Jonesy leaned hard on his toes, angling away from the boat until he was almost level with its stern. Ahead he spotted a glassy patch of water. Just as the boat began to slice through its mirror-like surface, creating a massive ramp like wake. Jonesy transferred all his weight to his heels. His feet felt firm and secure inside the boots. He cut harder on the rail, building speed and tension on the rope until he hit the wake almost at right angles to the direction of the boat.

Jonesy's solid frame catapulted skywards off the wake, his feet rotating up and over his head. The rope came right while he was still in the air, and he pulled it hard which finished of the forward rotation. Jonesy landed smoothly in the flats, six feet clear of the wake and skied away with a big grin.

Welcome to the sport of wakeboarding. Australia's fastest growing water sport outselling water-skis in the past year. The concept is simple and very much like snowboarding. In fact, if you've ridden any kind of board then you'll pick up wakeboarding easily. The idea is to find a boat with as large a wake as possible, slow it down to 20-22 mph and shorten the rope to where the wake is the largest and unbroken. Within a month you'll be carving the wake, and catching air. Within a year you'll be trying front flips, rolls, helicopters and chicken salad grabs. In fact, you'll never stop improving and wanting more, such is the addictive nature of the sport.

The newly formed Queensland Wakeboard Association (QWA) is Brisbane based and working hard to promote the sport and its riders here in Australia. Our first competition was a huge success and was well supported by sponsors, competitors and spectators alike. If you would like to be involved with the QWA or just find out more about this exciting sport of wakeboarding and its competition days as a competitor or spectator, please call the president: 

John Burnett on      (07) 3263 2300 
Chris Grady on       (07) 3857 1900