Wakeboarding History

i am doing my senior project on wakeboarding and i need to know the roots of wakeboarding, who started it when did it start. i also want to know things about boards, like when was the first twin tip produced, the first 3-stage, first molded in fins, stuff like that. i also want to know some history on skiing, first set of skis, first slalom ski. i just need to know the general history on both of these sports. i did a search and came up with a post titled the same as this and i aquired some information but i need more. thanks for the help.

you need to get "Retrospect". It's a 2 1/2 hour documentry on the sport.

Tony Finn made the first Skurfer, back in the 80. I think HO made the first wakeboard early 90's, and Wake Tech made the first twin tip in like 94' 95'.

Ralph Samuelson invented water skiing on June 28th, 1922, but didn't get up until July 2, 1922. This was on Lake Pepin in Minnesota. He was 18 at the time. He started jumping in 1925.

There are tons of other good resources... I found a decent sized history right on the Hyperlite. I'd try searching "history of wakeboarding" in Google. First article of the search: http://www.wake.co.nz/features/article_history.php

Wakeworld is great, but chances are you'd end up getting some incorrect information. In addition, for a Senior project, I would stray away from using strictly web-based information. Whenever I researched on the web, I tried to find online resources that were from credible, printed sources. Using the internet can cut research time in half, but many sources lack credibility and established reputation... if you're getting information from one of these places, it's worth the same as having nothing.

Remember that Teachers place a huge emphasis on resources... a website is worth 1/100th the weight of a book to them. They will judge your project partially based on the resources you use. Sucks, but it's true.

Anodyne - thanks for the input and i have already considered the things you said, but if enough people say the same thing as far as dates and what not, then its a given piece of information. i have a couple books and im about to buy retrospect. i wasnt planning on quoting the information that a get here i just wanted some basis on the beginning of the sport(s). figured wakeworld was a good place to start. i also figured people like you would supply links that further help my research.

I think the first twin tip was the Neptune Six in the summer 1994 and shortly after that Jimmy Redmond and Waketech came out with the Flight 69 really starting the twin tip era.

Skiing made me board,
Lyle
Chrome Dome

Just search all posts by electricsnow...you'll learn all you need.

"Ralph Samuelson invented water skiing on June 28th, 1922, but didn't get up until July 2, 1922. This was on Lake Pepin in Minnesota. He was 18 at the time. He started jumping in 1925."

IIRC, his first success skiing was behind a seaplane!!

That's right, Paul. You ever ride on Frances in Elysian? Sorry for the jack.

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quote:

By Mike Isler (isler) on Tuesday, October 03, 2006 - 12:36 pm:

Just search all posts by electricsnow...you'll learn all you need.

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i concur.

mike, joe, that's really nice of you guys and it means more than you know. I appreciate the respect (and know that it's mutual).

Greg, if you're willing to dig, the story can be much more interesting and deeper than tony finn making the first skurfer and the hyperlite being the first "wakeboard." I have some information that dates back to the early 60s, like ads and such. I don't think you can really track wakeboarding back to one specific person, but Dick Pope was actually praised in a surfer magazine article about "surfing behind boats." (That is essentially early wakeboarding. The way I see it, the style has just evolved over the years (due in part to the equipment), similar to how riding has changed from 1993 to 2006.) I also have an advertisement from the brunswick corporation, and they had this boating divsion called "owens" and they had this deal where if you bought a specific boat you'd get "an owens all fiberglass wakeboard by Phil of Downey." And yes, that's the exact wording--they said 'wakeboard' c. 1962.

An interesting factoid is brunswick is also the company that ended up producing the early snurfers that sherman poppin came up with.

But I will say that I think tony finn's work really helped wakeboarding move forward and "up" because before that, it wasn't really anything serious. Looking at the roots of wakeboarding and wakeskating, it takes a certain someone to not only promote that activity, but to also show people what can be done on the board. From what I've read, tony invested a lot in those early days to promote skurfing, doing clinics and selling his boards out of his car, etc. Jason Messer is that same guy for wakeskating, and I'd say he was ahead of his time because he could definitely ride that board. But after that, the new "messenger" (as a friend put it) was thomas horrell. Nobody could ride a wakeskate like him, and his style of riding really brought a lot of people over to the art. But again, I just want to say that jason could rip hard on a wakeskate.

Anyway, if you want help with some more "obscure" information (or even with the stuff above), just post or e-mail me. I've got a fairly complete collection of catalogs and a crap load of articles dating back to the early 60s.