HISTORY OF WAKEBOARD SA
Wakeboard South Australia was established in 1996.
The grass roots competitions started from an off shoot of the tournament division. Neil Boyd, Tony Gray, Richard Bascus, Richard Boyce founded the club in 1996, coming from a tournament background. These members saw the potential that wakeboarding was going to be one of the biggest water sports in the world. True to its name it is now one of the biggest water sports and still growing at a rapid rate.
The founders of the club had a vision to increase the profile of wakeboarding in SA, as it was still a little known sport.
Upon starting, Wakeboard SA was one of the biggest clubs in Australia and one of the first to evolve. They put a committee together and Wakeboard SA’s first competition was born at Sturt Reserve in September 1996. With 25 riders showing up to ride, they soon realised that they had the most riders than any other state in Australia. The competition boat was Neil Boyd’s personal boat, a Camero Nordic.
For many years Wakeboard SA had the most numbers than any other state.
The club for the first few years was run by a group of young people in their mid 20’s. They had the policy to have “no old people” on the committee.
All the grass roots competitions were held at Sturt Reserve in Murray Bridge, for years. In 2002, Sturt Reserve was fortunate enough to host the Wakeboard Australia Nationals.
For many years, committee members put their personal boats up for use. Riders rode behind boats including a Camero Strada 2000 and Camero Legends.
The first locally built Matrix boat was used in 2001, and still to this day are strong supporters of Wakeboard SA.
The stand out riders from the early days include the likes of Greg Falzon, Richard Boyce, Adam Bruce and Luke Matson. All of whom competed at a National level and some at International level.
In recent times stand out riders include Tom Hines, Ryleigh Pfitzner, Bec Gange and Parker Siegele. All of whom have travelled to America and lived the endless summer.
As a result of a strong foundation, some of Wakeboard SA’s members organised Wakewars, still to this day, one of the biggest Wakeboard Events held. The first ever Wakewars was organised by then current members Matt Morrisey, Heath Littlefield and Chris Higgs.
Without the grass roots of the club we wouldn’t have seen one of the biggest and most talked about events in wakeboarding – like Wakewars hosted on The Patawolonga, Glenelg.
In recent times, SA has hosted the Wakeboard Australia Nationals in 2009, 2010 and 2015 in Renmark, and the SA team in 2015 with a total of 35 riders, finished 2nd in the Team Cup.
We are currently one of the biggest clubs to date with over 80 members and averaging 35-40 riders per competition.
The grass roots competitions started from an off shoot of the tournament division. Neil Boyd, Tony Gray, Richard Bascus, Richard Boyce founded the club in 1996, coming from a tournament background. These members saw the potential that wakeboarding was going to be one of the biggest water sports in the world. True to its name it is now one of the biggest water sports and still growing at a rapid rate.
The founders of the club had a vision to increase the profile of wakeboarding in SA, as it was still a little known sport.
Upon starting, Wakeboard SA was one of the biggest clubs in Australia and one of the first to evolve. They put a committee together and Wakeboard SA’s first competition was born at Sturt Reserve in September 1996. With 25 riders showing up to ride, they soon realised that they had the most riders than any other state in Australia. The competition boat was Neil Boyd’s personal boat, a Camero Nordic.
For many years Wakeboard SA had the most numbers than any other state.
The club for the first few years was run by a group of young people in their mid 20’s. They had the policy to have “no old people” on the committee.
All the grass roots competitions were held at Sturt Reserve in Murray Bridge, for years. In 2002, Sturt Reserve was fortunate enough to host the Wakeboard Australia Nationals.
For many years, committee members put their personal boats up for use. Riders rode behind boats including a Camero Strada 2000 and Camero Legends.
The first locally built Matrix boat was used in 2001, and still to this day are strong supporters of Wakeboard SA.
The stand out riders from the early days include the likes of Greg Falzon, Richard Boyce, Adam Bruce and Luke Matson. All of whom competed at a National level and some at International level.
In recent times stand out riders include Tom Hines, Ryleigh Pfitzner, Bec Gange and Parker Siegele. All of whom have travelled to America and lived the endless summer.
As a result of a strong foundation, some of Wakeboard SA’s members organised Wakewars, still to this day, one of the biggest Wakeboard Events held. The first ever Wakewars was organised by then current members Matt Morrisey, Heath Littlefield and Chris Higgs.
Without the grass roots of the club we wouldn’t have seen one of the biggest and most talked about events in wakeboarding – like Wakewars hosted on The Patawolonga, Glenelg.
In recent times, SA has hosted the Wakeboard Australia Nationals in 2009, 2010 and 2015 in Renmark, and the SA team in 2015 with a total of 35 riders, finished 2nd in the Team Cup.
We are currently one of the biggest clubs to date with over 80 members and averaging 35-40 riders per competition.