Monday, January 26, 2009

Learn To Wakeboard - The Fastest Growng Sport On The Water

By Lane \"Dawg\" Bowers

Wakeboarding has become much more popular over the course of the last couple decades. Wakeboarding is an attractive sport to newcomers because it has the thrill of water skiing without the difficulty, but it also allows you to up the ante and perform complicated tricks and jumps similar to snowboarding. Wakeboarding is safe and easy for anyone to quickly learn, and they can start even with very minimal or no professional instruction.

Wakeboarding began in the early 80as. At the time, it was simply a boat pulling a surf board. Since the surfboards were somewhat difficult to maneuver, only experienced surfers were able to participate during this time period. As the sport developed and became more popular, wakeboarding companies started to add bindings to specially designed boards so they would be lighter and thinner, which makes them easier to control for the beginning rider.

The boards were refined further over the years and today the wakeboards available make the sport accessible to even the most novice rider. In some ways it is easier than skiing and a whole lot more fun because of the speed and tricks you can do on the lighter and faster boards.

Most of the water skiing shops around offer equipment and lessons for pay which can teach you how to wakeboard, but wakeboarding is actually easy enough that it is easy to just pick up a board, get behind an experienced board operator, and try it out. Even if you are unskilled at skiing, or if you have never done skiing, water skiing or snowboarding of any type before, you should still be able to wakeboard easily.

The equipment you need includes a boat that has a skiier's towing rope, a wakeboard, of course, which you can easily buy or rent at many local ski or boarding shops, and you must also have a safe and durable life vest. In order to start to ride the wakeboard, get in the water with the board. After that, slide your feet securely into the bindings on the board, and hold on tight to the the tow rope that comes from the back of the boat. As the boat accelerates slowly and the rope slowly tightens, you can speed up the boat when you think you're ready to go faster. It is surprisingly easy to learn wakeboarding, so easy that, if you want, you will be able to do impressive tricks and instruct your friends in wakeboarding in almost no time at all.

There are a lot of websites you can visit for more information on the sport and to understand some of the basic tricks you can do on the board, but even just the basic ride can be thrilling. Another great place to follow the sport is wakeboarding magazine that details the latest boards and trends for the sport.

The nice thing about wakeboarding is that unlike surfing, you donat have to wait on great conditions to arise to enjoy the sport. Most days are great to enjoy a few laps around the water, and the calmer the water the better. It is also a sport that you can enjoy in both the ocean and the bay as well.

So the next time youare looking for a new thrill on the water, give wakeboarding a try. Itas very easy to learn and is a lot of fun and great exercise. Itas offers all the trills of skiing with the added challenge of mastering the trick. Grab a board and have a great day on the water.

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