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Little Elm wakeboarding team making waves
BY ANDREW MAY, Staff Writer
Chris Lear soars through the air as if suspended from a cable that pilots his high-wire routine. He twists, turns, flips, rolls, and rotates like a plane plummeting to earth in a full tailspin. Lear’s maneuvers, though, are calculated, precisely timed so that his body doesn’t stop on a dime against its will. He lands upright on this occasion, but his next move has the potential to be bone shattering. Lear accepts the inherent danger because the adrenaline rush he gets from his favorite sport generates a euphoric high. Welcome to the world of wakeboarding.
One of the fastest growing extreme sports in the nation, which also calls the DFW metroplex its largest market, wakeboarding is as dynamic as it is dangerous. Injuries abound, but their prevalence isn’t enough to deter the casual rider or the perpetual thrill seeker.
Wakeboarding dates back a number of years and is ultimately an amalgamation of several intertwined sports, from skiing to snowboarding to skating to surfing. It traces it roots back to the mid 1980s when a hybrid of a water ski and surfboard, known as a skurfer, was created. The first major development occurred when straps were added to the board, allowing riders to catch big air, a major distinction today between wakeboarding and surfing.
“Wakeboarding gives the rider more of a sense of freedom,” professional wakeboarder Marty “McFly” Head said. “The rider can take it in any direction imaginable.”
Head works for Waterski Boats Dallas in sales, marketing, and promotions, and is one of two instructors, along with Brent McCarroll, who lead the Little Elm wakeboarding team. The team is comprised of more than a dozen riders from 10 families and is based out of Cottonwood Creek Marina. Most are amateurs, like Lear, who are trying to advance their abilities in the sport by working with Head, who has been riding since 1994. Skill sets differ, but each member of the team shares the desire to be a part of the sport’s vibrancy.
“You can’t really describe it unless you do it,” said Lear, who will begin his sophomore year at Little Elm High School in the fall.
Lear, 15, has been wakeboarding for just two years, but is already attempting back flips and tricks usually reserved for experts. He began kneeboarding eight years ago and only got on a wakeboard after the urging of his older brother. He hasn’t gotten off since.
“It is such an adrenaline rush,” said Lear, who also plays football, basketball, and golf for the Lobos.
Friend and classmate Jordan Thomas, also 15, isn’t quite as daring. He stays within the wake mostly, venturing outside briefly before launching himself back to his comfort zone behind the boat. Thomas works on switching his stance to position his right foot forward. This time he is successful.
“The first time I tried to switch my contact rolled behind my eye,” said Thomas, referring to a serious spill he took after his initial endeavor to swap his footing.
Brandon Dudley isn’t yet in high school, but doesn’t have a problem keeping pace with his older cohorts. The eighth-grader at Lakeside Junior High cruises at a comfortable rate before uncorking a fanciful 360 degree rotation in which he passes the rope behind his back from one hand to the other before landing on the opposite side of the wake.
“Nothing to it,” Head says as his pupil takes the next step to becoming a bona fide intermediate.
‘Spreading the stoke’
Wakeboarding has gained in popularity each year of its existence, drawing in riders as young as 3 and as old as 70. Part of the lure of the burgeoning sport is the relative ease in which it can be learned. Girls usually get up the first time, whereas their male counterparts aren’t as fortunate. Blake Freeman, a freshman at Flower Mound Marcus High School, bought his own wakeboard before ever even getting out on the water. He nearly got up on the first try, but didn’t display the proper form.
“Stay leaning back and let the boat do all the work,” Head advised.
Freeman popped out of the water on his third attempt and was weaving back and forth soon after. He may have pressed his luck too soon, though, as his body can attest after a pair of violent crashes.
“I felt like I was going 50 (mph) and a wall popped up,” said Freeman, who in actuality was being pulled at 18-20 mph, the cruising speed for amateur riders.
Head said the sport’s growth is also the result of its social nature. Over time, riders meet other riders, whether the result of a chance encounter at an apparel shop or at various tournaments throughout the area and state. Unlike most other sports, fans and spectators can meet and greet the pros following the tournament.
“It’s all about spreading the stoke of the sport,” Head said.
Orlando is the epicenter of wakeboarding because of the ability to practice and compete year round, but Dallas is the largest market in the world because of its population and rideable water. The area’s new and used boat market is huge, as is the availability and ease of access to lakes and rivers.
Tools for the job
Though wakeboarding can be done behind any boat capable of reaching speeds of around 20 mph, specialized performance boats are usually the only ones utilized. Head is employing a top-of-the-line, 24-foot wakeboard-specific boat this summer to teach the Little Elm team. The 2007 Supra Launch 24 SSV is the equivalent of a Cadillac on steroids. With a 340 horsepower Chevy Vortec engine and perfect pass, a computer-based cruise control system, the $58,000 boat is a precisely guided missile. This particular red and white beast is equipped with fine leather, plush carpet, LED lights, and a $15,000, 20-speaker sound system. It has multiple hippo tanks that can hold 3,300 pounds of water to sink the boat deeper into the lake to make the wake even bigger.
After being set back a small house on the boat, the rider still has to get his equipment. The best boards on the market currently run $400 and bindings add another $300. A rope and handle package combines to go for $200 and wake vests can tack on $80 more. Add it all up and it equals an expensive sport any way it is sliced, even before medical bills are factored in.
Extreme evolution
Extreme sports haven’t typically evolved to the same degree as wakeboarding. Skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding, skiing, and skydiving all retain an identity similar to the one they began with. In a sport that continues to develop, Head sees wake size as the next step in the evolution process of wakeboarding.
“Boat wakes continue to get bigger year after year,” he said. “They will soon reach a maximum height before the body just can’t take it anymore.”
New spinoffs are beginning to form as a way to prevent injuries suffered by the behemoth wakes. Wake skating is similar to surfing and skateboarding in that the rider isn’t fastened to the board by bindings. The rider has to be more technical and doesn’t have the freedom to unleash as many big-air jumps. Wake surfing is a relatively new addition in which the rider isn’t bound to the board and doesn’t use a rope to stay affixed to the boat.
“They are a lot easier on the body,” said Head, who has torn his ACL twice while wakeboarding.
Tricks of the trade
New moves and tricks evolve monthly in the world of wakeboarding. Riders push their physical limits in an effort to uncover maneuvers that haven’t been done before. When it comes to wakeboarding tricks, a separate language of terms is used to describe the rider’s motion and actions. The higher a rider soars, the more “pop” he got on the takeoff. Boarders that ride a regular stance have their left foot forward. The term used to describe riders that prefer to have their right foot in front is “goofy.” A rider that approaches the wake facing towards the boat is on a heelside edge, while a back to the boat is a toeside edge. The less experienced rider tends to have an easier time hitting the wake heelside because it is more of a natural stance. Advanced wakeboarders are equally adept at both heel and toeside.
Many new tricks are formed simply by grabbing the board at a certain place while performing a known trick. Riders can also add flips, rolls, and spins to alter the look of pre-existing maneuvers. Here is a list of some common tricks performed by beginner and intermediate wakeboarders:
Raley: Rider hits the wake and allows his/her body to swing backwards, up overhead, parallel to the water before swinging the board back down and landing on the other side of the wake
Fakie or switch: Riding the board with weak foot forward
Butter slide: a rider approaches the wake and flips the board sideways so that they can slide on top of the wake
Sideslide: Board slides sideways along the water
Layback: Rider lays back onto water with his back touching the surface
Half-cab: Doing a trick from switch stance and landing it with regular stance
Bunny hop 180: Change directions outside of the wake by hopping into the air
Surface 360: Spin the board 360 degrees while riding the surface of the water
Backscratcher: Bending of knees while in the air to a 90 degree angle so the board reaches back toward rear
Palmer: Front hand heelside grab with twist
Tantrum: Back flip over the wake on an axis perpendicular to the direction of the board
Backroll: Flip or roll over the wake on an axis parallel to the direction of the board
Frontroll: Flip or roll forward or rolls over the wake on an axis parallel to the direction of the board
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