Personal Watercraft and Wakeboarding Videos: Going to Extremes
You expect to see extreme action in the personal watercraft and wakeboarding worlds. But it’s even more "out there" than you think.
August 24, 2010
The word extreme still perfectly sums up the antics and exploits of a select group of athletes/enthusiasts. These are guys that don't just push limits, they obliterate them, taking things higher, faster, and often times with more danger, than anyone before.
Sports like personal watercraft riding and wakeboarding naturally lend themselves to the extreme. Those pushing both sports continually go bigger than the previous generation. A small barrel roll becomes a routine back flip off the lip of a monster wave for the PWC freerider; a simple rail becomes a complex structure to be ridden, slid, and launched off of for the wakeboard elite.
It's progression, and though there's occasionally a price to pay, riders will continue to push.
Here are three of my favorite examples…
"The Way Of"
I'll jump right in with one of the best — personal watercraft freeride champ Ross Champion in a high-definition promotional video put together by Atlanta-based photo/video company The Nascency Project.
This video focuses on the sport's premier rider, immediately showcasing the limits to which the sport’s elite are now pushing stand-up PWC riding. The big moves are all present and accounted for — barrel rolls and back flips are in abundance. But as you watch, don't miss the subtle tweaks Ross puts into those moves — a no-handed aerial, a one-footed kick inspired by freestyle motocross, even just a subtle wave slash that displays Champion's surf-oriented roots.
Videos like this continually prompt me to ask why the sport of PWC freeriding isn't included in the X-Games. It seems a natural, comparable to the motorcycle antics of Travis Pastrana or back-flipping snowmobiles of Winter X. Yet freeriding continues to get shut out. Still, the sport is growing on a global scale, with all-inclusive events that emphasize the community aspects of the sport. Champion traveled to France, Mexico, California, Oregon, and Argentina to film the contents of this video. Not a bad life…
View "The Way of"
Teaser for Out of the Pond
Choosing one single wakeboard selection is tough. Video has been intertwined with the sport since the beginning. I've still got classic VHS tapes like Spray, Hit It, and Switch in my collection, and the stuff that has followed has only gotten better and better. Ultimately, I chose the teaser for a new DVD, Billabong’s Out of the Pond.
In a quick 1:26, this teaser shows exactly what's going on in wakeboarding and wakeskating today. Gone are the days when riders confined themselves to just a lake’s morning glass. Today surf, manmade obstacles, and even the occasional spillway or dam are all considered fair game. The title Out of the Pond is taken literally by premier riders like Danny Harf, Chad Sharpe, Eric Ruck, Brian Grubb and Shawn Watson as they showcase not only the heights to which wake tricks have reached, but also display the obvious influences of skateboarding and snowboarding. The result is a virtual collage of styles, linked only by the common denominator of a board below the rider's feet.
I've heard a lot of people comment that wakeboarding is easy; after all, you fall in the water. These guys, however, are putting their bodies on the line big-time. Check out the splits at :10; I tore a hamstring that way, and I wasn’t even dropping onto a ramp. Or the dirt tumble at 1:05. I won’t even start on the various ways that rider and concrete or wood can meet up on the various obstacles. Wakeboarders deserve more respect than they get. Maybe videos like this will change that.
View "Out of the Pond" teaser
Ultimate Redneck Waterskiing
My last selection should serve as a reminder that you don’t need high-definition Flip cameras, cool onboard Go Pro units, or even high-profile (or for that matter, even talented) riders to put together an extreme sports video. For these dudes in South Carolina, all it took was a mudhole.
Yup, you can’t get more extreme than some guys grabbing some old combo skis and a towrope and deciding to shred up a mudhole with a well-placed piece of construction equipment. Check out the slow 'mo replay of the first guy; it's like a poor man's cable park. This is the birth of a sport you’re witnessing here, with the winner taking home an impressive $65. You laugh, but maybe they’re onto something. As of June 2010, this classic had just shy of 82,000 views. Country singer Brad Paisley even included a clip in his video for the song "Water." Check it out:
These guys are big time!
The credits give thanks to “lots of beer.” I think that one’s a given. Just search YouTube for a few moments, however, and you’ll find plenty of people who prove that extreme sports are all in the eye of the beholder. There are guys skiing through ditches, using their car wheels as improvised tow assists, or throwing their PWC into the nearest pool or ice-covered pond.
I wouldn’t suggest trying much, if any, of this at home. But you’ve got to admit, it sure is fun to watch…
View "Ultimate Redneck Waterskiing"
Editor's Note: This is the first of our "Going to Extremes" series. Stay tuned for more Extreme stories about sailing, fishing, and high performance powerboats.
Jeff Hemmel was a senior editor at Watercraft World with work appearing in Consumer’s Digest, Boating, Motor Boating, and more. Jeff has won 17 writing awards, is an inductee into the International Jet Sports Boating Association Hall of Fame, and won its 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Journalistic Contributions.
