Magazine articles by Joel Kilby

Wakeboarding: X Games Fun for the Whole Family
Carolina Sports Link - July, 2005

Back in the mid 1980's a San Diego surfer named Tony Finn gave a name to something that had served as a mild amusement on days when the waves were flat. Finn and his buddies would pull a modified surfboard waterski style behind their boats in an effort to find fun on the water however they could. He wasn't the first to pull a surfboard behind a boat for kicks. But he was the first to name it. He called it SKURFING. And by borrowing the fundamentals of water skiing, foot straps from windsurfing, and - of course - a board from surfing, Finn's skurfing idea ended up as the grandfather of what we now call wakeboarding.

With some professional level events now in the mix - including the X Games - wakeboarding has hit pay dirt in the wide world of sports. Even though the sport enjoys some coveted time on ESPN it's not all big bucks and mega athletes. Around these parts, you are more likely to find a family of wakeboarders out on the lake for a fun weekend activity more than you would run across judges scoring the technical merit of your tricks.

Those first skurf boards were notoriously difficult to learn to ride. Over the years, though, advances in manufacturing technology have made modern wakeboards pretty user friendly. The sport today is just about open to anyone who can walk and isn't afraid of getting wet.

Well I can walk, and getting wet isn't one of my phobias. So here I am... floating in Lake Norman with a wakeboard strapped to my feet. I grab the handle of the rope hooked to Chris Owen's boat about 70 feet away, and I'm ready to give this thing a shot.

Chris is the owner of East Coast Outlaws wakeboard camp. ECO provides summer camp programs for kids and private lessons for anyone who wants to learn how to wakeboard. Chris estimates that in one season he will teach about 1000 people how to ride a wakeboard. Most of his students are young, but he has a growing number of adults who are looking for an exciting challenge. People have come from as far away as New York, Chris says, to get some private wakeboarding instruction with ECO.

With years of snowboarding and the occasional surf trip under my belt, I figure my learning curve should be a little quicker than if I had no experience with boardriding sports. Although, looking away towards the boat I'm attached to, I'm beginning to understand there are some differences between wakeboarding and other board sports.

"Bend your knees and get your butt down on the board as close as you can," Chris shouts out to me. "That will help counterbalance all that water going over the top of the board."

Watching experienced riders over the last couple of weeks lulled me into a false sense of how it must be nice and easy to get up on a wakeboard. It's called planing. It's that sweet moment when the board (in this case pulled by a boat with over 350 horsepower) stops plowing through the water and rises to the top, above all the resistance. Wait for the board to plane, then turn your hips to point the board forward, keep hold of the handle and you're wakeboarding.

The pull of the boat is what takes me by surprise. It's a powerful tug against all that water rushing over the sideways board. And my first two tries end up not with planing, but with a face full of Lake Norman.

As the boat circles back to hook me up for another attempt, Chris gives a couple more pointers.

"Relax your arms, and don't fight the pull," he says. "I'll pull a little easier with the boat this time, so just hold on until the board starts planing."

That was it. I tried to stand up too quickly on my first attempts, and the board just burried itself in the lake. This time I've got a good grip on the handle. Knees bent. Butt down. Arms out and relaxed. Chris eases the boat forward, and starts pulling me through the water. The board is plowing, but I wait a couple extra seconds and notice the tug of the boat getting softer. Sure enough, the wakeboard is being lifted up in the water. I can feel myself rising up. The board is on top of the water now, and I'm leaning back against the rope's handle. I turn my hips to point the board straight, and I'm wakeboarding. I get a solid run out of it this time, and manage to stay up for a couple of minutes before getting tripped up in the choppy water. That's a long enough ride to really wet my wakeboarding appetite.

But after a few more failed attempts at getting the board to plane, I get back into the boat having gotten only one good ride. The wind has chopped up the water, and the conditions are not very good for a newbie like me. Chris graciously explains that getting up on the board is usually the most difficult part of the learning curve for new boarders.

"Once you figure it out," he says "It's like riding a bike."

Chris told me it took him a couple days to really get the hang of getting the wakeboard started. He says once you nail the feel and timing of planing the board it becomes intuitive and you don't even think about it. Our time is up, though, so I won't get to the intuitive part. That's okay. I caught the stoke, I tell him. And I'll get back out again.

Sidebar on Maeghan Major
Charlotte is home to one of professional wakeboarding's elite competitors. Maeghan Major is a two-time world champion in professional womens' wakeboarding. She moved to Charlotte from Orlando so she could open Trinity Boardshop on S. Tryon St. If you're looking for some gear, check out Trinity Boardshop's inventory at www.trinityboardshop.com. In addition to running her shop, she is taking pre law classes at CPCC, and hopes to transfer to the program at Queen's College soon. Apparently she's not busy enough with that, so she is still competing professionally this season. In fact, Maeghan will be in the X Games in Los Angeles at the beginning of August. The womens' wakeboard finals will be televised on ESPN on August 7.

Recently I talked to her about wakeboarding, and she had some good insight for anyone interested in trying it out. She advised new riders to take their time to learn the basics of the sport.

"Fundamentals are very important in wakeboarding," she said. "It's a pyramid. You really build upon what you learn."

Maeghan noted that wakeboarding is not usually too intimidating for beginners because it's pretty safe to learn.

"In wakeboarding you're in a very controlled situation," she said. "The boat's speed is the same. The wake is the same. Most everything is controlled."

Maeghan also pointed out that wakeboarding around Charlotte is really about being on the water having a good time and getting some good physical activity in.

"Kids can start wakeboarding early," she said. "This caters to the whole family, and everybody has a good time."