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CHOOSING THE WAKEBOARD BEST FOR YOU

In today’s age and with the progression of board technology the market of wakeboarding is flooded with so many board shapes, sizes and characteristics that it is hard to choose a one that is suited to you. With factors like rocker type, amount of molded or removable fins, board dimensions and shape, construction material,  binding type, brand and graphics the task of  selecting the perfect board for you is always a daunting task, be you a beginner or a seasoned rider. Your riding style, weight and skill level should be the determining factors of what board you choose and with the right selection your riding will benefit significantly. Here is a breakdown of the important factors of when choosing a wakeboard and what each component is responsible for.

Rocker type- The rocker is the curve in the board from tip to tail and the type influences how the board rides, the speed of the board, the amount of pop (height gained when hitting the wake) and the hardness of landings. There are two types of rockers.

Continuous rocker (continuous arch, smooth)

These type of rocker provide a smooth, fast ride with predictable pop and softer landings. They are a more relaxed board that suits many riders great for carving. Beginners are encouraged to start with this type of rocker.

3 Stage rocker-(angled with flat spot)

The 3 stage rocker have 2 defined angles at the tips of the board with one a flat spot in the centre. This type of rocker gives a agressive (more) pop however is not always as predictable as the continuous rocker. The landings are harder because of the flat spot and speed is slower as board does not glide through the water. Fins do not track as well and results in a looser feel on the water. This type of rocker is recommended for more advanced riders that can control the unpredictablity of the pop and harder landings.

Brand name- With the growing popularity of the sport, many new companies are emerging to cash in on the masses. Here are a few of the big players in wakeboarding, a safe bet that your new board will be good investment.

• Liquid force
• Hyperlite
• Obrien
• Ronix
• Double Up
• Gator Boards
• CWB

Construction material- As technology advances many new types of materials are being used in the making of boards, each with different characteristics be it strength, weight, or flex. The two main ways of constructing a wakeboard is either by having a solid polyurethane or foam core wrapped by fiberglass, or a honeycomb fiberglass/graphite core wrapped in the same material. The latter is a more expensive construction but the benefits are a lighter board which is more easily maneuvered and gives a smoother ride. This core is found on more advanced and pro model boards. The base of the board can also be made in different materials to give extra strength for hitting hard objects like rails and kickers.

Board edge/rail type- Two edge types are available in today’s market are the uniform edge and variable edge. A uniform edge is one the has the same thickness throughout the entire rail from middle to tip. A variable edge as the name suggests has a thicker and rounder edge in the middle and progressively gets thinner and sharper towards the tip of the board.  The thickness of  the rail dictates how aggressive the board will track which will establish how fast the board accelerates and overall speed when on rail. Thinner/sharper edges are more aggressive and faster however are less forgiving and are easier to catch an edge than a thicker rounded one.  Therefore it makes sense for beginners should choose a board with thicker rounded edges. The benefit of have a variable rail is that it combines the best of both worlds of a thick and thinner edge. It has a more forgiving rail whilst keeping aggressive tracking when on rail. Most companies today incorporate this into their boards.

Fin type/size- There are two types of fins that are on the modern wakeboard, molded (which cannot be removed) and removable (which can removed). The amount of, the size, and how your fins are set up will regulate how well your board tracks the water. Personal preference decides if you want a hard tracking board or a looser, snowboard feel which normally reflects your riding style. Large fins give a more stable ride but makes it harder to break traction for surface tricks and can sometimes catch the water more often if you don’t quite land your trick right. They are however more suited to beginner riders or for rough conditions. Smaller fins ofter the opposite with the ability to break traction easier for surface tricks and are preferred in smoother conditions. Depending on the level of board, they can have a combination of small and large fins however most either have on large fin at each end (possibly with a few molded fins),or 2 smaller fins at each end (again with with/without molded fins). Removable fins give the flexibility to change how hard the board tracks as they can be removed to give a looser feel on the water. They can also be removed if you are hitting rails or kickers to prevent board damage.

Board base shape: There are four basic shapes that are incorporated into today’s wakeboards, with some involving a combination. These shapes are as follows:

• concave- are indents on the base of the wakeboard which break the suction between the base of the board and the waters surface. This creates lift, makes the board sit higher in the water and allows the board to move faster.
• channels- are long, fin like sections of the board which direct the water beneath it which break water tension, this gives smoother landings.
• v shape/spines- help soften landings and ease the transition from edge to edge (heelside to toeside)
• featureless- a board without any of the above features and relies on the board shape, fin set up and rocker to determine how the board rides and handles.

Board Size: The size of your board should reflect your body weight with longer boards for heavier riders and the opposite for their lighter counterparts. Board lengths range from 120-150cm and usually have the weight recommendation on them. Other factors of choosing board size are that shorter boards in general, are slower across the water as it takes more energy to push them through the water (they have less surface area to keep them above the water = more drag in the water). However due to their shorter length they are easier to spin and maneuver off the wake but landings are also harder. Longer boards are the opposite generally being faster across the water with landings softer but spinning and maneuvering being harder.  These characteristics make longer boards  recommended to beginner riders as they are easier to learn on and ride in general.  Here is a chart on weight vs board size:

HISTORY OF WAKEBOARDING

Many a time i have asked myself this question after reflecting on a great day on the water, “where did this great sport of wakeboarding come from and who was the mastermind who invented the sport”?

The answer to this question is that the sport of wakeboarding evolved from a group of different sports including surfing, snowboarding, and waterskiing.  For years surfing was all the rage amongst those that lived at the beach, and being the freeststyle sport that surfing is, new adaptions and variations branched off. One of these different variations was to be towed by a ski rope on a surf board either by boat or truck when the swell wasn’t up.  From this adaption, a San Diego surfer named Tony Finn in 1985 developed ‘the skurfer’ which was a hybrid of a water ski and a surfboard. The board was shorter in size than the standard surfboard and was towed by a boat however the same carve style techniques were performed as when surfing.  Basically it was surfing behind a boat on a mini surfboard. Although not as popular as it once was, ’skurfing’ is still out there today.

The creation of this board soon led to new innovations and it wasn’t long before different shapes and technology took hold of the primitive prototype. The major breakthrough was the additions of foot straps which held the riders feet in place whilst on the board. There were two players that took part in the addition which were Tony Finn and Jimmy Redmon  of Austin, Texas (who added straps to his Redline design water ski board, which was again a smaller version of a surfboard).  The facinating part of this innovaton is that both men developed at the same time without knowing what each other was doing! With these new footstraps riders were able to get big air and start performing airborne tricks. This is probably the first true resembalences to wakeboarding and led away from surfing and more toward snowboarding and water skiing.

Skurfing soon transformed into skiboarding which Tony Finn was a strong advocate for and the first skurfer championships were televised on ESPN in 1990. However even with its claim to fame the sport was struggling with a stagnant patch in technology and innovation.  The skurf board was still very primative in comparison to the modern wakeboard in the fact that because they were very narrow and very buoyant, they required alot of energy to get them planing and leaving only experienced riders cabable of preforming deep water starts. The skiboard on the other hand was designed for performance, however could not withstand the punishedment of constant poundings dished to it by the sport.

One name changed all of this, Herb Obrien. Obrien was a successful businessman in water sports and the owner of H.O sports. With an idea of revelovtionalising the sport, he began experimenting with boards and developed the first compression-molded neutral-buoyancy wakeboard, known as the hyperlite. The advantages of  a neutral buoyancy board allowed ease in deep water starts which opened the door for the sport to boom in all demographic age groups and skill levels. This was the begining of the sport as we know it today.

Obrien did not stop there, he soon incorporated a thinner profile to allow the board to carve like a salom ski, phasers or dimples on the bottom of the board which broke up water contact and produced a looser feel on the water and softer landings. All of these refinerys made possible by the compression molding process founded by Obrien. Seeing H.O sports success in the wakeboarding industry sparked other companies to follow in it’s foot steps, putting more boards on the market and growing the sport further.

The Redmon “Twin Tip” wakeboard soon followed this boom in the industry and is still the standard shape of modern wakeboards. The twin tip had a symetrical shape with a fin on each end, allowing for omidirectional tricks and adding a  new dimension to the sport. This shape of board shyed away from the “conventional” wakeboard at the time which still resembled a mini surfboard.

1992 was the year that pro wakeboarding events took hold of the public with World Sports & Marketing, (a Florida-based sports promoter and event organizer) staging wakeboarding events (known as the pro wakeboard tour). This gave wakeboarders a opportunity to compete and gave them exposure to ESPN and ESPN2. Wakeboarding Mag was soon produced in 1993 to cope with the growing of the demand of the industry giving the public a chance to follow what was happening in wakeboarding and keeping them up to date on comps and leaderboards.

With the ever expanding popularity of the sport and number competing athletes the Vans Triple Crown of Wakeboarding and the Wakeboard World Cup series were created in 1998. These are still today the majors titles up for grabs by pro international wakeboarders. In 2000 the sport diversified adding rails, sliders and kickers to the course giving opportunity for different style riders to gain reckonition for their riding.

As far as wakeboarding has come in its short history there are are still new innovations being added to the sport today. From better technology to new additions, the innovators of the sport will never cease to amaze me. With growing popularity and finacial backing it is just a question how far this sport will go and how big will it get.

WHAT IS WAKEBOARDING?

What is wakeboarding? The definition of the term wakeboarding according to wiki.org 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”. To some extent this is true, however to many of us the term wakeboarding is much, much more.

For some, wakeboarding is a good time out with mates, for others it is a way of expressing themselves just like an artist does through his canvas and paint, and for a few it is a job in which they get to travel around the world with the best riders in the world, riding behind the best boats and in some of the most beautiful places. All of these aspects of wakeboarding make it what it is today and form the backbone of the identity and culture of the sport.

Wakeboarding as a sport has come a long way from its primitive days and has largerly to do with the evolution of the wakeboard, boats and equipment, however  the culture of the sport has not changed that significantly. It is true that there is a growing monetary value, but I bet my boat that 99 out of 100 pro wakeboarders would say that they would still do what they do without the endorsements and big pay checks.  For them it is almost a novelty or gimic that they get paid to do something that they truly love doing. In todays world this is a rarity, that someone could feel this way about the how they make their bread and butter.  So what makes all the early starts, endless interviews, sponsor commitments, hours of training and injuries all worth while? If you have ever strapped on a wakeboard you would know the answer to this question.

My answer to this question is passion, and is something that wikipedia have failed to mention in there definiton. Wakeboarding is a passion that makes you get out of bed early, makes you put on that wetsuit and jump into a freezing river, and drives you to land that trick that you have been trying so long to get down (disregarding the hard face plant you may take if you don’t quite get it right). Through this passion a lifestyle is moulded. Get a group of people with the same lifestyle together a community is formed. From a community derives a culture. As you see wakeboarding is much more than a sport or anything that can be expressed with pen and paper.

I leave you with this question now and it is one that may have a few answers. However once you ask yourself this, i am sure that wakeboarding will have a whole new meaning in your life. So here it is “why do you wakeboard“? Pretty philosophical i know, but it maybe easier to answer than “what is the meaning of life”?

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF WAKEBOARDING