Putting it on the line

The latest watersport craze – wakeskating- was brought to the North Coast last weekend.

This relatively under-known sport is a combination of skateboarding and wakeboarding and is set to explode onto the extreme sports scene.

A group of top wakeskaters got together at La Mercy Beach lagoon on Saturday, April 25 as part of a nationwide demonstration tour to promote this extreme watersport.

The athletes had lots of daredevil tricks to entertain the small, but growing crowd who had a great time watching the acrobatics while jamming to the tunes from the Red Bull DJ van.

The aim of the game is simple, at least in theory.

Participants grab hold of a cable while standing on a small, lipped rectangular board.

The cord is quickly reeled in by a winch on the opposite bank of the lagoon.

Building up the skater’s speed down a short water-filled runway as he nears a rail, he is required to jump over, slide down or perform some other feat of human acrobatics.

The motto of the sport should be ‘he who dares, wins’, as only the most outrageous tricks win the judges’ attention.

Decked out in painted marionette masks, the five skaters risked rump and reputation in the finals as they tried to leave each other in their wake.

First place went to Matti Buys from Durban with Darren Turner in second and Jacques Labuschagne in third.

One of the other finalists and organisers, Troy Allers said he was really happy with the event and that he hopes it keeps growing.

When asked to describe the sport in a sentence, Allers said that “the gnar factor is high”, and after seeing the guys in action, it would be very difficult for anyone to argue otherwise.