Wakeboarding Popularity Explored
Wakeboard Boating and Apparel Industries Compete for Big Bucks
Feb 20, 2008
Wakeboarding's Beginning
Wakeboarding developed from a humble beginning in the mid-80s in San Diego by a gentleman named Tony Finn who created a type of short surfboard called a skurfer, short for ski and surfer and designed to be towed behind a speedboat. From that relatively inauspicious start wakeboarding has gone on to become one of the fastest growing boardsports in the world. A skurfer was similar to a small surfboard that was towed with rider behind a towboat allowing the rider to perform tricks and negotiate the boat's wake. Through the late 80s the sport continued to lack mainstream appeal as skurfers were difficult to launch from deep water and lacked the ability to get big air and perform acrobatic tricks. That all changed in the early 1990s as Herb O'Brien, owner of H.O. Sports and successful businessman in the waterski world developed a new type of neutral-buoyancy wakeboard with bindings attached called the Hyperlite. This design would set the standard for the industry and help jumpstart the frenzy of wakeboarding.
Competition Drives an Industry
In 1989 within a nascent sport that couldn't even agree on its own name came the earliest competitions. The sport was now being known as skiboarding and the World Skiboard Association was founded in 1989. That year the First World Skiboard Championships were held on the Island of Kaui, Hawaii, on the Wailua River. The first US Nationals were held that year as well and various other competitions were popping up around the United States during the next few years. Probably the most influential event affecting the popularity of the sport occurred in 1996 when the Summer X-Games added wakeboarding as a competitive action sport broadcast nationally on ESPN and ESPN II. Now the boardsports crowd could get a look at this sport with acrobatic flips, 720 degree turns, and a host of rails, ramps, and other structures that riders could perform tricks upon. Much as the sport of snowboarding developed its own terminology, so did wakeboarding. X-Game announcers were talking about tantrums, backrolls, scarecrows, boardslides, half-cabs, and whirly-birds and the crowds were loving it.
Manufacturers Compete for Millions
As Herb O'Brien discovered with his wildly popular Hyperlite wakeboard, other boating and apparel manufacturers would soon begin to capitalize on this booming new market. One of the early boating manufacturers to target this emerging market was Mastercraft which developed their X- Series wakeboard boat in the early 90s and it became the defacto standard of the wakeboard crowd. Soon other boat manufacturers were introducing models to compete with Mastercraft and engineering changes would need to be made. Pure waterski boat manufacturers had refined the engineering of their towboats to produce the smallest wake possible. Now wakeboarders were demanding huge wakes with good shape to launch airborne manuevers and land them successfully. These re-engineered boats would move engines to the stern, add weight with ballast tanks, create systems to hold perfect speed for riders, and add towers to help launch the wakeboarders. Soon boats with stereos, graphics, heated seats, and other upgrades became a standard. Ski boat companies like Correct Craft, Malibu, Supra, Tige, Centurion and many others were entering the mix with well designed but costly models of their own. Also moving quickly into this space were Gen-X apparel and watersports companies such as Quicksilver, Billabong, Rip Curl, Reef, Vans, and many more.
Similarities to Snowboarding
Manufacturers are quick to equate the success of wakeboarding to the snowboarding phenomena of the 80s. Much like the ski resort operators who saw snowboarders as a much needed source of revenue to compliment declining ski crowds, the boating and apparel industries have welcomed wakeboarders with open arms. Expect this sport to continue booming in the years to come as a young generation eager to join in on the action begins to get involved. Don't be surprised if it catches up to you too and sometime soon you find yourself saying "Nice whirly-bird dude!"
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