Wakeboarding, Wakesurfing Are Among Most Popular Watersports

It’s just about summertime, which for many people means outdoor recreation. That can mean camping, fishing, water sports and other activities. When it comes to water sports, there are a number of choices, including: water skiing, wakeboarding, tubing, surfing and others.

Water sports are definitely something that has a lot of interest from the public. About 14% of all people age 6 and up engage in water sports, and for millennials, it’s closer to 20%. However, today’s water sports are a bit different than they used to be. Whereas people 20 or 30 years ago did things like water skiing and tubing, today’s young people tend to trend toward things like wakeboarding and wakesurfing.

Wakeboarding and wakesurfing are similar but they do have some differences. The biggest one is that when you wakeboard, you are constantly towed behind the boat with a towrope. When you wakesurf, however, you simply get pulled for a short distance to get started, then you surf the waves created by the boat for as long as you can stay up. Some surfing aficionados actually prefer wakesurfing because you can surf for longer and don’t constantly have to paddle or tread water waiting for the next wave.

There are other differences between the two that are less apparent or important. For example, you usually use a longer tow rope when you are wakeboarding, since you will be towed behind the boat for a long distance. Wakesurfing ropes are only abou 20 feet long, whereas wakeboard ropes are usually between 52 and 78 feet. Also, wakeboards typically are smaller than wakesurf boards.

Of course, to use a wakeboard or wakesurf board, you will need to have a boat or at least know someone who does. Approximately 12.7 million people in the U.S. own a boat. If you do have a boat and you want to use it for wakeboarding and wakesurfing, you will need to have some boat accessories that are for these sports. This could include and aftermarket surf system or some other type of watersports package.

Water sports can be a lot of fun, and millions of people engage in them. If you want to get into things such as wakeboarding or wakesurfing, you need to make sure you have the right equipment and do things safely.