The Pros and Cons Of Wakeskating Being Small
Wakeskating is far from being a mainstream sport. It may be getting more attention these days, but your still gonna get the question, “What is wakeskating?” nine times out of ten. There are a lot of reasons we should want wakeskating to grow, but we should also appreciate some of the pros in being involved in something so small. So I present the pros and cons of being out of the mainstream:
PRO: You can leave your wakeskate on the roof of your car for days with no worries of someone stealing it — most people have no idea what it is. Once my friend had his wakeskate and his shoes drying out in the front yard, someone stole the shoes and left the wakeskate.
CON: Trying to explain what wakeskating is to that smoking hot blond in the bar might cramp your style and take a while, because hot chicks especially don’t understand how the board stays on your feet.
PRO: With surfing and skateboarding as popular as they are, the surf breaks and skateparks are always packed full of people. But with wakeskating being small, you can go winching any day hitting up multiple spots and never see anyone. Even on the lake you will be lucky to see another wakeskater (now if we could just get rid of those tubers!)
CON: The price of boards is high because the demand is low. If more people were buying wakeskates, then companies would be able to mass produce them more cheaply. To turn this con into a pro: there are still people handcrafting wakeskates with love, which is more than you can say for a sport like snowboarding.
PRO: When cops bust you winching they usually have no idea what you’re doing. You can make up all sorts of good excuses why you’re at that spot, and they’ll probably be so confused, they won’t know what to write a ticket for.
CON: Finding people to ride with sometimes can be hard. Chances are there are only a select number of wakeskaters to ride with in your area, and this can put a serious buzzkill on finding people to ride with.
PRO: Unlike snowboarding and other more mainstream sports, you do not have to worry about seeing wakeskating in a Target commercial or a Reality TV show. This is a real treat for all the soul wakeskaters who want to keep wakeskating pure and out of the mainstream.
CON: The amount of professional wakeskaters is limited due to the finances and budgets of most companies involved in wakeskating. It’s hard to truly become a professional and support yourself.
PRO: The community is really small so it’s fun to be a part of it: everyone knows everyone!
CON: The community is really small so if 20 people hate you, that’s about half of the sport.
I am sure that you guys can think of more pros and cons, so if you have a good one, do not be afraid to leave it in the comments. Now I am going to test my theory and see how many days I can leave my wakeskate on the roof of my car without someone taking it.
August 20, 2010
2nd CON "which is more than you can say for a sport like snowboarding." should read this…
http://www.smokinsnowboards.com/index.php?option=…
August 20, 2010
Lol! So true! This article made me laugh.
For women's wakeskating:
PRO: It's so easy to be on the podium specially when there are only 3 of you competing. Bahahaha!
CON: You won't get any cash prize. So, pretty much you're just paying for the bling-bling medal and for the picture of you standing in the podium. And the worst thing is they usually don't open women's wakeskate category. Booooo!!!
p.s. Can somebody make a fan page for Nick? Seriously.
August 20, 2010
CON:
Being told to "stop wasting your time with shuvit tricks and try some wake to wake tantrums"
August 20, 2010
the thing about not having anyone to shred with is so true!!!!
i was at the skatepark the other day watching 50 kids shred so hard and wishing that i could have some friends to share wakeskating with like that… theres like 3 in oklahoma
August 20, 2010
agreed about the friends to shred with
August 21, 2010
THE MOST IMPORTANT CON- we are often stereotyped as the phony sister sport of wakeskating, "wackboarding." these waterski like flipping fanatics have paved an unattractive vide and style that many believe is similar to wakeskating. this vide is all about energy drinks, boats, gas, babes, max. amout of flips/spins/etc. bullshitbullshitbullshit, phony hip hop music(boardbeats coughcough) going wake to wake, lake to lake, talking about how cool themselves are, and posing off wakeskaters by using the winch. a vital tool created by wakeskaters stemming from our open minds, artistic, skateboarding like views. we are so very much different than these weird booty wearing, roid pumping, acrobats. everytime i get confused with these wackers i vomit a little in my mouth and almost wish i didnt wakeskate. so moral of the story is why would you want to jump across the ramp strapped to your board when you can to the same thing just as high and free as a bird unattached and able to spin and flip that same board with style and control similar to skateboarding. examples (stushinn, dannyhampson, aaron reed, george daniels…many more) and everyone thinks skateboarding is cool even shrimptown….
August 21, 2010
Yawn. Cool attitude man.
August 21, 2010
PRO: wakeskating is way cooler then wackboarding!
August 21, 2010
Hey DREW! There are more than 3 wakeskaters in OKLA, +1 right here…But very limited amount, it gets annoying riding with wackboarders all the time~
August 21, 2010
CON: wakeskaters that do tricks without and ollie first.
PRO: wakeskaters that do Legit tricks.
I wakeboard and wakeskate, and I deff followed Thomas. His wakeboard. and then his wakeskating. and the winch. It is all an important part of OUR sports. many can argue how different they are. but they both require alot of the same movements and waterboarding skills. so dont hate. enjoy your local water holes. may it be lake, cable or winch. have fun. F everying else. listen to some jams and enjoy!
August 22, 2010
Pro: Wakeskate Premieres get wild and are tons of fun……
Con: They only happen once/twice a year
August 22, 2010
so your saying wakeboarders follow thomas, the winch, and wakeskating? damn we are legit
August 22, 2010
"CON: The price of boards is high because the demand is low. If more people were buying wakeskates, then companies would be able to mass produce them more cheaply. To turn this con into a pro: there are still people handcrafting wakeskates with love, which is more than you can say for a sport like snowboarding."
What a bunch of bullshit. the last thing we need is mass produced wakeskates…
August 22, 2010
u know they mass produce skateboards and no one complains when they are paying 40 dollars for a board…..
sweet article
August 23, 2010
Con; when you piss off 20 skaters they kick the funniest kid off the site
August 23, 2010
i complain about 40 dollar skateboards
August 23, 2010
hOller TYnnA
August 23, 2010
I actually had my new Oak wakeskate stolen out of my truck. it was shuved under my toolbox and i shuved stuff in front of it to hide it. it was only back there overnight while i crashed at a friends house. whoever stole it probably thought it was an oversized skateboard or something….i miss that board.
August 24, 2010
Another diehard grabbing at other sports to thrash to make himself look cooler, since his riding doesn't show it and he has to waste hours on the dumbest article i've read. I wakeskate, wakeboard, and when snowboard season starts, I remain standing sideways. "which is more than you can say for a sport like snowboarding." Do you even know what it entails to make a snowboard? I've got a buddy in Tahoe that makes his own decks and I think it takes quite a few more components and machinery to make a snowboard over a wakeskate… duh. And instead of following the stream derived out of the hopeless wakeboard industry, before you thrash on snowboarding look at next years hyperlite bindings and boots featured in the last issue. Point made. (oh and even alliance has to throw snowboarders under the bus with there stupid anti-snowboarding hoodies and cute slogans. grow up dude riding is riding. stay shredding on all terrain.
August 24, 2010
for the record…. I love snowboarding.