Is Wakestyle dead?

[longwhitecloud]

take it all with a pinch of salt! i love wakestyle, i just think when it is just about only those 5 cable tricks for so many years it killed it. Competitive wakeboarding died one time too - due to excess mobes , they had to change the rules of competition to include other tricks.

it is what is going to mess up skateboarding as we know it.. first it was street league and now the olympics! god help us lol

why do u think the numbers doing wakestyle have reduced so dramatically?

[jumptheshark]

I don't. I think the percentage of waketyle riders has gone down, but the number relatively stable. In the last 5 years nearly all the new kiters in my area are older than me. There are a few younger that jumped in, all of em racers, but all the new riders on twintips have graying hair. No potential wake stylers here, too choppy and inconsistent.

The stumblings of the professional tours will have the tongues wagging in the peanut gallery, but good wakestyle riding will always persist and evolve despite any shift in numbers. The very best of wakestyle has always been outside of competition. If anything becoming a little more rarefied will solidify the elevated status of those that can unhook.

The real change in kiting is not the dying of any style, but the growth of a major new branch. All those older guys who sat on the sidelines for years watching took the plunge because they see what were doing on foils. They see us out every other day and just cant take it any more. Most of em are already looking to get foiling. No new wakestylers here, but that number is up from zero! We did however go from 3, to 8, to ?? foilers in three years. With two very distinct sub styles. Might make it look like less surfboards and boots around when all you see are foils.

Numbers flux, but none of that changes what's what, and Wake will always be a basic standard when it comes to what is considered truly advanced riding. This does not discount those that kill it in the surf, they are legend. Plenty of other "stylists" can disagree, but someone rocking up to your local and throwing down powered handle passes will always drop jaws. I am not a wakestyle rider, but I know what talent and difficulty look like when I see it. Big ol dangly airs and slides are hella fun and might make the dog walkers swoon, but every kiter knows instinctively when they witness someone killing it unhooked that they are on an altogether higher level.

[PullStrings]

Haters be hatin.
Someone pullstring's string. We need a meme up in here.

You're welcome

[runner1]

I do some wakestyle but only at a low level (still working on getting my raley to blind bigger and cleaner before thinking about air passes). I am over 40 and enjoy both the feeling and challenge of wakestyle, but I hear about wakestyle being more susceptible to injury although I am not sure exactly how.

Is it progressive/accumulative damage from wearing out the knee or shoulder, or is injury usually due to large one off crashes/not letting go of the bar and rupturing something? I have had some bad stacks and bruised ribs/mild concussion as well as sore shoulders from trying to hold a bad landing blind, but nothing serious. Keen to know about what sort of injuries people get, and if they only happen at more advanced levels.

Cheers

Does anyone else have any views on this? Longwhitecloud, what injury/concern of injury led you cut back on unhooked?

[longwhitecloud]

Aging body, my plan failed tho, miserably!

Had a couple of mri s that were making it pretty black and white.

[runner1]

Thanks Longwhitecloud, I take it that it was degenerative then. Shoulders or knees?

[Osprey1]

I'll chime in. I've had to back off wakestyle and move to airstyle tricks because I injured my shoulder last fall (rotator cuff). So now I'm all about progressing with board offs, etc which was unthinkable pre-injury. Instead of a kite that's great for load pop I now like to ride kites that go huge and provide hang time. And though the crashes aren't as hard, board offs with spins, inverts, etc are really difficult to execute cleanly especially if you are not using the grab handle.

[jumptheshark]

Cant speak for wake style, but reading that right there? A little part of me just died.

[PullStrings]

Your water season is about to start...have fun...look alive...with your strings attached properly !

[dylan*]

I do some wakestyle but only at a low level (still working on getting my raley to blind bigger and cleaner before thinking about air passes). I am over 40 and enjoy both the feeling and challenge of wakestyle, but I hear about wakestyle being more susceptible to injury although I am not sure exactly how.

Is it progressive/accumulative damage from wearing out the knee or shoulder, or is injury usually due to large one off crashes/not letting go of the bar and rupturing something? I have had some bad stacks and bruised ribs/mild concussion as well as sore shoulders from trying to hold a bad landing blind, but nothing serious. Keen to know about what sort of injuries people get, and if they only happen at more advanced levels.

Cheers

Does anyone else have any views on this? Longwhitecloud, what injury/concern of injury led you cut back on unhooked?

any sport that has continuous impacts will eventually break down tissues in your joints. dimitri has had to have some knee work done and the kinds of tricks he does generally give you softish landings. wakestyle would pound your knees even more leading to meniscus issues. there's a reason so many pro wakeboarders have robo-knees...