In doing a big clean up, I found some really cool vintage wakeboarding stuff that I thought I'd share.
I have my original Hyperlite Pro model wakeboard. This was the first compression molded board that helped launch wakeboarding's popularity back in the mid 90's. I still also have the original purple adjustable bungee footplates, two 2 1/2" fins, one 3 1/2" fin, and the Assembly Instructions sheet ("Never Exceed 18 mile per hour").
And what makes this find really cool is that the board is autographed by some of the pioneers of the sport. I got this signed during a Wakeboard Pro Tour event in Hartford, CT in the mid 90's. The autographs are Scott Byerly, Darin Shapiro, Eric "Gator" Lutgert, Eric "Flip It" Perez, Dean "Clean" Lavelle, Zane Schwenk, Tony Klarich, Andrea Gayton (the first woman of wakeboarding), Jeff Heer, and Geno Yauchler (Hydrofoil/Airchair champion - check him out on YouTube).
And check out what I found along with some Hyperlite banners and stickers...I found copies of the July 7, 1996 "Wakeboard Attack Sheet"s from the Hartford Connecticut Tour. These sheets needed to be filled out in advance by the riders telling the judges what 5 tricks were to be done in each of 2 passes and in what order as well as the point value for each trick. It also lists the "Wild Card" trick for the end of the second pass. I have Attack sheets filled out by Parks Bonifay, Shaun Murray, Zane Schwenk, Andy Lazarus, David Reinhart, Cobe Mikacich, Mike Weddington, Thomas Horrell, Scott Byerly, and Dean Lavelle. All the tricks were inverts of some kind...not one spin move in the bunch! Almost every rider did a Raley or a Krypt...if not multiple ones.
I also found my back issues of Wakeboarding Magazine which includes almost every issue from 1995 through 2004. Just looking at the covers over the years tells a story of the sport's evolution.