Although a relatively new sport, wakeboarding has quickly developed a reputation for being one of the most inventive and exciting of all watersports and the reason for that goes back to its roots. Wakeboarding was developed by combining some of the most advanced techniques from Water Skiing, Surfing and Snowboarding to create a hybrid, largely freestyle sport where respect is earned by combining and landing the most outrageous of tricks.
10. TANTRUM TO BLIND
The trick involves starting with a backflip by kicking off the heelside of the wakeboard and landing it without passing the handle so that it ends up behind your back.
9. TANTRUM STALE GRAB
The Trantrum Stale Grab requires a backflip off the heelside of the board and then, whilst in the air, you have to grab the front of the board with your hand, all the time keeping balance in order to land the trick successfully.
8. HEELSIDE 720
The Heelside 720 involves kicking up off the side closest to your heels and rotating 2 full turns in the air before planting safely in the water. It sounds easy but it’s hard to perfect!
7. HEELSIDE BLIND 720
Similar to the Heelside 720 (above), but with the added difficulty of having to land with the handle held behind your back and your back facing the boat.
6. TOESIDE OFF-AXIS OLE’ 720
To perform this wakeboard trick you have to first lift off from the toeside of the board, spinning round in the air and lifting the handle above your head. Whilst doing this you also have to also spin off the vertical axis, raising the wakeboard to around level with your head or shoulders.
5. WHIRLYBIRD 540
The Whirlybird 540 begins with a heelside backflip and extends into a 540 degree turn across the horizontal axis beginning with the riders back to the boat. A stunning bit of acrobatics that has to be seen to be believed!
4. DOUBLE BACK ROLL
The Double Back Roll is a trick where the wakeboard lifts of the heelside to complete 2 full backward turns in the air. The trick looks spectacular when done right but is very hard to perfect.
3. AIR RALEY TO BLIND 360
The trick involves throwing the board out backwards, behind the rider, rotating the board of your head. Then, whilst getting to the end of that rotation, it is necessary to rotate a full 360 degrees, finishing with the handle behind your back.
2. S-BEND VULCAN
The Vulcan is a seriously difficult trick involving several different stages. Firstly, you have to start a raley by lifting up on the heelside of the wakeboard. That then switches to a 360 turn off the backside, culminating in a half turn off the frontside.
1. GIANT WHIRLYBIRD
The trick involves combining a heelside backflip with a 360 degree backside rotation and maxing out the jump so that the rotation is made as wide as possible. A difficult trick to master, but it looks amazing when pulled off.
Learn how to wakeboard with instruction from experienced professionals on a wakeboarding holiday.
