Surfing vs. Wakeboarding: Which Do You Prefer?

Water sports are great forms of physical exercise that help burn calories, set you in the mood, and keep you energized. Water sports are also good for health-conscious individuals.

Surfing and wakeboarding are two popular sports that use a board to ride the wave. But other than their similarity, the two sports have more differences.

Surfing

Surfing is done on the ocean or in an open area of water where waves break for the sport needs natural waves for the surfer to ride. The surfer sits on the board and paddles into it from a prone position, then ride the wave and rolls onto the shore.

The surfer either rides on the forward section, a moving wave, or the face of the wave. When surfing, the surfer’s feet are free to move around the board.

Wakeboarding

Meanwhile, wakeboarding is usually done on a river, lake, or open-source where the water is flat. In wakeboarding, the surfer needs to be towed behind the boat, and no need to paddle for speed.

Another difference between surfing and wakeboarding is surfboarding has bigger boards compared to wakeboards. Wakeboards also have short skegs or board fins on both ends.

In wakeboarding, the surfer’s feet or ankles need to be strapped at a 90 degrees angle to the board.

How wakeboarding can help with surfing skills

Wakeboarding helps if you plan to try surfing. Wakeboarding helps build strength, balance, endurance, and understanding of the water surface. Wakeboarding is a resistance sport that is vital in surfing.

Learning and mastering the balance techniques in wakeboarding will help your balance skills when surfing. Some even said that surfing is harder than wakeboarding.

But some commented that they like wakeboarding more as they do not need waves before riding it.

Wakeboarding is the best sport to try if you want to practice the best practices of balancing, strength building, and endurance that will need if you want to improve your surfing capabilities.

Both surfing and wakeboarding are great water sports. Both also have a set of similarities, differences, and challenges. And if you are interested in both, there is no reason not to try.

Almost everywhere you can see surfing and wakeboarding lessons and facilities to try your skills.