WATERSPORT DISCIPLINES BACKGROUND

Three-Event (Slalom, Tricks & Jumping) Water Skiing Background

Slalom, tricks and jumping are the three events of traditional water skiing that make up the oldest and most original discipline of water skiing.

The slalom event is performed on one ski by an athlete attempting to negotiate his way around the outside of six buoys in a zigzag course without falling or missing a buoy in consecutive passes. An athlete receives one point for each buoy that he successfully rounds. The athlete who skis around the most buoys and scores the most points, wins the event.

Each athlete begins with a 23-meter (75-foot) slalom rope at the minimum boat speed for his age/gender division. Once an athlete has run enough passes to reach maximum boat speed for his division, the rope is shortened in pre-measured lengths until he misses a buoy or falls.

The tricks event has been described as the most technical of the three events. Beginners perform this event on two short skis, and intermediate to elite athletes perform on one short ski. An athlete attempts to perform as many tricks as he or she can during two 20-second passes. Each trick has an assigned point value and an athlete may perform each trick only once. The athlete who earns the most points wins the event.

Tricks are performed either with an athlete's foot slipped into a strap attached to the handle, called toehold tricks, or with the handle held in the athlete's hands.

The object of the jumping event is for an athlete to jump as far as he can. There are no style points. Just pop off of the ramp and fly!

Each athlete has three attempts to jump as far as he can. In each age/gender division, there is a set boat speed and the ramp height is set at five feet (1.5 meters) in most divisions. However, elite women jump at a ramp height of 5-1/2 feet (1.6 meters) and elite men jump at six feet (1.8 meters).

Although most jump distances for the average male and female range between 80 and 170 feet (24 and 52 meters), the Men's world record is 254 feet/77.4 meters. Gold Coast Ski Club no longer has a 6 foot jump.

History of Wakeboarding

Wakeboarding has been one of the biggest sports-related phenomenons of the past decade. Once considered an obscure addition to the family of water sports, it now is recognized as the fastest growing water sport in the world. Last year, nearly 4 million people across the globe participated in this fast moving and awe-inspiring sport. Although it is easy to see why people are attracted to the spectacular moves of wakeboarding, it is not easy to identify the sport's birth. Perhaps the origins of wakeboarding will never be known, but surfers deserve most of the credit because the beginnings of the new sport most likely began when surfers started being towed with a ski rope behind a boat.

A San Diego surfer named Tony Finn began the wakeboard revolution in 1985 when he developed the Skurfer — a cross between a water ski and a surfboard. Finn diligently promoted his Skurfer, and was quite successful in raising people's level of awareness to the new sport. However, it took the design skills of Herb O'Brien to truly send the sport off into new heights. O'Brien, owner of H.O. Sports, a leading water ski manufacturer, took an interest in advancing the sport in the late 80s. Before long he changed the wakeboard industry by introducing the first compression-molded neutral-buoyancy wakeboard, the Hyperlite. This innovation led to a massive growth of the wakeboarding marketplace that continues to this day. The Hyperlite's natural buoyancy allowed easy deepwater starts, which in turn made wakeboarding accessible to virtually everyone. 

American Barefoot Club - History & Description

Although barefoot slalom, tricks and jumping water ski events are very similar to traditional events, the major difference here is, you guessed it, participants do not wear skis. 

In the slalom event, an athlete earns points for crossing the boat wakes in a course that does not have buoys. In tricks, an athlete attempts to perform as many tricks as he can during two 15-second passes. Each trick has a pre-assigned point value and an athlete may perform each trick only once. The athlete who earns the most points wins the event. In the jumping event, the ramp height is only 18 inches (45.5 centimeters), but the boat speed is more than 40 miles per hour, which is feet-burning fast!

Faster boat speeds are required for an athlete to plane on his two bare feet. There are no hand tools needed to make barefoot equipment repairs, only a tube of super glue. If a blister or cut opens on the bottom of an athlete's foot, standard procedure is to glue it shut now to finish skiing and deal with the stitches later.

In addition to slalom, tricks and jumping, barefoot athletes also participate in figure eight competitions and endurance events where the athlete who stays up the longest is the winner. 

Barefoot water skiing began in Florida as a recreational activity in the late 1940s and was quickly introduced into the water ski shows at Cypress Gardens, Fla. Interest in barefooting grew, and in 1977 the American Barefoot Club (ABC) became a sport division of USA Water Ski & Wake Sports, the national governing body for the sport of water skiing in the United States. Originally, membership in the ABC was reserved for barefooters who could stay on their feet for a minimum of 60 seconds.

The barefoot craze spread overseas, becoming especially popular among the Australians, who eventually organized the first barefoot tournaments. They were patterned after conventional competition, with an added discipline called "start methods," which has since been discontinued. Today, barefooting is a world-wide sport recognized by the International Water Ski Federation, the world governing body of water skiing. A world championships is held every two years.

In the United States, USA Water Ski & Wake Sports sanctions more than 50 barefoot tournaments each year. The Barefoot Water Ski National Championships, held each August, attracts more than 100 of the nation’s top barefooters who compete for event and overall medals.

The Barefoot Events

Barefoot water ski events – wake slalom, tricks and jumping – are similar to the three events in traditional water skiing. Differences arise in the speed of the boat and the skier (depending upon age division, barefoot events are sometimes faster, with a top speed for the Open Division of 43.2 mph), in the lack of buoys in slalom, and the height of the jump ramp (18 inches as compared to five or six feet for traditional jumping). The absence of skis more than makes up for the differences in the equipment on the ski course.

In wake slalom, points are awarded for full crossing from the outside of the first wake wave to the outside of the second, for crossing one wave only, and for straddling a wake wave at the moment the 15-second pass is terminated. Crossings can be made on one foot or both feet, the barefooter facing forward or backward. Point values increase for the more difficult methods.

Barefoot tricks runs are 15 seconds in length and are scored by judges in much the same manner as those in conventional tricks skiing.

In barefoot jumping, the takeoff edge of the ramp is approximately 18 inches above the water line. Jumpers must step off a ski prior to reaching a step-off buoy, located 165 feet before the ramp, and maintain a barefooting position into the ramp. Jumping distance requirements to qualify barefooters for Open competition are 35 feet for women and 50 feet for men.

Wakesurfing

While not currently affiliated with a sport discipline organization of USA Water Ski & Wake Sports, wakesurfing is a popular activity among many members of USA Water Ski & Wake Sports. In addition to sanctioning wakesurfing events, USA Water Ski & Wake Sports also offers wakesurfing as a membership preference when joining the organization.

In wakesurfing, a rider trails behind a boat, riding the boat's wake without being directly pulled by the boat. After getting up on the wake, typically by use of a tow rope, the wakesurfers will drop the rope, and ride the steep face below the wave's peak in a fashion reminiscent of surfing. Wakesurfers generally use special boards, designed specifically for wakes.

History
The origins of wakesurfing are somewhat disputed with multiple people and companies claiming to be at the genesis of the sport. Some claims have set the dates for the origins of boat-surfing or wake-surfing as far back as the 1920s. However, no credible evidence of this is available. Footage and print media from the 1950s and 1960s show ocean surfers actively riding surfboards behind motor boats. By the mid 1960s numerous surfboard manufactures laid claims to building wake specific boards.

The practice of riding surfboards behind boats continued through the 70s and 80s with the boards being ridden evolving to shorter forms right along the shortboard revolution in Surfing. As boards progressively shortened in length, taking a page from windsurfing or sailboarding many practitioners started using devices mounted to the board to strap and secure their feet in place. Aided with a tow rope, hard carving and launching off wakes lead to sports like skurfing, skiboarding, and eventually wakeboarding.

Wakeboarding's growth and mass appeal led the watercraft industry to advance technology to increase the size of wakes. This, in turn, provided an opportunity for wakesurfing to emerge from the shadows. 
Tricks
Many riders perform a wide array of tricks while wakesurfing, with most owing their origins to surfing, skating (both vert and street) and snowboarding, Some of the most well-known tricks are:

• Pumping – Turning up and down the face of the wake to gain speed.

• Stalling – Applying pressure to the back foot to slow down or “stall”.

• Floater – When a rider and board “floats” on top of the wake.

• Lip slide – Just like a floater, but the board is sideways.

• Spray – Gouging into the face of the wake to create the water under the rider to explode and spray.

• Fire hydrant – Placing one hand on the board and taking the front foot off.

• Posing – Doing hand and body positions while riding for cool style points.

• Hang 5 – Rider extends front foot (toes) over front of board.

• Rail grabs – Grabbing the board’s rail while the board is on the wake – one or both hands.

• Cutbacks – Bashing off the lip of the wake with the board – the more extreme and risky the better.

• Paddle back in – Going to the extreme rear of the wake, throwing down on the board and paddling back into the power zone. This can also be done by pulling the outside rail of the board to bring it back to the power zone.

• Tubing it – Throwing down on the board and sliding back into the tube until covered up – the deeper the better, and then popping out and standing back up on the board.

• Switch stance – Riding with the opposite foot forward.

• 180 spin – Spinning 180 on the wake – Board and rider spin.

• Airs – Launching off the lip with board into the air and landing back on the wake (toeside or heelside).

• One-hand grab air – Grabbing one rail of the board while the board is airborne above the wake.

• Double Grab Air – Grabbing both rails of the board while the board is airborne above the wake.

• Hang 10 – Rider extends both feet (toes) over end of board.

• 360 spin – Spinning 360 on the face of the wake – Board and rider spin.

• 540 spin – Rider spins continuously 1 1/2 times until he is riding switch stance forward.

• 720 spin – Rider spins continuously 2 complete 360′s.

• Air 180 – Doing an air while spinning 180 the blind direction.

• 180 air – Doing and air and spinning a 180 in the air and landing in with a switch stance.

• 180 shove it – Spinning just the board 180 under your feet and landing with the board “backwards”.

• 900 spin – Rider spins continuously 2 1/2 times until he is riding switch stance forward.

• 360 shove it – Same as a 180 but you spin the board a full 360 under your feet. Note: rider does not spin only the board spins.

• Big Spin – Same as a 360 shove-it, only the rider spins a 180 at the same time the board does a 360.