The Fastest Growing Water Sport
Since its invention in 1985, wakeboarding has
continually grown into the next big thing in water
sports. From the amateurs to the pros, from the
festivals to the competitions, wakeboarding has a little
something for everyone.

 Wakeboarding is a water sport that has only been around for 25
years, but in the past ten years its popularity has increased
tremendously. Its roots come from other water sports such as
surfing and water-skiing. It consists of strapping ones feet into
bindings on a wakeboard and being pulled out of the water by
hanging onto a ski-rope attached to a boat. The boat usually
goes 18-24 miles per hour. Cutting over the wake of the boat
and performing tricks and jumps are all things that one can
accomplish. Wakeboarding is for people just looking to have fun
or for those who want to be more competitive and perform in
contests. The tricks and lingo of wakeboarding grows along with
the popularity. Each year more tricks are added to the official list
and more records are broken. There are a few simple things you
need in order to wakeboard and they are a wakeboard, towing
rope, lifejacket, a boat, and an experienced driver. Learning the
basics are quite easy and anyone over the age of five can
participate.
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Rope
Lifejacket
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Wakeboard edition boat

 There are different styles and sizes of
wakeboards and they come in different lengths
and widths. This all depends on how
experienced you are and what you wish to do
with the board. Some are made lighter and
smaller in order to jump higher and do more
advanced air tricks while others are wider which
are good for beginners and those who plan to
use rail bars and platforms for jumps.
 A good quality ski-rope is suggested since *2
cheaper ones are made out of materials that
can stretch which can work against the wake
boarder when they are cutting and doing tricks.
 It is best to use a wakeboarding boat with a
tripod on the back or a sea-doo wakeboard
edition, since it is made so the wake boarder
can get out of the water, cut, perform jumps
and tricks more easily.
 A lifejacket is necessary for all ages.
 Having an experienced driver is necessary for
safety and also so the rider can perform at their
best. *2
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Wakestock is a wakeboard competition that
takes place in Canada. It has been around
since 1998 and is the world’s largest
wakeboarding event. Each year the number of
people attend grow tremendously. It includes
wakeboard competitions of all difficulties,
music, skateboarding, shopping and partying.
There are also many other wakeboarding
events.
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When getting into competitive
wakeboarding, tricks and jumps need to *5
be performed. There are surface tricks
that are performed when the rider stays
on the surface of the water and does not
lift the board. Then there are spins that
are done by rotating the board around,
which also leads into more advanced
spins which combine spins with other
tricks. Spins can be done off of ramps
and rails in the water or they can be
done off of the wake.
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 Althoughthe majority of people who wakeboard are men, especially between the
ages of 13-24, wakeboarding among women is starting to grow.
 Wakeboarding is one of the most impressive and challenging water sports.
 Although it can be challenging at times to actually go wakeboarding since a body
of water is needed, millions of people a year participate in the sport by either
actually going wakeboarding or going to one of the many competitions or
festivals and supporting this fast growing sport
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 Text Citations
◦ *1: http://www.stokecity.ca/history.shtml
◦ *2:http://www.stokecity.ca/history.shtml
◦ *3:http://www.wakestock.com/faq.html
◦ *4:http://www.stokecity.ca/wakestock/articles/wakestock8703.shtml
◦ *5:http://ezinearticles.com/?Wakeboarding:-The-New-Surfing&id=464080
 Image Citations
 *1: http://www.stokecity.ca/whatiswakeboarding.shtml
 *2: http://www.wakeboarderschool.com/
 *3: http://www.billabong.com/us/
 *4: http://www.stokecity.ca/wakestock07/photos/index.shtml
 *5: http://h2orepublic.com/
 *6: http://expn.go.com/expn/index
 *7:http://www.ellinghamwaterski.co.uk/wakeboarding.html
 *8: http://www.buzzillions.com/dz_23293_liquid_force_ps3_wakeboard_2006_reviews
 *9:http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/wakeboarding.htm