WAKEBOARDING

Wednesday 5 March 2008

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WAKEBOARDING

The wakeboarding, created by Tony Finn and then called "skurf", appeared in the early 80’s. The main purpose of the sport was to be able to regain sensation of gliding comparable to those sports in vogue at the time (skateboard, snowboard, surf) without needing to weather conditions (snow, wind, wave...). Athletes have established a board similar to a surfboard with the addition of stirrup for windsurfing : skurf was born. This sport could be practised at all levels of water : lakes, ponds artificial lakes, rivers, sea and behind any gear motor.

In 1996, the French Federation Water Ski officially recognizes the wakeboard and creates a commission whose purpose is to structure the development of this discipline. Training of judges and initiators are put in place. France welcomes the European Championships in Bourg-en-Bresse in 1999 and the first World Championships organized by the International Water Ski Federation in 2000 at La Grande Motte (34). In 2001, wakeboarding is one of the disciplines of the World Games in Akita, Japan. In 2003, the first European Championships Wakeskate were held at the Grande-Motte (34). In 2006, the world championship Wakeboard Cable (which took place on the ski lift nautical JetLake of Feldkirchen in Austria) has crowned a french rider : Laurent Peyrichou Team Fonchy of Cergy-Pontoise, which thus becomes the first French world champion of discipline