Axis Wakeboard Boat Forum

I think I'll mostly echo the points made above.

My last boat was a $6K I/O. We wakeboarded a lot because it was that or ski or tube, and it barely had the power to get a slalom skier out of the water, forget getting to 30 mph with him. But we could get to 20 or 22 with a wakeboarder so that's what we did.

Now we've got a wakemaking machine that happens to have one of the top surf waves on the market. We're probably 85% surf now (and most of the rest is tubing). There are few reasons:

1) Novelty- It's cool. I've had 5 years wakeboarding, but this is my first season surfing.
2) You can surf forever before your legs get so tired you gotta quit and your arms and back don't get tired at all. I mean, how long can you really hold on to a wakeboarding rope? 5 minutes? 10 at the most? And how many sets are you going to do in a day? 3 or 4? But when I surf, I go for 10-15 minutes at a time and when I finally fall I get my daughter out of the boat and surf with her for a while. Then my other daughter. Then my son. Then my nephew. Then my nieces. And I'm still not tired. I can go all day. Eventually I feel guilty and let someone else take a turn.
3) Bad water. Let's be real, wakeboarding is really only fun on glass or close to it. But you can surf in a foot of chop and barely notice it. We had one day this summer when we quit surfing because I was afraid we were going to sink the boat, not because we couldn't still ride it (at least downwind.) If you're going with kids and have to trailer the boat, you're lucky to be on the water by 11 am. You're living right if you've still got glass at 11 am on most of the reservoirs near my house.
4) Less pain. Unless you get hit in the head with the board, it doesn't hurt to fall at 10 mph. 20 (wakeboarding) can hurt pretty good. 30 (slalom) will put you in the hospital. 40 (barefoot) will rip open your rectum. I mean, it's pretty cool to jump the wake, but faceplanting sucks.

The other issue with a sport like wakeboarding is cost. I'm 40 and really didn't start doing water sports at all until I was 35 because I couldn't afford it. It is far and away my most expensive hobby. My $5K mountain bike seems downright cheap compared to my boat. A fill-up on the lake is close to $300. You want a sport like that to grow? What percentage of Americans can afford a used Axis, much less a new wakesetter? And that's with payments. I felt very fortunate to be able to buy my boat with cash, but even with a 1%er income we had to save up for a while. I mean, Joe Blue Collar isn't going to buy a boat that costs 3 times his annual salary, much less insure it, winterize it, maintain it, and fuel it. And if that's what it takes to be a serious wakeboarder, well, Joe Blue Collar's kids aren't going to be serious wakeboarders. And boat payments? That sounds like a way to make sure you never retire to me.

And as far as wakeboarding gear, I mean, what do you really need? Well, a rope, a life jacket, some bindings, and a board. We bought our board and rope used 5 years ago. We're still using the same rope, bindings, and board. My wife and I both ride the same one. Works for us. I'm pouring tons of money into boating/watersports, but getting another board is a pretty low priority.

I love both and im not good at either, but with a 5 month old and taking her to grandmas house in the mornings by the time we make it to the lake its already choppy. So we usually surf until the lake dies down and we go to the far end past the tubers etc. And we are usually able to get a few wake boarding sets in before we head home. Hopefully next year i can beat everyone out there and be wakeboarding with the early morning old fishing guys. and none of our gear is the latest technology etc. but it suits our riding ability just fine but I do need some new bindings before next season.

I agree with most of the posts here. Me and a buddy were having this same conversation the other day and were talking about how its kinda sad to not see many young kids wakeboarding and trying new tricks in our local area. We wakeboard 99% of the time that we are on the water. We just dont really find surfing fun or interesting to watch. But I get it, it doesnt hurt to fall which is why most people like the idea of surfing. The breakdown of our lake is as follows (not including fishermen):

40% tubers
30% surfers
20% just cruising
9% wakeboarders who ride but cant go wake to wake
1% wakeboarders who can do inverts/spins

My core group of friends and me and my wife are 26-38 yrs old who grew up wakeboarding. My friends who already have kids have already started bringing them up wakeboarding and thats what their kids like and want to do (3 and 7 yrs old). I think this plays a big role in the way its heading. When people get into the game late, because of the costs of boats and gear, they are already to the point where they cant risk getting hurt wakeboarding and stick to the lower impact stuff (surfing). Then when their kids get interested in wakeboarding, they cant teach them to wakeboard because they dont know themselves, and start them out tubing or surfing. I started wakeboarding at like 15 years old when I wasnt worried about getting hurt. If I was I wouldve never learned inverts or spins and would probably be surfing every time I go to the lake now. I think this plays a big part of where the industry is heading.

This thread is enjoyable to read and to see how or when everyone got into boats and/or the various watersports. I also think the people who waited to save money to buy their first boat as a new or newer wakeboat had other much cheaper options to get on the water sooner. I myself had boating as a priority in my youth and bought my first new boat at 17yrs old before I bought a new vehicle. In 1989 I bought a new fish n' ski boat for $11,995 with a 150hp outboard. Busted my ass to make a $2500 down payment and had monthly payments of $190. I was king of the world in my eyes towing my boat to high school then straight to the lake to ski and "skurf " before wakeboards. 8 boats and 24yrs of wakeboarding later and your knees and back don't bounce back like they do at 30 or younger. I've paid my dues to screw up the butter surfing lol.

I think a lot of us are on the same page, and I would only echo a lot of the points already made....

What amazes me even more is how it can be like pulling teeth to get a solid crew together to go boat. I've got 2 consistent guys that'll join me when I go out, but inviting anyone else is like a wild card in terms of them showing up, etc. but I guess everyone has different priorities.

A solid crew for wakeboarding or just boating in general? I can see it hard getting a solid crew for wakeboarding because most are not out trying to perfect a trick or progress to new tricks.

I can always find a solid crew of a couple ladies for floating and adult beverages which seems to be the case...a lot.

Must have missed this. I mean more for the 6am butter sessions [emoji12].

Most of the regulars like sleep to much hahaha

I have not done a dawn patrol in 15+ years. But I have caught myself over the years dropping in at 7pm to grab the last 1.5 hours of day light.