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.