The Catalyst

By Megan Dorenkamp, Reporter

The season for snow sports has officially ended, which means that it’s time for sports that require a little less clothing: water sports. Swimming may be the only school-sponsored water sport, but there are many other ways you can spend your summer competing in the H2O.

For the snowboarders who happen to dislike skiing there is another sport out there for you: wakeboarding. The wakeboard is built a lot like the snowboard, only with fins. You have the option of riding goofy (left foot forward) or standard (right foot forward), and you can set your stance exactly how you prefer. The boards come in a variety of different colors and designs, and have a smooth surface to glide through the water easily.

Wakeboarding is performed by holding onto a rope hooked to a boat, and being pulled through the water. When learning it takes time just to stand up and ride the board, but after that skill has been mastered there are many things to try. The first thing to master is getting in and out the wake created by the boat. The tricks include flips, jumps, 360s and many others. When doing such tricks it is good to have the right equipment. Helmets and gloves are available for wakeboarders, and boots can be specialized.

They also have different sizes of wakeboards that vary in speed and stability, the bigger the board, the slower and more stable. Small, fast boards are not the best boards for doing tricks; they allow more speed for jumps, but are less stable going into the landing. Also, how the board rides depends how fast the boat pulling you is going. When you are being pulled at fast speeds, the board moves faster and the rider has less control over the board.

Wakeboarding isn’t a very well known sport, but it is a great sport for summertime fun. With it’s stylish boards, and thrill providing rush wakeboarding gives you the feeling of gliding on water.