However you approach this discussion, the obvious similarities are unavoidable. Perhaps all the wake boarders and water skiers out there can fight it out amongst themselves?
Obvious similarities include:
- Water – I don’t think either side can dispute this one! The only slight advantage water skiers have here is that the word is used in the title of their sport. Other than that, the water is generally considered a prerequisite for both sports.
- Boats – This may be another tie. Waterskiing and wakeboarding generally require a boat with a motor, going quickly to be effective. The horse drawn wakeboarding championships, down the canal are yet to take off. Although that might be fun to see.
- Equipment – Wakeboards and Water Skis are likely to share some main ingredients such as carbon fibre, although whether you could make a pair of water skis by cutting a wakeboard in half is debateable! The days of wooden water-skis are long gone.
Oh here’s a good one! Which is easier to perform, wakeboarding or waterskiing? Some will say waterskiing is easier to grasp especially at beginner level, straight arms; knees bent and up as opposed to the slightly more complicated wakeboarding method. Is waterskiing based less on tricks and so not as cool? Many would argue, yes! Is wakeboarding a more technical sport?
I can hear the debates raging already!
What is an extreme sport and why is wakeboarding considered extreme and waterskiing not? After all, both involve clinging to a rope tied to a speeding boat, hurtling across the water!
I read an article recently that tried to define what the extreme in “extreme sports” is. I wasn’t entirely convinced with the answers provided, such as it’s related to demographics etc. Surely an extreme sport needs to be, well, extreme, regardless of demographic and era?
What do you call a fan of extreme sports anyway, an extremity perhaps, an extremist or maybe an extreme-ite?
Are people still learning to water ski? Or is wakeboarding (known to be currently one of the fastest growing sports) going to make waterskiing redundant? Which sport is more televised? I know during my growing up days there used to be plenty of waterskiing on television. Does wakeboarding have the same pulling power to be a mass spectator sport?
Over to you sports fans, the ball is in your court, and the board is in your wake. One plank of wood or two? Let’s have an extreme argument!
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