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Spotlight on Sport
then a wakeboard or two, a decent life jacket and ropes etc.
Then of course there’s the fuel, that’s the most expensive
part, if you want to stay out on the water. My sponsor, at
INFLIKT KIAMA, help me out by giving me huge discounts
on my clothes which helps by leaving me more cash to
spend on something I love, boarding.”
He continues, “The biggest issue with wakeboarding is cost
and finding the time to get out on the water to practice.
Using cable parks helps you to refine your tricks, but we
only have five in Australia and the closest one to me is 2
hours drive.”
Wade says that the sport is growing at a phenomenal rate.
“The number of people involved in the sport both in Australia
and around the world is insane. It is growing every day.
When I first started there wasn’t a lot of people out there
boarding. Now when you hit the water nearly every second
boat has a wakeboarder in tow. It is great to see people just
going out, giving it a go, having a ball and getting a buzz out
of the wakeboarding.”
Wade’s family have been very supportive.
“From the day I started wakeboarding Dad has always been
there. Offering to take me out boarding at every opportu-
nity, keeping the boat full of fuel, fixing any breakdowns and
putting up with all of my mates climbing in and out of the
boat, hanging out for a ride. He has also been the one to
give me encouragement and confidence to try something
new on the water and advise me when he could see what
caused it to go wrong.”
Apart from wakeboarding, Wade regularly works out at the
gym, wake skates, wake surfs, jumps on the trampoline and
just chills with his mates. He also is working at achieving
a good enough ATAR at the end of Year 12 to earn a
scholarship with an engineering company, and go to Uni to
study engineering.
Wade is clearly someone who loves his sport and is
extremely good at it. He encourages anyone who has tried
it to do so.
“Wakeboarding is a great sport. If you’ve never had a go
and you are offered the chance, take it, it’s addictive. Once
you get your first buzz you’ll just want more and more.”
Sounds like fun!
instantly hooked.”
Wade is not the first wakeboarder
in the family. His Dad started
about 12 months before him and
got out on Lake Conjola every chance he
could. Wade says that his Dad loved it and
had a great time learning and pulling off new
tricks.
Wakeboarding requires a fair degree of fitness.
Wade says, “I try to stay fit and build up my
arms and legs by going to the gym 4 days a
week. In between I use our 14ft trampoline at
home, with a hand rope tied to a tree, to practice the
spins and flips that I want to try out on the water.
Then spend as much time as I can on the water
trying new tricks and perfecting the ones I can
already pull off. I’ve competed in a competion that
was held on the Shoalhaven River at Nowra.”
Wade says he hasn’t thought of where he wants to go
next with wakeboarding because he has only ever ridden for
fun and the mateship that goes with it. He admits that it would
be nice to get another sponsor or two and just free ride….
“I’m not really the competitive type of guy, it’s all for the good
times.”
Wade tells us that the biggest competitions in the world would
probably be The World Series which is a series of competitions
held at Abu Dhabi, Brazil, U.K, Canada, Philippines and
Orlando, Florida. This is the series every pro wakeboarder
wants to take out. Another competition series that is also
extremely big is King of Wake.
He adds, “there are a lot of big names sitting at the top of
wakeboarding such as Phillip Soven, Trevor Hansen, Aaron
Rathy, AndrewAdkison, Harley Clifford and Dean Smith. Some
of these are Australian guys, for example Harley Clifford is a
17 year old from Queensland and is shredding up the men’s
division and Dean Smith who is currently coming 10th in the
World Series is also an Aussie, but most are from USA.”
Unfortunately for Wade, the sport he loves is expensive to
participate in regularly. He explains, “Wakeboarding would
have to be up there in at least the top 20 most expensive
sports because there is always an outlay. First of all you have
to have a boat - one that’s reliable and puts out a good wake -
Wade provided us with the following history of wakeboarding:
Wakeboarding came from a surfing
background. For years, surfers were
towed by Jet Ski’s and sometimes
even along the shoreline by trucks.
This led to Tony Finn creating the
Skurfer (Surfboard/ Ski) in 1985.
In the same year foot straps were
added to this board, which enabled the
riders to get extreme air and perform
tricks that had never been seen or
heard of. The new sport then hit the
ESPN TV Channel in 1990 under the
title of skiboarding.
Herb O’Brien (Founder of H.O Skis)
then created a compression moulded
board which he called the Hyperlite.
Later on, the Redmon was made; a
twin tip board to enable riders to throw
any trick they wanted, and it left the
Competitors need to sign up with the
Australian Water Ski and Wakeboard
Federation (AWWF).
In Australia, cable parks such as
Suncoast Cable Park in Bli Bli (QLD),
CCW in North Queensland and
Cables Wake Park in Penrith (NSW)
have been made for riders to enjoy
the fun of riding rails, without having
to ride behind a boat.
Wakeboarding is one of the fastest
growing sports in the world at this
point and is only going to keep getting
bigger as the financial backing gets
stronger and the sport is promoted
even more.
The official world wakeboard associa-
tion website is -
www.thewwa.com
sport with no limitations. We still, to
this day use a twin tipped board.
1992 was the year in which
wakeboarding really shot off; it was
when the pro tour was introduced for
the best wakeboarders in USA to step
up to the podium. Around 1993-1996
wakeboarding started getting bigger
in Australia thanks to pioneers such
as Daniel Watkins, Josh Sanders,
Brett Eisenhauer and others who
contributed. They had to go over to
America to compete because there
wasn’t strong enough competition
in Australia. They then brought back
thoughts and ideas to push the sport
and spread it Down Under. Now
there are wakeboard competitions
state wide and even Australia Wide.