What is wakeskating missing?

electricsnow · cassette Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 10735 City: Jefferton

Also, the answer to this question is cole munster.

knox · Kickflip Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 4693 City: Gainesville

I didn't even say anything about boats in my post? I joined this site when I was 13. I've said some dumb stuff. I still dislike boats for all of the same reasons as then, but the reality is I ride boat more than anything else. It's fun. People who kill it behind boat kill it ridiculously hard, and I love to watch. I've hyped up, filmed, and edited tons of videos of people riding boat. It still doesn't take away from the fact that it's expensive.

I've worked as an elementary school teacher in very poor schools around Gainesville for 2 and 1/2 years now. My kids lose their shizzle when I show them wakeskating, they love it. But the reality of the situation is that none of those kids have a chance of getting into it for one reason, cost. That cost is high whether riding boat or anything else, which is why I just said wakeskating is pricey, not boat riding is pricey.

Because I was working with those kids everyday, wakeskating lost a bit of it's luster to me. I come from well off family and my dad put gas in the boat everyday for me. I'm lucky. While I was a teacher, it was genuinely hard for me to justify because of how hard the kids were in the struggle. This feeling I'm sure only applies to me, I don't want to convince anyone else that wakeskating is "bad" because poor kids can't afford it, as other people have pointed out there are many sports that are just as difficult to access. But it had an effect on me. Again, this is just me, not how I think other people should feel about it.

Didn't know Grant didn't like me. Sorry Grant! I've always enjoyed watching you ride boat, winch, ski, everything. Shared your stuff, hyped you up whenever you had new content or I saw you at a contest. If stuff I said when I was a boy on the internet that wasn't directed at you in any way because I want wakeskating to be more accessible bugged you, then I'm not sure what I can say. Sorry I said dumb stuff.

I agree that bashing all of the boat mags was a bad idea. I like Garrett Cortese and I know that he wants to present wakeskating in a good light. People can disagree I suppose, but coverage is coverage and the mags are awesome.

I don't think I can be accused of being against wakeboarding. In college most of my friends are wakeboarders, I enjoy filming and hyping them up, and I've lived with 3 wakeboarders. The wakeboard hate that some people bring to the table may have had bad reactions, but the other side of the coin is differentiating wakeskating from wakeboarding as it's own thing helped us branch out. I'm not sure who is right, or if we'll ever know.

I'm in law school now and I barely get to wakeskate anymore. Maybe my crew is more cynical than the rest. Everyone in this thread had good points, and undoubtedly the (hopefully!) short and minor decline of wakeskating has been due to a combination of these factors, not any one of them alone.

I still love wakeskating. It's different to me now than it was. The guys up at Valdosta have the right idea, and I genuinely only said what I did because I believe that medium is going to bring in more people over the next decade than anything else. I hope it's obvious to anyone that's spent time with me that I don't hate boat riding (in fact we probably met on a boat!), and that all wakeskating is awesome.

Still not sure how this became about me hating on boat, as I never mentioned it.

Cheers ws.com crew. To wakeskating, we care about it so let's make it awesome.

SCBrips · Posted: Dec 25, 2015 7:12 pm Post subject:

Wakeskating, just like wakeboarding, or even god-damn-gay-as-f_ck wakesurfing is missing ONE thing: Opportunity.

There is a severe lack of opportunity to engage in these activities. I've been wakeboarding for a very long time. I started back in the summer of '95. I was 12 years old and I found my passion. It's all I wanted to do.

It's been twenty years and nothing has changed. Everybody else is off getting married, having kids, maxing out their 401ks at their 60 hour a week jobs. I couldn't give less than a f_ck. I want to ride. EVERY DAY.

I'm lucky because I live in an area that is warm for most of the year and I have a cable park I can drive to in 5 minutes (with two others in half an hour). This is incredibly rare in the US. Tell me that wakeboarding or wakeskating is expensive... Bull-f_cking-sh_t. $750 for a year pass and $300(max) for a board is NOTHING compared to owning a boat.

People continue to talk about the "explosion" of cable parks in the US. What the f_ck? There aren't even 10 full parks in Texas. There are well over 60 parks in Germany alone. You could fit multiple Germanys inside of Texas.

So why are there so many there? Yes, Bruno Rixen invented it there. But there HAS to be something to do with government, right? I really don't know the answer. I want to know.

How can we replicate this in the US? There HAS to be a way.

F_CK ANYBODY who claims to be a purist. Go to hell. I don't give a god damn if you don't like wakeboarding or wakesurfing or waterskiing or tubing... I don't care what people do behind a boat or on the cable or attached to a kite... Whatever...

I want OPPORTUNITY. There is nothing cool about waiting 9 months out of the year to MAYBE ride twice a week in the summer. I lived that way for much too long. I have control now; I have choice. I'm going to ride until my body just doesn't work anymore.

As much as I've resented things in my past... I really feel incredibly lucky to live where I do and have so many opportunities to ride. But I am in the extreme minority...

The key to growing wakeskating isn't winching. It's not being accepted by skateboarding. It's not cheaper boats. It's not jet skis. It's not kites. It's CABLE-F_CKING-PARKS.

So how do we do it? How does Germany do it? Jesus Christ, the French are a**holes and even they have a sh_t-ton. How do people get skate parks built in their community? There has to be a way to get government involved, right? I am clueless and I don't know where to begin. There HAS to be a way. How can we replicate what the Germans and French have done? How do we do it?

carive · Frontside 180 Joined: 19 Apr 2006 Posts: 403 City: Manila

cable parks and cheap durable boards

electricsnow · cassette Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 10735 City: Jefferton

The Kid, I think the boat stuff is more about old timey grudges than anything.

Burton has this thing called the chill program, where they take inner city kids out riding. Maybe there's room for something like that in wakeskating? In some ways, I could see that sort of introduction giving someone more purpose, something to work for and having a healthy outlet, etc.

I think part of the appeal of cable parks in europe has to do with the fact that boat riding is a pain in the ass. I think it's expensive and the water ways are pretty regulated. It's hard for me to speak beyond that, but having a boat is a luxury.

BB · Backside 180 Joined: 28 Jul 2006 Posts: 1706

While cables are fairly reasonable for people to ride at, they are super expensive to open. (especially full size parks)
Land, insurance, the cable itself, rails, labor, etc.
It takes a rather large investment/time to built and open a cable.

I still think cables are the easiest way to introduce people to the sport. (if the cable has a clue what they are doing, sadly some do not...)

POPTART · 360 flip Joined: 24 Jul 2007 Posts: 7621

I don't think its missing anything.

I think people are missing wakeskating.

I also can't agree more that Wake skating is not very easily accessible and the learning curve is rough. But that is what most of us love about it. I can't express how much enjoyment I can receive from getting out and learning something new. Even if its not a NBD trick. It is new to me. There are infinite combinations of new tricks, spots, and combinations to try for me. It will be never ending. Spending an entire year with my own portable 2.0 opened my eyes to what wakeskating can be. Yes having a tour was fun to watch, and with a year off the TEAM guys put out some epic videos, and sure everyone knows wakesurfs are driving the industry. But none of that stopped me from making my own cable, building a few features, and hanging with my friends learning new stuff. Got my Johnboat out and pulling strong. In one season I went from no 3shuvs to one or two a set. I really progressed my abilities this summer and I feel like I was less involved/plugged into the Wakeskate scene than I have ever been.
I don't think the status of the scene, industry, or media had any affect on wakeskating for me at all.

BTW

If I sold my winch company I would use the money to buy a boat.

Laughing

Vance Collins · Faceplant Joined: 24 Aug 2013 Posts: 31

senorbueno · Backside 180 Joined: 28 Sep 2004 Posts: 1593

I think this answers the question on what wakeskating is missing... We're all just day dreaming of becoming Kit Cloudkicker
http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/12/21/orig-wingboard-airplane-extreme-sport-future-of-adventure.cnn/video/playlists/future-of-adventure/

pumpyourbreaks · Faceplant Joined: 25 Jul 2014 Posts: 24

The Kid, It has nothing to do with not liking you. I just don't like your opinion on the direction wakeskating needed to go. You can like somebody without liking their opinion on things. How do you think people with different political views get along? Same thing. I guess I would be considered a conservative of wakeskating. Maybe from my aggressive typing on the subject of where wakeskating has gone but it has nothing to do with how I feel about you personally.

Jake S · Backside 180 Joined: 29 Dec 2010 Posts: 683 City: SLC

electricsnow · cassette Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 10735 City: Jefferton

Totally. What was I even thinking Jake S?

Frye · Guest Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 3335

senza wake · Backside 180 Joined: 07 Jun 2011 Posts: 597 City: SLC

it is interesting to read the boat argument. i think i used to agree/think wakeskating needed to move away from boat as well, to winching and cable. now my experience years down the road is this:

-my in-laws are die-hard waterskiiers, they have a CHEAP little mastercraft knock-off ski boat: i wakeskate behind it and love it

-i built a winch, i both wakeskate and wakeboard behind it, depending what feature im hitting

-i finally have a couple 2.0's 5 hours and 3 hours from me. i totally thought they would support my wakeskating passion. they are what actually convinced me to buy my first wakeboard 2 years ago. now i mostly wakeboard at them because i am a snowboarder at heart, and it feels like snowboarding when riding straps at the cable. something i prefer even to wakeskating.

all in all, its funny, the place i mostly ride wakeskate is now behind the boat.

maybe wakeskating is missing this simple fact: don't fight the grain to build a sport. if people are going to wskate behind the boat, support it. if cable, support it. if behind their friends 4x4 pulling them down a dirty canal, support it.

wakemitch · Posted: Jan 11, 2016 11:59 pm Post subject:

And Drew · Posted: Jan 12, 2016 4:43 pm Post subject:

I was just in the Philippines for a month and a half and noticed a growing scene of local wakeskaters. I'd say there are more young kids coming to Cwc regularly wakeskating than wake boarding. They are kids that grew up skating and now share a board or some gear and come 1-2 times a week. The Republic park in manila has a really cool scene of wakeskaters (the guys at Cog) along with girls and older guys who ride often. I feel like Europe has a bunch of up and comers also...I've recently seen solid videos of several younger guys killing it that I've never heard of. I do realize that wakeskating is some areas of the US has seemed like it has slowed down but I think there are plenty of places bringing in younger kids or new comers.

There are more places than ever to wakeskate, more wakeskaters with private setups, cable parks, The Wakeskate Tour is happening this year, tons of brands that are strictly for wakeskating... I'm excited for this next year

dirtyohioriver22 · Backside 180 Joined: 13 Mar 2006 Posts: 1705 City: cincy

since when did wakeskaters not like boats? wasnt wakeskating built behind doing lip tricks? and isnt a skate trick done w2w the best thing in wakeskating?

I have a winch just because i cant have a boat but im not going to pretend i prefer a winch over a boat,, if someone claims they like a winch more then a boat they are either lying or have not had to pull out a winch rope to many damn times before

Ill never forget watching it its travels for the first time and seeing that fat dude do a w2w kickflip and thinking it was the coolest thing ever,,

we need more w2w kickflips

Gnarly Dancer 42 · 360 flip Joined: 21 May 2007 Posts: 5121 City: kalamazoo

wakeskating needs backflips

And Drew · Posted: Jan 14, 2016 3:51 pm Post subject:

and nollie heels

dirtyohioriver22 · Backside 180 Joined: 13 Mar 2006 Posts: 1705 City: cincy

hasnt someone landed a backflip, hansen?