An Introduction To Pro Wakeboarding
An Introduction To Pro Wakeboarding
Wakeboarding is a combination of snowboarding and water skiing that has competitors dragged behind a boat at almost twenty-five miles per hour while skiing across the water on a wakeboard. A wakeboard is a single piece unit with feet mounts on it to hold the board in place while the person does tricks and stunts. Pro wakeboarding has been around since the 1980's and is controlled by a central governing body that was initially called the World Skiboard Association because a wakeboard was originally called a skiboard.
Pro wakeboarding has its roots in skiboarding, which was created in the 1980's by a man named Tony Finn. Jimmy Redmond of Austin, Texas got the idea to add foot mounts to the board and the skiboard was born. Sometime after the skiboard was introduced, the design was changed by Paul Fraser of Vancouver British Columbia in Canada, and Fraser decided to call his creation a wakeboard. Together with wakeboard rider Eric Perez, Fraser brought his new creation to the attention of water sports legend Herb O'Brien and soon the sport of pro wakeboarding was born and began to catch on very quickly especially in the Hawaiian islands.
The Development Of Pro Wakeboarding
As wakeboarding began to take over from the old skiboarding sport the World Skiboard Association soon changed its name to the World Wakeboard Association and soon a network of pro wakeboarding events and pro wakeboarding gatherings began to develop. Today the World Wakeboarding Association sanctions a series of pro wakeboarding competitions held at various places throughout North America starting in June and the finals are normally held in November. The World Wakeboard Association also keeps a list of the top forty pro wakeboard competitors in the world and uses a points system to rank each wakeboard competitor to decide if they qualify for the top forty or not.
Wakeboarding is not an easy sport to be a part of. Part of the standard requirements to be part of a sanctioned World Wakeboard Association event is at least $25,000 in personal liability insurance and also boater's insurance is required as well. For all that they deal with, the society of pro wakeboard riders continues to grow and interest in the sport is starting to reach other parts of the world as well. It is not inconceivable to think that the near future could hold international competitions all over the world for wakeboarding and maybe the World Wakeboarding may have to expand their rankings from the top forty to the top one hundred.