Cover That’s right, the first issue of WAKEBOARDING magazine had a picture of Darin Shapiro doing a Raley over a kneeboarder. This is because the sport wasn’t originally called “wakeboarding”. During its infancy, the sport was branded “skiboarding” and the term “wakeboarding” applied to both of these sports combined. The wakeboarding distinction was important because up until that time, everything was lumped in with waterskiing. So, even if we got coupled with a sport as kooky as kneeboarding, it was still an incredibly important step to get a magazine separate from waterskiing. Click here to check out WAKEBOARDING‘s first issue.
Explosion: Patriot Missile This is Cory Pickos pulling a toeside back roll to blind back in 1993. Granted it looks like he’s on some Frankenstein, hybrid trick ski board, but this is borderline supernatural in those days. The really great thing about this is the fact that this is the first issue of the magazine and the majority of people are barely even able to get up on a “skiboard”, but what do they give for instruction? A toeside roll to blind. (Otherwise known as a “Patriot Missile” in those days.)
Backside Front Flip Again, this “Backside” Front Flip is pretty funny. First of all, heelside is a direction you cut and backside is a direction you spin. Most likely, the reason they called it a backside front flip was because no one had spun a different direction yet, and they only had frontside spins. Either way, this is a taste of Shapiro’s complete domination of the sport in those days. Not only did he win the majority of the contest, he invented quite a few of the tricks we do today.
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Styles: A State of Mind** This article goes through the influences of other sports on “skiboarding” in those days. Some — like the surf and snow influences — still apply. Some, however, are all but gone in modern wakeboarding, like the trick ski influence. Check out the whole article by clicking here.
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In the Beginning: The History of the World According to Finn** This little gem goes through wakeboarding’s genesis with Tony Finn with that classic Finn style. Click here for the whole story.
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Expression Session** What we now call “Sesssions” has been around since the beginning. Click here to view the photos. The first spread is Dean Lavelle pulling a back roll to revert; a big trick in those days because of the switch landing. Instead of symmetrical boards with space-age technology and sport-specific design, ’93 had bastardized surf boards with one fin in the back, which made switch landings the stuff dreams were made of. The second spread is Kirk McAir pulling a “fat judo air” with his awesome spring suit. Back in the day, tricks like this were more popular because the Mickey Mouse sandal bindings allowed your foot to pull out at just about any time. Then we’ve got Scott Byerly pulling a shifty on his Wake Tech; he’s since cut his hair. Then we’ve got the legendary Scott Harwood airing out into the flats. Again, this was mythical back in those days.
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The Scud: Darin Shapiro** “The Scud” talks about why he’s the “Third Level” of Skiboarding in 1993. Seriously, though, Shapiro’s level in 1993 can’t be overstated. Click here for the rest of the article.
