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Extreme Wakeboarding Records

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Wakeboarding is said to be the world’s fastest-growing water sport, and it’s happening big time right now during the Cablewakeboard & Cablewakeskate World Championships. The venues are the Clark Wakeboard Park and Deca Wakeboard Park, both of which are in the Philippines.

Here are five extreme wakeboarding records.

Farthest 24-Hour Wakeboard Journey

The greatest distance covered in 24 hours by a male wakeboarding athlete was 319 miles. The record breaker: Igor Deranja, 28, from Rijeka: the main seaport and the third largest city in Croatia. The intrepid Deranja accomplished the feat in the Adriatic Sea on 15-16 September 2010. Deranja had two judges present all the time, GPS turned on and a video camera filming his every second. Aside from the waves he made, the only thing that bothered him was passing boats. To achieve his record-breaking feat, he trained for 8 months, gaining 6 kg of muscle while living on a strict diet that he weighed by the gram. He has always been keen about extreme sports. “Looking for adrenaline to break the monotony of everyday life has always been something that fascinated me,” he told Boardforce.net. While his friends played football, he jumped from cliffs into the depths of the sea.

WakeboardPhoto Credit: WKeown / Flickr.com

Longest Wakeboarding Marathon

The record for the longest wakeboarding marathon is 6 hours 17 minutes. The record was set by the British endurance athlete Ian Taylor. Taylor wakeboarded behind a cable tow at Whitecap Leisure on Willen Lake, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England on 1 September 2004, doing 200 laps of a 860m circuit for a total distance of 107 miles (172 km). In a twist, Taylor took no rest breaks because he was not sent the marathon guidelines which outlines them. So, presumably, had the Englishman taken them, he would have surfed even farther. Either way, he says that the sport is best described as “waterskiing on a snowboard.” Its spectacular nature fuels his career as a photographer, providing him with great action sport fodder. An all-rounder, Taylor has twice completed the London to Brighton bike ride and has completed the Three Peaks Challenge (climbing the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales) in less than 24 hours.

WakeboardPhoto Credit: sportsandsocial / Flickr.com

Oldest Competitive Wakeboarder

The oldest competitive wakeboarder is American Linda Brown. Brown was born way back at the end of the Second World War on 10 Dec. 1945. She competed at the ripe old age of 63 years, 227 days on July 25, 2009, in the Battle of Bull Run Wakeboard Tournament, Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia. Brown confessed that the exploit began as a joke when one of her grandchildren urged her to have a go – raise her wakeboarding game. First, Linda Brown and her husband took a peek at the relevant record books category and were stoked to find that she could have a legitimate shot. She carved in the women’s division, finishing a respectable 5th overall. “I have to say this is one vibrant grandmother,” commented BoardJoy.

Most Wakeboard Somersaults Completed in a Minute

The record for the most inverts (somersaults) on a wakeboard in a minute is held by the English-born action athlete “Julz” Heaney. Heaney busted the record on Aug. 30, 1999, at the John Battleday Waterski Centre, Chertsey, Surrey in England, racking up 15 inverts in a minute. He and his brother Nick have long loomed large on the pro wakeboard scene. When they debuted on the European Wakeboard Tour, they instantly tasted success, Nick winning the gold and Julz taking the bronze. Since then, the brothers have consistently placed highly in big-ticket wakeboarding events. Their website describes their personalities as “infectious”, which may explain broad media coverage. MTV has used the Heaneys as guest presenters. The pair own the Orlando Wakeboard Academy, where they live and train, a long way from Chertsey. Julz is motivated by “People who know where they are going and aren’t afraid to do something different,” he says. One of his inspirations is the flamboyant English tycoon Richard Branson.

WakeboardPhoto Credit: Flickr.com / hans s

Longest Wakeboard Ramp Jump

The French extreme sports enthusiast Jerome MacQuart holds the record for the longest wakeboard ramp jump (male). MacQuart set the record for the longest wakeboard ramp jump on July 14, 2004, reaching an incredible 49.2 feet on the set of L’Ete De Tous Les Records in the Pyrenees near Lourdes. The French TV show is devoted to hosting attempts at records. MacQuart and it work well together. On July 14 2005, on the same show, only in Aquitaine, MacQuart set the record for the most wakeboard “rail airs” in 30 seconds, notching up five. MacQuart, from Marseille, was born in 1974 and has been wakeboarding since 1996. Now he is the vice-president of France’s wakeboarding association, the AFW. If you want to mimic MacQuart’s giant leaps, you need more skill than you might think. Take a look at these tips presented by Legitwake, which tells you how to stay calm and coordinated as you soar above the water.

Cover Photo Credit: boost-kiteboarding – flickr.com

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