If you look on the good ole Internet, you will find a short definition of wakeboarding:

Wakeboard – a buoyant board, usually resembling that of a surfboard, that someone uses to ride over the water while being pulled along behind a motorboat.

It’s not quite that simple!

Wakeboarding is an up and coming sport and every enthusiast must gain the knowledge about the different kinds of wakeboarding equipment that are used in this sport.  Just don’t expect to hop onto a wakeboard and surf the spray.  There’s a lot more to it than that.

If you mention water skiing, most people are familiar with that.  The wakeboarder, just like the water skier, is towed behind a boat at a speed of approximately 18 to 24 mph.  The main difference between these two sports is that rather than using skis, the boarder makes use of a single board with bindings.  You can think of it as kind of like a snowboard.  Wakeboards are shorter than snowboards and are a little bit wider.

In the ideal situation, you should have a wakeboarding boat.  It is much like boat for water skiing, but the wakeboarding boat is heavier and, in order to create a larger wake, has a different shape.  For those who have to forego the expense of a wakeboarding boat, you can use large sacks that are filled with water in order to increase the wake’s size which will make for a better ride.

A variety of tricks are performed on the water’s surface and in the air as well.  The most spectacular tricks, which are collectively known as inverts, are usually performed when the person launches him/herself in the air and goes inverted.  In other words, the boarder ends up going upside down while cruising in the air!  When doing this in a competition, the first person who performs a unique trick is able to name it.  You may see some strange looking names!

You can get a limitless selection of combinations when you combine various grabs that are in existence with the number of inverts.  The wakeboarders are allowed to show their own unique style.  A grab is a trick that is performed when a rider grabs the wakeboard in a number of different locations with their hand.  The secret to performing a grab is to make sure you bring the wakeboard to your body and don’t go reaching for the board.

A wakeskating or wakeboarding spin is completed when the rider launches him/herself in the air, rotates and then lands the wakeboard after it has made at least a 180 degree rotation.  Though, from a spectator’s perspective, they do not seem as spectacular as inverts, nevertheless they can be almost more difficult to perform.

Here are some interesting figures and facts about wakeboarding that you probably did not know:

•    There are more than 3.1 million wakeboarders all over the world

•    A wakeboarding video game entitled Wakeboarding Unleashed was released in 2003 75% of all wakeboarders are in the 13-24 year old category and are male

•    For wakeboarders, the average household income is $95,400USD

•    This is the fastest growing water sport

•    Wakeboarding is part of  Gravity Games and X-Games

This is the wonderful world of wakeboarding.  Personally, I could not do it as I don’t like being in the company of all those fish!  Do you care to give it a try?