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I read a post that said wakeboarding is a hobby and I couldn't disagree more. I wrote this for wakeboarders
Wakeboarding is not a hobby for me. It is a lifestyle. How else could I justify living in a tiny house by the water and paying more/month for my boat than my house (considering payment, fuel, operating costs, insurance, etc)?
I believe that the rise of wake surfing and the boat industry's shift in focus that direction will lead to the purification of the sport. When I consider what it meant to be a wakeboarder, even in a pro wakeboarder, in the 90 vs today I see a vision that came off the tracks. I could have never imagined 100K boats and all major board companies owned by a water-lounge company (exemptions: Ronix and SS). Wakesurfing is purifying the sport I love. The guys who go straight to wake surfing or abandon wakeboarding because it is just too rough were never wakeboarders to begin with. Wakesurfing is safe. It is a tourist sport. You can play on the weekends and be healthy enough to earn your boat payment on Monday. Wakeboarding is a terrible hobby because it costs. You will bleed. You will eventually hear that unsettling pop and you will eventually be sidelined. I'm in a lockout knee-brace right now, but it doesn't bother me. I'm still a wakeboarder. I wakeboard because I love it. I love the sun. I love the water. I Iove the butterflies of a new rail or breaking the ice on a new trick. I love pushing the handle to the small of my back and praying....and the feeling when I make it.
I don't care where the industry is going as long as I know where I (my riding) am going. I'm sure I will be wakeboarding long after it is cool or when wakeboarding is the new hot thing again. I'd like to compare what is happening in wakeboarding today to what happened to skateboarding in the 80-90s. Skateboarding matured, It was no longer hip. It drifted out of the mainstream and into the underground. The core remained strong and birthed street skating. There has never been a better time to be a wakeboarder. You can find an old V-drive for under $20K. Every major city is getting a cable park and there is a 2-way system on every corner. Wakeboarding is evolving. The PWT is no longer relevant. There are new guys from odd places (not orlando) doing things we can't even imagine and I can't wait until the online clip drops.
To quote a best friend, "I'm a lifer."
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