August 17, 2005
Wake riders make a splash
Boardman Lake site of Action Water Sports wakeboard contest
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Raring engines and daring deeds - the Action Water Sports Wakeboard Tournament had it all.
Drawing 14 participants and about 20 spectators to Hull Park Saturday morning, the tournament featured four categories: novice, intermediate, advanced and outlaw. Judges drawn from different categories rated each participant's moves and moxie.
Heelside nose grab, half-calf 180 nose grab, full side 180 - the announcer documented the flips, turns and jumps performed in the distance on Boardman Lake.
"You don't gotta be talented to do this, you just gotta have guts," declared Riley VanDyhl of Pierson, a student at Michigan Tech who both competed and served as a judge.
Each participant listed moves they planned to perform and the speed at which they wanted to be towed. Higher speeds mean larger wakes and the greater opportunity for airborne or more complex maneuvers. Judges riding in the tow boat ranked each wakeboarder's moves during the two runs per person.
Action Water Sports hosted the wakeboard tournament for the second year, with owner Kevin Wright driving the boat, wife Stacey helping and son Steve, 17, participating. A second son stayed behind to mind their MasterCraft dealership. The store will also sponsor a slalom ski tournament later this month. Last year's wakeboarding tournament was the first of its kind in the region, noted Kevin Wright.
The sport is largely dominated by young men and Saturday's ratio of 13 guys to one girl is typical of tournaments, said Ann Hindes of Freemont. Hindes' son, James, 16, has been wakeboarding and competing for a few years. His sister, Kailey, 13, decided to try it out this year after just watching him in action summer after summer.
"They're trying to get more girls into it," Ann Hindes said. "I think the boys aren't as afraid, they'll try anything. The girls, they think more."
Formerly water skiers, the Hindes transitioned into wakeboarding a few years ago.
"All the kids got into wakeboarding so now we just pull them around the lake," Hindes said. "It's a good family sport."
Many wakeboarders are snowboarders during the winter, including the Hindes family. The equipment and moves are similar, though snowboarders go straight off of jumps and wakeboarders have to cut hard to propel themselves into the wake. In addition, the stance differs: in wakeboarding you lean into the wake instead of the snowboarder staying steady over the board.
Staying in control while being towed at speeds greater than 20 mile per hour, wakeboarding requires strength.
"There's a little bit of upper body strength needed but mostly overall strength," Steve Wright noted.
Despite the subtle differences, the sports make excellent cross-training partners that allow aficionados to keep their reflexes sharp and perfect new moves no matter the season.
"It's not that much different, a little more painful when you fall," noted Chris Adams of San Diego of wakeboarding. "You jump a little higher on snow. And you can go 40 miles per hour off of jumps in snowboarding."
In town visiting his grandparents, Adams was heading home to California the next day. He had ridden a wakeboard for the first time behind a boat only three days previously - he spied a boat pulling wakeboarders on Silver Lake and asked if he could try it out.
When he heard about the tournament, Adams decided to enter in the novice category, figuring it would be a great way to spend his last day in town. He said his snowboarding experience provided a foundation to complete some moves.
"I'd done it before behind a Sea-Doo, but with no wake so there's a big difference," he said of wakeboarding. "To do jumps, you just head for the wake."