Koh Phangan Activities - Wakeboarding

Wake boarding and water-skiing are just two of the exhilarating and unique sports available on Koh Pha-Ngan.

The Wakeboarding company on Koh Phangan is located in the North of the island in Chaloklum but Backpackers Information Centre, Haadrin can organise taxi's and pickups.  The company itself is western run and the owner a very experienced wakeboarder with fantastic teaching skills.  The equipment is fully maintained and updated regularily and the speedboat is designed specifically for wakeboarding with a tower for the rope and special hull to create the wake (wave).  The speedboat itself is powerful with a 40bhp two stroke engine.  (We do not recommend you do wakeboarding behind a Jetski as they do not create the correct wake nor have the correct rigging).

We recommend anyone new to wakeboarding to book a few days sessions to learn the skills correctly!

Wakeboarding is a relatively new board sport. It was created from a combination of water skiing, snow boarding and surfing techniques. Before it was called wakeboarding it was called skurfing. As in water skiing, the rider is towed behind a boat, or a cable skiing setup, but typically at slower speeds (18 - 24mph). Instead of using skis, the rider rides a single board with stationary non-release bindings for each foot, standing sideways as on a snowboard or skateboard. The boards, which can float, are typically 130 - 147cm long and up to 45cm wide (shorter and wider than snowboards). Unlike snowboards, which are concave, they are convex (tips 15 - 25cm).

A wakeboarding boat is similar to a water ski boat except that the rope is normally mounted on a tower about 2 metres above the water line and the boat is also weighted and trimmed, with strategically placed large water ballasts tanks, to give a larger wake. The wake is used as hits or ramps would be in other boardsports. Steering the board by a combination of direction and cutting the edges into the water, the rider can move outside of the wake, then cut rapidly in toward the wake, hitting it and launching himself into the air.

Heading towards the wake chest facing the boat is known as toeside cutting; approaching from the other direction with chest facing away from the boat is known as heelside cutting. As with many freestyle sports such as snow boarding and surfing, there is almost a separate language of terms to describe various tricks (Tantrum, Elephant, Whirlybird, 5, 7, 9, 10). Tricks can be performed from either heelside or toeside cuts, for example a toeside 360 is approaching the wake toeside followed by a 360 spin in the air. The sport is growing in popularity as it is fairly easy to pick up, but offers a wide opportunity for self-expression.

Your wakeboard experience can be booked here at Backpackersthailand.com