What is wakeboarding?

Wakeboarding is a 30 year old water sport with origins in both water skiing and surfing and snowboarding. In wakeboarding, the rider is fastened to a board and towed behind a motorboat at seeds of around 30 miles per hour. The rider can ride the surface of the water, as well as perform wakeboarding tricks behind the boat.

History of Wakeboarding

The most widely accepted origin is in Australia in the 1980s when a skurfing board was given to a man called Jeff Darby. Darby set about shaping their own skurfing boards, specifically designed to be towed behind boats. They ended up setting their own trademarked company called Skurfer. Around the same time in Florida however, a surfer named Howard Jacobs was surfing his smaller surfboards behind motorboats, adding foot straps and pads on the board to attempt tricks impossible on a normal surfboard.

Goofy or Regular?

These two terms refer to the foot you feel more comfortable riding with. If you wakeboard with your left foot at the front of the board then you are considered to be ‘regular’. If you favour the right foot at the front of the board, then you’re ‘goofy’.