Wakeboarding (sometimes spelled Wake Boarding) is a sport that combines elements of water skiing, snow boarding, and surfing. It typically involves riding the wake, which has been created by a special wake boarding boat.

Wakeboarding is a sport that involves riders attached to specialized boards being towed behind large powered watercraft that create the wake that riders use to launch into the air and perform tricks. The sport is a mixture of techniques from water skiing, surfing, and snowboarding. Wake boards themselves vary in shape, length, width, and fin placement; the different designs are based on rider preference and, to some degree, what conditions the rider is wake boarding in.

The goal of wakeboarding is to perform tricks while being towed by a powered watercraft.

Depending on the competition, rules can vary, but generally revolve around properly executing tricks and the tricks' degree of difficulty.

The origins of wake boarding can be found with the "freesurfers" of the early 1980s. Paul Frasier of Vancouver, Canada is credited with coining the term wake boarding, along with the concept and design. The sport continued to gain popularity and in 1989 The World Skiboard Association was founded and the First World Skiboard Championships was held on the Island of Kauai, Hawaii, on the Wailua River. Competitions began popping up around the United States throughout the early 1990s. Wakeboarding was added as a competitive sport in the X Games II. The World Skiboard Association changed its focus and was renamed the World Wakeboard Association.

Wakeboard

Because wakeboarding is performed in deep water, riders should be proficient swimmers and wear a life vest to ensure safety. Spotters are typically used on the watercraft to keep an eye on the rider and relay communication between the rider and driver.

Initial training centers around learning how to perform a deep water start. Once riders are able to stand, training focuses on being able to balance and sustain a run without losing control and falling. As riders skill level progress, they can attempt to perform a number of tricks; these tricks are based primarily on snowboarding tricks.

Backroll - a rider flips (or rolls) over the wake on an axis parallel to the direction of the board, as if he/she were following it around like a continuous loop

Batwing - toeside raley with Indy grab with the board perpendicular to the water as opposed to parallel

Bel Air - tantrum without using the wake for air

Boardslide - a rider approaches an obstacle and slides the board along the obstacle, with the obstacle in between the rider's feet

Butter Slide - a rider approaches the wake, "snaps" the board sideways so that they can slide on top of the wake

Dev-Glass - butter slide one side of the wake and from that side jump all the way to the other side of the wake landing on a butter slide

Frontroll - a rider flips forward (or rolls) over the wake on an axis parallel to the direction of the board

Half-Cab - when doing a trick from your switch stance and landing it with your regular stance

Raley - the rider hits the wake and allows their body to swing backwards, up overhead, parallel to the water; the rider then swings the board and his or her body down and lands on the other side of the wake

Surface 360 - a rider spins the board 360 degrees while riding the surface of the water

Switch - the rider rides the board with their weak foot

Switch Air Raley - the rider starts and ends an air raley in the switch position

Tantrum - a rider back flips over the wake on an axis perpendicular to the direction of the board

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_boarding