Most wakeboarding was conducted from ski boats by people either bored with skiing and looking for something different or from former surfers displaced from the coasts.
Further early developments led to tighter reinforced bindings that held the whole foot and bi-directional board designs including a cut off nose with a single fin at each end (nose and tail) in the mid 1990's. Typically, a large hook fin was placed at the tail and a smaller straight fin placed at the nose. Since most riding was expected to on the tail regular stance, the larger hook fin provided traction and grip while occasional switch riding utilized the smaller front fin for stability until the rider switched back to normal foot after the spin. Semi hemispherical cups were placed on the board's base to prevent water suction (similar to golf ball dimples). Rocker was increased to improve landings and decrease interference from the nose fin. Edges were slightly rounded to decrease drag off the water and give a smooth landing. These boards improved jumping height and range and allowed easy spin or butterslide (riding with the board perpendicular to the wake) moves at the expense of tight tracking and stability on landing outside the wake. Borrowed from competion water skiing, wakeboarders discovered that extended ski pylons (used in trick and multiple skier sets) increased height and distance of jumps by removing the downward drag of the tow rope. Ballast added to the boat by either integral ballast tanks or added weight through water bed mattrices, rocks, or concrete blocks gave greater wake and improved wakeboard jumps and surfing. Most wakeboarding occurred on ski boats with added extended ski pylons and aftermarket portable ballast that originally was intended for sailboats.
In the early 2000s wakeboard development moved into the current phase of development. Though the bi-directional board of the late 1990s remained, major technological advancements dramatically changed the morphology of the board. The semi-hemispherical cups were scrapped and replaced with integral molded rails and strakes running from nose to tail. The rails and strakes disrupted and channeled water flow across the base eliminating water suction and greatly improved traction. This allowed for shorter and more hydrodynamic fins to be installed on the board while still maintaining strong tracking. Since the shorter fins did not hang up on the wake, triple finned boards came back into style to decrease slippage on hard landings outside the wake. With improved hydrodynamics from the rails and short fins, the boards were squared at the tip and tail to improve edging and speed into the wake. Also allowing to the shorter fins, rocker was then reduced to increase the frontal area of the wakeboard on the water, increasing pop off of the wake. As such, these boards allowed the wakeboarder to edge hard into the wake with great speed, pop off the wake with great height and distance, and land comfortably outside the wake in the flats. If the riders is off kilter on landing(not 90 degrees to the wake) the board will correct itself after landing with minimal input from the rider. Due to the increased interest of wakeboarding, boats were now being designed and sold specifically for wakeboarding. These boats were based on ski boat design (fiberglass hull, inboard engine) but differed by offering a vee hull for better handling, a vee direct drive for increased stern weight, on-board ballast tanks, extended towers (replaced extended ski pylons), music systems, and board storage.
Incorrectly thought to be originally created by a surfer named Tony Finn in the mid 1980's 'Ski-boarding' or 'Skurfing' then wakeboarding, was actually created in New Zealand by surfboard shaper Allan Byrne and friends such as Kevin Jarrett. Allan Byrne lent a 'Skurf board' to Jeff Darby and friends in Queensland Australia who started to make their own and who later came in contact with Tony Finn who was to later produce their brand 'Skurfer' under royalty.
Recently in Wakeboard Magazine in June 2008 a photo surfaced and was published from pre 1979 of Ron Seidenglanz and Robb Seidenglanz surfing a wake being towed behind a boston whaler in Corona Del Mar, California. As an adult Ron Seidenglanz spent from age 24 on to now, over 16 years making wake board films and pushing the envelope of documentation while developing a family business as Sidwayz Films. Developing the sport with as many people as possible through documentation and community organization and love of film making. You decide which way to look at the history of wake boarding.
Many surfers with access to boats have been towing each other around on surfboards since the early days when the two craft could meet. The surfboard types towed, designed for ocean wave surfing, have been varied but the concept was named 'Free-boarding'. Free-boarding should not be confused with 'ski-boarding' or 'skurfing', where the board was specifically created to be ridden behind a boat being much narrower in width and shorter in length than the current, standard, modern day surfboards and also incorporated water-ski, tunnel concave like, bottoms.
Many years prior to Tony Finn and the 'Skurfer', Australian surfboard shaper and inventor Bruce McKee launched in Australia 1982, the world's first mass-produced plastic, roto-moulded construction ski-board (Skurfboard) named the 'Mcski', later 'SSS' skiboard and later 'Wake-snake'. The board had adjustable rubber foot-straps, concave tunnel bottom and a keel fin. Two smaller side fins were later added for greater hold and more maneuverability.
Bruce McKee and associate Mitchell Ross negotiated with USA's Medalist Waterskis and the first American production was launched. The launch of the product, American version being named the 'Surf-Ski' was in 1984 at Chicagos 'IMTEC'show. At the show McKee also met Tony Finn who would be the proposed Californian representative. Tony Finn, went on to do his own negotiations with Darby and company from Australia and the result as mentioned above were the US boards later launched under the 'Skurfer' brand name.[2]
The term "wakeboard" was coined by Porter Daughtry (Brooks, GA), 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 "hyperlite" wakeboard, named by eamon"The Kid" fitzpatrick, laid the groundwork for evolution of the wakeboard throughout the 1990s. Liquid Force was started by Finn and Redmond.
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 Eamon defended his title against himself. 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. Competitions began popping up and 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 its focus" and was re-named the World Wakeboard Association.
[edit] Current Wakeboarding
Wakeboarding has displaced water skiing in many areas of the U.S. as wakeboarding is seen as hip and trendy akin to snowboarding and skateboarding on the water. Wakeboarding boats now dominate catalogs of ski boat companies such as Mastercraft, Malibu, Correctcraft, and others. Wakeboarding has not completely displaced skiing due to a number of technical difficulties that makes wakeboarding difficult to master. This includes a large learning curve, where popping up (getting up) is difficult for new riders to learn as the physics of the board riding above the water is opposite of what the rider anticipates (i.e. the rider pulls against the boat like he/she is on skis rather than allow the boat to pull the rider up over the board). Turning is also difficult for someone not accustomed to a board, as skiing involves the rider favoring one side of the skis to turn where else on a board the rider has to maintain and transition the edge of the board in the water or else wipe out from a caught edge. However, the popularity of wakeboarding with modern boards and specifically designed boats has allowed wakeboarding to make appearances in the ESPN X games and on commercials by VISA.
[edit] Wakeboarding maneuvers
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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 them, while more advanced riders can hit the wake both heelside as well as toeside.
[edit] Surface Tricks
Surface tricks are tricks that are performed when the rider is not airborne. Examples are:
- Backside Start- Rider gets up in a backside position where the backside is facing the boat.
- Ollie- A bunny-hop out of the water.
- Surf Carve- Rider cuts back and forth in the wake in a surf-carving fashion.
- Body Slide- Rider lies back onto the water.
- Potato Peeler- Body Slide with fin release.
- Powerslide- Board is turned backside 90 degrees in the flats. Fins are broken loose. If done correctly, it creates a huge spray.
- Butterslide- Rider turns the board frontside 90 degrees and grinds the wake.
- Backside Butterslide- Rider turns the board backside 90 degrees and grinds the wake.
- Butterslide 180- Same as regular butterslide but with an additional 90 degree rotation in the same direction.
- Backside Butterslide 180- Rider turns the board backside 90 degrees and grinds the wake. Rider then grabs the handle with opposite hand and does another 90 degree turn in the same direction.
- Surface 180- A 180 degree turn on the surface of the water.
- Surface 360- A 360 degree turn on the surface of the water.
- Tumbleturn- (as can be seen on disk three of detention 2012) the rider edges out and lays back to where only his or her back touches the water, and then actually removes the board from the water and spins a 360 like motion on their back. The trick is most commonly done by pro rider Shaun Murray.
- Perez- Rider carves outside of the wake and slides into a surface 360.
[edit] Spins
A spin is done by the rider rotating around, like snowboarding. The name of the spin refers to the number of degrees rotated:
- 180 (1/2 of a rotation)
- 360 (1 rotation)
- 540 (1 1/2 rotations)
- 720 (2 rotations)
- 900 (2 1/2 rotations)
- 1080 (3 rotations)
- 1260 (3 1/2 rotations)
- 1440 (4 rotations)
[edit] Spin Terminology
- Frontside- A spin where the rider rotates with the front of their body towards the boat first.
- Backside- A spin where the rider rotates with the back of their body towards the boat first. Originally referred to as blindside or blind spins, although this terminology has fallen out of favor.
- Off-Axis- When a rider does a spin but goes off the vertical axis so the board usually gets up to shoulder level or above. Invented by Marshall Harrington. Also called "Monkey" and "Corked" spins. Will Ellis was the first rider to land an Off-Axis 900.
- Flatline Spin/Orbital- A spin where the rider goes over the rope instead of passing the handle.
- Shifty- Board is shifted 90 degrees in one direction and then shifted back in the opposite direction. Gregg Necrason was the first rider to land a shifty 540.
- Rewind- A spin where the rider does a shifty one way, then back the other, then spins back in the direction of their initial shifty.
- Baller- This is a term used for when a rider does the handle pass of their spin by passing the handle between their legs. Invented by Parks and Shane Bonifay.
- Ole- When a rider rotates with the handle above his head, not passing the handle.
- Osmosis- When the rider performs a spin by tossing the handle from one hand to the same hand again, bypassing the other hand. Invented by Shaun Murray.
- Wrapped- When the rider has the rope wrapped around their back they are going to perform a wrapped trick. It allows a rider to spin without doing a handle pass. It also allows the rider to perform unique grabs that usually cannot be done when passing the handle.
- To Blind- The rider does a backside 180 and lands with the rope in their backs or they can do a handle pass
[edit] See also
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