A common misconception believed by many is that the water skiing and wake boarding sports are similar in nature yet nothing can be farther from the truth.
The nature of the sport by itself provides the most striking difference between the two. Water skiing is an original sport in itself whereas wake boarding is a blend of surfing, snow boarding, skate boarding and of course water skiing. In water skiing a person uses skis to ride the waters while being pulled along by a moving speed boat. Though wakeboarding follows the same principle, it is more of a combination of surfing and snow boarding along with water skiing and a little bit of skate boarding as well.
As mentioned earlier water skiing is a simple water ride. It is not concerned with jumping wakes and riding waves. It is more of a smooth sailing ride unlike wake boarding which is a rough riding sport . Wakeboarding on the other hand is a sport based on the thrill and excitement of jumping the wakes created by the boat and thus the size of the waves play a huge factor here.
The equipment and gear used in both these sports are again entirely different. Water skiers ride the waters on water skis whereas the wakeboarding sport makes use of specially designed boards complete with foot straps and fins to help maintain the balance of the wake boarder. Unless you are slalom skiing, skiers generally use two different skis for both feet whereas wake boarders use a single board.
The boats used to pull these sports riders are also of different makes. While the water skier may use any simple motor boat for skiing, the wakeboard boat is specially designed to create extra high waves as the thrill of wakeboarding (as in surfing) is to ride these waves without loosing one’s balance. In the case of wake boarding, since the wake boarders thrill lies in riding waves, the wake board boats are designed for leaving extra wake behind them. The wake board boats have increased weight at the rear to create larger wakes. Other techniques are also used to lower the stern which will give rise to higher waves. Newer technologies like aftermarket ballast and lead are further used by manufacturers for creating larger wakes.
Ropes – a key equipment used for these rides also have contrary features. While the ropes used in wakeboard belong to the non stretch variety, the water ski sports requires ropes with some stretch which helps to pull the skier back and forth as he rides along the curve.
OK, so much for the differences between water ski and wakeboarding.
Related Articles
June 1, 2010
See more in Sports Betting
