Wakeboard
History
History
Wakeboarding is a dynamic watersport that truly started in the late 80s and today is the fastest-growing sport world wide. Akin to snowboarding, the sports popularity is spreading like wildfire around the globe. Evolving from a combination of surfing, snowboarding, skating and waterskiing, wakeboarding is not only the world’s fastest-growing water board sport but also the most accessible.
You can enjoy wakeboarding on lakes, rivers or on the sea. Riders are able to perform awesome BIG AIR tricks, whilst being towed behind a boat, with the use of larger wakes. The rider stands sideways on a shorter, wider board similar in concept to a snowboard. By travelling at a lower speed than in waterskiing and by carrying extra weight (and a compliment of cheering friends), the boat kicks up a big wake. The rider uses this wake as a launch ramp where a variety of tricks are performed. These can range from skate/snowboard inspired grabs and spins to massive flips and soaring jumps. In the same way that snowboarding has brought a cultural revolution to the snowski market, wakeboarding has redefined and reinvented waterskiing.
What was once a sport enjoyed by a small group of pioneering individuals, wakeboarding is now a hugely popular global pastime with its own unique attitude and style. Because of its emphasis on freestyle creativity, wakeboarding has an attitude, exuberance and energy that is synonymous with its irreverent style and cultural position. Like other exciting, technically progressive sports taken up by forward thinking trend-setters, wakeboarding has many followers who don’t necessarily practice the sport but really get into the spirit and flavour of its lifestyle. In wakeboarding there are no hard landings to put off the beginners from learning or the professionals from pushing their personal limits to invent new tricks.
You will see from this early photo taken in 1965, a selected few waterskiers looking to chill out and ride took to throwing a surf board in their ski boat with a few buddies for wake, little did they know that 40 years later, surf boards with bindings known as wakeboarding wold be so massive, you have only got to look at the waterways to see this.
It seems little happened between 1965 and 1979 until Tony Finn from California really grasped the concept, strapped boots to the board and invented wakeboarding. At the same time as Jimmy Redmon was doing the same thing in another part of the US.
The “skurfer” was born out of surfing frustration. When there were no waves, the surfers could get towed behind a loaded-up speedboat whose increased wake provided some surfstyle relief. In those days, the lumbering “skurfer” would be surfed on the wake, but as the years went by, lighter more manoeuverable symmetrical boards were developed and the wake’s role changed from wake to launch ramp. In the early 90s, the sport now known as “wakeboarding” encompassed influences from snowboard and skate scene.
Over the years we have seen the introduction of obstacles such as sliders, funboxes, kickers and flat bars. This adds another dimension and element to the sport, similar to skate and snowboard and skate scene. The sport made its appearance in Europe in the early to id eighties, with the French surfers and snowboarders riding on the sea in the French Riviera. The sport has since grown rapidly worldwide and enjoys massive media coverage with events being held in exotic locations around the world.
Today boats are specifically built with wakeboarding in mind with 65-70% of waterski boats being constructed with wakeboard towers attached, improving the lift off the wake for riders.
Of late we have seen a variant of wakeboarding in the shape of wakeskate and wakesurf, just adding to the boarding community on the waters.
The IWWF and its federations have been involved in wakeboarding since the mid nineties, with many individual tours taking place in respective countries. In 1999 the World Wakeboard Council was formed as part of IWSF, with the bringing together of various wakeboarders from all over the world – Brazil, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, USA. After an initial start, the WWC has gone from strength to strength to provide a solid base for the International development of wakeboarding through major title events and cash prize competitions for the World’s most elite riders. An International Judging Programme is also in place to assist judges in the task of scoring the sport and calculating the results.
In 2003 Colin Hart presented to the IWSF World Congress in Florida, the concept of changing the name of IWSF to include Wakeboarding, followed by many discussions and finally in 2009 lead by prominent wakeboarding figures Neil Harris, Paul Fong and Colin Hart, were successful in their quest to change the name of the International Waterski Federation (IWSF) to also include the word Wakeboard. This name change to IWWF (International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation) has now been instrumental to many national federations also changing their name and being recongised internationally.
IWWF World Wakeboard Council Landmarks
• 1999 Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA headed by IWSF to establish the IWSF World Wakeboard Council.
• 1999 Jean Claude Durrousseaud (FRA) appointed interim Chairman of IWSF World Wakeboard Council by IWSF Executive Board.
• 2000 1st IWSF Wakeboard World Championships, Montpellier, France.
• 2000 Colin Hart (GBR) elected as Chairman of the IWSF World Wakeboard Council
• 2001 Wakeboard enters World Games for 1st time in Akita, Japan.
• 2002 IWSF Wakeboard World Championships travels to South America (Brazil) for the 1st time.
• 2004 The IWSF Wakeboard World Cup Commences with $50,000 purse per tour stop
• 2004 Rider of the year commences and Philip Soven (USA) is voted male rider & Caroline Jansson (SWE) voted as female rider of the year.
• 2006 Neil Harris (AUS) elected as Chairman of the IWSF World Wakeboard Council
• IWSF recognises wakeboard and changes its name to IWWF, International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation
• 2010 Wakeboard enters the Mediterranean Games in Pescara, Italy for the 1st time
• 2010 Wakeboard include in the Asian Beach Games in Oman for the 1st time
• 2011 World record number of countries 36 in total enter the Wakeboard World Championships in Milan, Italy
• 2011 Wakeboard included as a medal discipline in the South East Asian Games for the first time in Palembang, Indonesia
• 2013 Nuno Eca (POR) elected as Chairman of the IWWF World Wakeboard Council
• 2019 Wakeboard included as a medal discipline for the 1st ANOC World Beach Games in San Diego
A few facts:
92 Federations Worldwide support on WWC through IWWF. IWWF Wakeboard World Championships travels the World, and since the decision was taken in 1999 to hold an IWWF World Championships, the prestigious event has been held in Montpellier – South of France, Sun City – South Africa, Rio de Janeiro – Brazil, Sydney – Australia, Seville – Spain, Moscow – Russia, Chuncheon Korea and Milan – Italy.
Creating history – the greatest number of international countries/federations in the history of the sport gathered in Milan, Italy in August 2011 with 198 riders from 36 countries to compete.
IWWF Wakeboard Events:
• National Championships in most Federations held annually
• IWWF Wakeboard World Championships held very 2 years
• IWWF Europe & Africa Wakeboard Championships held annually
• World Games held every 4 years
• Mediterranean Games held every 4 years
• IWWF Wakeboard World Cup
• IWWF Arab Wakeboard Championships
• IWWF Mediterranean Wakeboard Championships
IWWF Wakeboard Judging & Calculator Seminar
IWWF World Wakeboard Council
News
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In Memory of Max Kirwan OAM
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FISU World University Waterski & Wakeboard Championships in Belarus Cancelled
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IWWF 75th Anniversary Celebration Video
10th February 2022 In July 1946, the World Water Ski Union (WWSU) was formed. In 1989 the WWSU changed its name to the International Water Ski Federation (IWSF) and in 2009 the IWSF [...]
Asia
International Judges ::: Level 1
Paul Fong – Singapore
Chen Lili – China
Takahiro Iwamoto – Japan
Muhammad Suhardi – Singapore
Na Sunyoung – Korea
Desmond Chan – Hong Kong
International Judges ::: Level 2
Steven Tan – Singapore
Lee Junyi – Singapore
Luckman Ganesario – Indonesia
Calculators
Steven Tan – Singapore
Christine Hui – Chinese Taipei
Na Sun Young – Korea
Kitty Golby Kwok – Hong Kong
Oceania
International Judges ::: Level 1
Neil Harris – Australia
Cory Harris – Australia
Rob Iacconi – Australia
Bill Clifford – Australia
Calculators
Lisa Hogarth – Australia
Drivers
Bill Clifford – Australia
Scotty Kell – Australia
Technical Officials
Africa
International Judges ::: Level 1
Karim Soliman – Egypt
National Judges ::: Level 2
Jono Joseph – South Africa
Europe
International Judges ::: Level 1
Johan Callebert – Belgium
Alain Neiles – Belgium
Nick Vandommele – Belgium
Natascha Kiel – Denmark
Estelle Tuaz – France
Jean-Philippe Richonnier – France
Nicolas Subjobert – France
Giovanni Bellini – Italy
Stefano Duranti – Italy
Nils Kroon – Netherlands
Nuno Almeida Eca – Portugal
Rui Pedro Monteiro – Portugal
Florian Butty – Switzerland
Raffaele Valentino – Switzerland
Colin Hart – UK
Graham Creedy – UK
International Judges ::: Level 2
Clemence Faure – France
Florence Masson – France
Christine Tuaz – France
Estelle Tuaz – France
Davide Beretta – Italy
Marco de Lellis – Italy
Lorenzo Tomasina – Italy
Stefano Vergnano – Italy
Frankwin Bos – Netherlands
Olivier Geytenbeck – Netherlands
Rianne Van de Ven – Netherlands
Christian Fyrand – Norway
Tommy Haarheim – Norway
Jordan Jacques – Spain
Fillipa Gunther – Sweden
Robert Gustafsson – Sweden
Claes Scheffer – Sweden
Marc Plancherel – Switzerland
Raphael Zaddry – Switzerland
Richard Fisher – UK
National Judges ::: Level 2
Bernard Bonne – Belgium
Steven Dubois – Belgium
Rob Huysmans – Belgium
Nikki Matheussen – Belgium
Christophe Meersschaert – Belgium
Eveline Rosseel – Belgium
Koen Vrints – Belgium
Natascha Kiel – Denmark
Juha Halme – Finland
Thimoethee Brissaud – France
Cyrille Clemenceau – France
Florence Charpentier – France
Nicolas Chatrusse – France
Christian Huyghe – France
Nicolas Kerboriou – France
Karim Landais – France
Lucas Langlois – France
Charlie Lion – France
Pierre Miauton – France
Yann Pegaz – France
Laurent Roux – France
Jerome Wahl – France
Nikolaos Efkarpidis – Greece
Ilias Dalainas – Greece
Thalia Ringa – Greece
Nikou Lambros – Greece
Gavin Barry – Ireland
Andrew Hughes – Ireland
Paul Johnston – Ireland
Daniel Kavanagh – Ireland
David O’Caoimh – Ireland
Simona Valerio – Italy
Karen Baptist – Netherlads
Olivier Geijenbeek – Netherlands
Remi Breivik – Norway
Egil Furre – Norway
Johan Hedblom – Sweden
Niclas Dahlhren – Sweden
Gustav Lidmalm – Sweden
Per Scheffer – Sweden
Benjamin Hoppe – Sweden
Thorell Niklas – Sweden
Jeremy Neville – UK
Marit Hopkins – UK
National Judges ::: Level 3
Philip D’Hoedt – Belgium
Katty Lechantre – Belgium
Helene Hansen – Denmark
Soren Pedersen – Denmark
Benoit Cabri – France
Federic Folco – France
Mathieu Rondel – France
Philippe Sirech – France
Jacinta Connolly – Ireland
Linda Johnson – Ireland
Andy McQuiggan – Ireland
Aoife Murdock – Ireland
Mark Bloeme – Netherlands
Peter Van Gestel – Netherlands
Elena Khudyakova – Russia
Nikita Kovtun – Ukraine
Calculators
Alain Nieles – Belgium
Sophie Nieles – Belgium
Nick Vandommele – Belgium
Christine Tuaz – France
Giovanni Bellini – Italy
Stefano Duranti – Italy
Simona Valerio – Italy
Remi Breivil – Norway
Nuno Almeida Eca – Portugal
Neuza Cruz – Portugal
Rui Pedro Monteiro – Portugal
Claes Scheffer – Sweden
Per Scheffer – Sweden
Graham Creedy – UK
Sue Creedy – UK
Ann Hart – UK
Colin Hart – UK
Florian Butty – Switzerland
Calculators
Nikki MATHEUSSEN – Belgium
Jean-Philippe RICHONNIER – France
Nicolas SUBJOBERT – France
Stefano VERGNANO – Italy
Olivier GEYTENBEEK – Netherlands
Rianne VAN DE VEN – Netherlands
Yvette VERGUNST – Netherlands
Mariya BULGAKOVA – Ukraine
National Calculators
Manu Ceulemans- Belgium
Rob Huysman- Belgium
Katty Lechantre- Belgium
Christian Zwartjes- Belgium
Nicolas Chastrusse- France
Christian Huyghe- France
Florence Masson- France
Ilias Dalainas- Greece
Davide Beretta- Italy
Ivano Ceppi- Italy
Marco de Lellis- Italy
Enrico di Placido- Italy
Lorenzo Tomasin- Italy
Jacinta Connoly- Ireland
Barry Galvin- Ireland
Andrew Hughes- Ireland
Linda Johnston- Ireland
Paul Johnston- Ireland
Andy McQuiggan- Ireland
Aoife Murdok – Ireland
Frankwin Bos – Netherlands
Nils Kroon – Netherlands
Egil Furre – Norway
Jordan Jacques – Spain
Robert Gustafsson – Sweden
Lars Öholm – Sweden
Claes Scheffer – Sweden
Per Scheffer – Sweden
Johan Hedblom – Sweden
Niclas Dahlhren – Sweden
Aygol Babaki – Switzerland
Sina Buehler – Switzerland
Cindy Cailler – Switzerland
Raffaele Valentino – Switzerland
Hervé Wagneur – Switzerland
Elena Khudyakova – Russia
International Drivers ::: Level 1
Günter Kail – Austria
Christine Callebert – Belgium
Sean Callebert – Belgium
Sébastien Di Scanno – France
Martin James – UK
International Drivers ::: Level 2
Xavier Bonnet – Belgium
Rob Huysman – Belgium
Alexander Vianene – Belgium
Jean Philippe Richonnier – France
Stefano Benetti – Italy
Marco de Soutis – Italy
Ollie Dunn – UK
Peter Van Gestel – Netherlands
Magnus Öhrbom – Sweden
Sébastien Kaiser – Switzerland
Benoit Raemy – Switzerland
Anthony Gittings – UK
National Drivers
Helmut Nagl – Austria
Thomas Primessing – Austria
Steven Dubois – Belgium
Bernard Pirson – Belgium
Andy McQuiggan – Ireland
Roger Vance – Ireland
Nikita Kovtun – Ukraine
Rod Beattie – UK
Chris Bentley – UK
PanAmerica
International Judges ::: Level 1
Loren Levine – USA
Daniel Garcia – BRA
Adam Burwell – CAN
Shawn Grazfelt – CAN
Ryan Woolf – USA
International Drivers ::: Level 1
Dan Levine – USA
Contact
Please contact the IWWF World Wakeboard Council should you have any questions