Who invented it? When was it invented? And where did it originate? Three questions concerning the evolution of wakeboarding that cannot be answered easily. Why? Because the sport has evolved from many different forms at different times to become what it is today: the fastest-growing water sport in America. But there is a history that can be documented.
For decades, surfing has been a favorite sport of beach dwellers. And in that time, historians recall surfers being towed with a ski rope behind a boat and, sometimes even from the shoreline by a truck. From this, shorter boards started being used. And in 1985, a San Diego surfer named Tony Finn developed the Skurfer - something between a water ski and a surfboard. It looked like a little surfboard, and was pulled by a boat while the rider performed surf-style carving moves on the wake. This riding style evokes visions of snowboarding and skateboarding with a bit of water skiing. Riders stood anywhere on these boards since there were no straps or bindings.
In the summer of `85, Mike and Mark Pascoe, two windsurfing friends of Finn's, gave him a couple of footstraps and inserts to drill into the Skurfer. The significance of footstraps can't be overestimated in the evolution of wakeboarding. Footstraps allowed for big air. Skurfers took sport from freeboarding into something more than surfing. Much more of water skiing. It was more dynamic and free-flowing.
Through the rest of the decade, Tony Finn promoted, popularized and marketed the Skurfer, and the sport of skiboarding was born. But even as the first Skurfer championships were televised in 1990, the sport was struggling. Lack of innovation and technology were holding it back. Only experienced or very strong skiers could do deepwater starts on the Skurfer. Skurfers were narrow, very buoyant and required excessive energy to get them up and planing on the surface of the water. While this didn't entirely kill the burgeoning sport of skiboarding, it could be said this was the dark ages of the sport.
Enter Herb O'Brien - a man of vision with a wealth of knowledge and a water ski company, H.O. Sports. Herb got together with some of the best surfboard shapers in Hawaii to design and build the first compression-molded neutral-buoyancy wakeboard, the Hyperlite. This innovation sparked the massive growth of what today is known as wakeboarding. (The term skiboarding stuck around for a few years, but wakeboarding ultimately became the official name of this sport.) The Hyperlite's neutral buoyancy allowed the rider to submerge it for easy deepwater stars. Wakeboarding became accessible to everyone from 6 to 80 years of age.
Herb O'Brien continued to refine the wakeboard. The board had a thin profile and would carve like a slalom ski. It also had phasers (large dimples on the bottom), which broke up water adhesion and gave the board a quicker "loose" feel and softer landings from wake jumps. The thin shape, neutral buoyancy and phasers were features made possible by the compression-molding process. Following the lead of the H.O. Sports, other board companies started manufacturing wakeboards.
As the sport grew, the boards continued to get better. The first Hyperlites, designed and built back in 1990, had the overall shape of a surfboard with an obvious tip and tail. While this surf shape continues to be popular, research and development in the design process has resulted in the "twin tail" - symmetrical shapes which have become immensely popular. These twin-tail boards have a fin on both ends, allowing a centered stance that results in equal performance whether the wakeboarder rides in the forward or switch stance position.
The World Wakeboard Association is the world wide governing body of the sport. Jimmy Redmon founded the WWA in 1990 and is considered the "guru" of wakeboarding. He is responsible for developing the rules and formats to keep the integrity of the sport and the essence of wakeboarding in its present form. Redmon also developed the wakeboarding format for the X-Games.
The sport became legitimate in 1992 when World Sports & Marketing, a Florida-based sports promoter and event organizer, began staging pro wakeboard events. This gave wakeboarders a chance to compete professionally and gave them exposure on channel ESPN and later ESPN2. The sport then got its own national publication when WakeBoarding Magazine was launched in 1993 by World Publications. The Pro Wakeboard Series continues to grow each year as does the sport's magazine. In addition to the Pro Wakeboard Series, professionals can compete at a number of different tournaments throughout the world including the World Wakeboard Championships. For the non pros, there are a thousand grass-roots tournaments around the nation. The 1996 ESPN X-Games will showcase wakeboarding to millions of viewers across the country.
Recreational wakeboarders cover all age ranges and skill levels. However, the Pros are a young crowd ranging in age from early teens to early 20's. The style and attitude are laid back, similar to the skateboarding and in-line crowd but a bit more upscale simply because the sport requires more than a board or blades - it requires a boat to propell them across the water. The top pro, Darin Shapiro has been leading the pack since wakeboarding became popular, but there are a crowd of talented young competitors hot on his wake.

Air Roll: A roll performed without using the wake for lift.

Air Raley: The rider hits the wake and allows his board and body to swing up over his head while he crosses the wake. The rider then swings the board and body down and lands on the opposite side of the wake.

Air Krypt: An air raley, except the rider lands in a fakie position (see fakie).

Backside Roll: Rider approaches the wake carving on the heelside edge of the board then rolls the board up over his head and lands in the same direction he started.

Backside Roll-to-revert: Same as backside roll except rider lands his board in a fakie position.

Bindings: They are the footstraps or "shoes" of a wakeboard. Screwed onto the board.

Boarder: Slang term for a wakeboarder.

Boat speed: The speed is up to the wakeboarder but it's usually between 18-22 mph. Wakeboarders need a boat speed fast enough to help them accelerate so they can land a move way out in the flats but not so fast that it flattens out the wake of the boat.

Bonk: Rider approaches an obstacle and hits, or "bonks", the obstacle.

Butter Slide: Rider approaches the wake, then hops the board and lands on the edge of the wake with the board sideways (perpendicular to the wake) and slides the board on top of the wake.

Dock Start: The rider starts standing or sitting on the dock and the boat pulls him out.

Double Up: A term that describes a type of wake that is created. The boat does a wide turn and crosses over the old wake. The rider cuts on the inside of the turn and when the wakes cross each other, he cuts back and hits the wakes coming together. The wakes crossing together form a "double up" virtually three times the size of a normal wake.

Fakie: Riding the board backwards. Considered a more difficult riding position for a wakeboarder. Can also use the term switchstance.

Front flip: The rider and board flips forward end over end.

Frontside Roll: Rider approaches the wake carving on the toe-side of his board and rolls the board over his head and lands on the other side of wake.

Frontside Roll-to-revert: Same as the frontside roll, except rider lands his board in fakie position.

Goofy-footers: Boarders who ride right-foot forward.

Grind: Rider approaches an obstacle and slides the board along the obstacle. Also called a rail slide.

Half Cab: Rider approaches fakie, performs a 180-degree rotation while crossing both wakes in the air and lands in a forward position on the opposite side of the wake.

Heelside Edge: The edge that a wakeboard cuts hardest on. It is the "heelside" of the board when the rider's heel is closest to one edge of the board while positioned in the bindings.

Helmet: Helmets are required for wakeboarding when an athlete uses the jump as bonk or grind.

Hoochie Glide: An air raley with a heelside (or method) grab.

Method Grab: Rider crosses both wakes in the air, grabbing the heelside of the board with the front hand while tweaking, or "poking", the board.

Mobius: A normal backside roll with a full twist.

Rider: Preferred slang term for a wakeboarder. Calling them riders emphasizes the crossover with all other boarding sports like snowboarding.

Roast Beef: While performing a two-wake aerial, rider grabs the heelside edge of the board between the legs with an arm through the legs.

Roll: A rider approaches the wake and rolls the board around and over his head.

Roll-to-revert: Same as a roll, expect the rider lands in a fakie position.

S-Bend: The rider performs an air raley while rotating his body 360 degrees.

Shredding: Old, out-dated slang term for a rider performing perfect turns and flips.

Slob Heli: The rider jumps the board off the wake, then grabs the board on the toe-side (in front of his front foot), then spins himself and the board 360 degrees and land in the forward position.

Stoked: Verb riders when they are pumped up and confident.

Surface 360: The rider spins his board 360 degrees while keeping it on the surface of the water.

Switchstance Air Raley: An air raley started in and landed in the fakie position.

Switchstance Wake Jump: The rider approaches the wake riding fakie, then jumps from one side of the wake to the other side and lands going in the same direction.

Tantrum: A backflip over the wake.

Toeside: It is the side of the board where the rider's toes are closest to one edge while positioned in the bindings.

Tweak: When a rider puts a little extra on a move...make a bigger arc, extend the board further, etc.

Wakeboarder: A wakeboarding athlete.