Winch wakeboarding

In my post " Whitewater wakeboarding " I introduced you ( and myself ) to a "new water sport " - WW wakeboarding. As it turned out, it's not really a new sport, just a new concept. One of the hottest new items on the wakeboarding scene in the last few years has been the introduction of the wakeboard winch.

Before the introduction of the wakeboard winch, wake boarders were pretty much relegated to wide-open bodies of water. Wakeboard winches are bringing wakeboarding and wakeskating to places you never thought possible - rivers, ponds, swimming pools, ocean shores, fountains :)
They have revolutionized the sport by making the wakeboarding experience available to anyone and anywhere.

The wakeboard winch can be set-up almost anywhere, which has made wakeboarding accessible to a much larger audience. It consists of an engine, spool, rope, handle, frame, and some sort of simple transmission. The person being towed walks (or swims) away from the winch and pulls out all of the rope. When the winch is engaged, it pulls the boarder usually between 15 to 25 miles per hour (24 to 40 km/h).



A high quality wakeboard winch is priced between $1600 to $2000. For sure you can buy a boat for this money, but for a boat you need a trailer, wakeboard tower, permission, have to pay assurance and other taxes. The winch can either be mounted on the trailer hitch of a vehicle, set into the ground by stakes, or tied to a tree.

Wakeskate/wakeboard winching, which is the popular term today, is a growing hobby for many watersports enthusiasts. It's no surprise that in a sport already known for its heart-pumping excitement, the addition of the wakeboard winch would gain momentum as quickly as it has.