Well, believe it or not, it would appear so as the sport’s stock has risen through the roof with two dedicated centres opening here in the last 18 months.
The Grand Canal dock is where Wake Dock do their thing and they’ve been in business since 2013 while further south, in Cork, Ballyhass Wake Park in Mallow can’t keep up with the demand.
In fact, last weekend, the latter hosted a National Wakeboarding Event, the aim of which was to educate people on what the hell this is and how you can benefit from it.
Eoghan McCarthy is part of the family-run business in Ballyhass and though many thought he and the clan were half mad when they sold up a mainstream outdoor activity business on the coast for a niche sport 50 miles from a beach, he knew from an early stage they were onto something.
“We’ve been here for about 15 years but it’s been a progression to get around to the wakeboarding,” he admitted.
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“We started just with pure fishing; we had two lakes and an old limestone quarry that was flooded so we took it over and started stocking it with fish and had a great response from the anglers in the area. We started with a tiny little portakabin office and one staff member…now it’s a little more than that,” he added, sheepishly.
He’s not wrong, though, and with over 10,000 visitors in the last year alone – and the wakeboarding only came on stream in April this year – he knows it’s only going one way. But, erm, what is it exactly?
Wakeboarding is, very simply, riding a board over a surface of water – usually at speed and depending on how good you are, incorporating various obstacles, some moving, some stationary.
“It’s a sport for everybody and has proved hugely popular since we introduced it here, more so for leisure but we do have people who come four or five times a week and want to take it more seriously. You get a superb workout but it’s also a great laugh,” he explained.
Traditionally, wakeboarding is done with the use of a boat towing the wakeboarder behind but in Mallow, and in Dublin, it’s a different version they use, known as cable wakeboarding. This method pulls a rider along a pre-made watery course and drags the rider from a definite end point from a definite start point.
This way is particularly beneficial – and more enjoyable – because if (and when) the participant falls, there’s no need to swim to the quayside or back to a platform, which means the rider gets maximum time on the cable in the session.
And so far, it has been hugely successful, says McCarthy.
“Before we started we thought ‘what can we do to offer a quality product to smaller numbers?’ and that’s when we came across these cable wakeboarding systems, we were using just one section of the lake for kayaking but there was another part that was being under-utilised and the water was so amazing (still) that we said we had to do something.
“The cable systems were just brilliant, we went out and did our research and said it could be a great addition to service the groups we already had but also, offer this quality experience to the smaller numbers.
“The beauty of the cable system,” he continued, “is it allows you to pick it up so quickly, you progress really quickly. We’ve had guys who were never out on boards before, snowboarding or anything, never even done watersports, but tried it in April/May when we just opened and those guys can now do front rolls, backflips, all these aerial tricks on our boards, and they could barely stand up a few months ago!”
So far, it’s been stags and hens, school tour groups and summer camps but sports teams on bonding sessions are now really tuning into it as part of pre or mid-season training.
We do a lot of team bonding because we have pitches on site and a lot of teams would come in, do a session and then go out and do wakeboarding and kayaking or various other activities.
“It’s great for that kind of group, but also for individuals, a beginner will get as much out of it as a pro level rider from learning his first backflip, there’s a progression ladder that never ends, there’s always something new to learn.”
Backflip? Surely there’s an element of danger involved in all this?
“It’s like anything, when you start you’re going a lot slower, we’ll only take you over ramps we think you’re ready for but then it comes to a point where we’ll drive it for you and we’ll do whatever you want to do.
“Like any sport, there’s injuries, in here you might get more knee injuries because there’s a bit of repetitive impact there but no more so than any other sport.”
Wakeboarding - Is that the new thing?
WAKEBOARDING? IS THAT the new thing now?
Well, believe it or not, it would appear so as the sport’s stock has risen through the roof with two dedicated centres opening here in the last 18 months.
The Grand Canal dock is where Wake Dock do their thing and they’ve been in business since 2013 while further south, in Cork, Ballyhass Wake Park in Mallow can’t keep up with the demand.
In fact, last weekend, the latter hosted a National Wakeboarding Event, the aim of which was to educate people on what the hell this is and how you can benefit from it.
Eoghan McCarthy is part of the family-run business in Ballyhass and though many thought he and the clan were half mad when they sold up a mainstream outdoor activity business on the coast for a niche sport 50 miles from a beach, he knew from an early stage they were onto something.
“We’ve been here for about 15 years but it’s been a progression to get around to the wakeboarding,” he admitted.
“We started just with pure fishing; we had two lakes and an old limestone quarry that was flooded so we took it over and started stocking it with fish and had a great response from the anglers in the area. We started with a tiny little portakabin office and one staff member…now it’s a little more than that,” he added, sheepishly.
He’s not wrong, though, and with over 10,000 visitors in the last year alone – and the wakeboarding only came on stream in April this year – he knows it’s only going one way. But, erm, what is it exactly?
“It’s a sport for everybody and has proved hugely popular since we introduced it here, more so for leisure but we do have people who come four or five times a week and want to take it more seriously. You get a superb workout but it’s also a great laugh,” he explained.
Traditionally, wakeboarding is done with the use of a boat towing the wakeboarder behind but in Mallow, and in Dublin, it’s a different version they use, known as cable wakeboarding. This method pulls a rider along a pre-made watery course and drags the rider from a definite end point from a definite start point.
This way is particularly beneficial – and more enjoyable – because if (and when) the participant falls, there’s no need to swim to the quayside or back to a platform, which means the rider gets maximum time on the cable in the session.
And so far, it has been hugely successful, says McCarthy.
“Before we started we thought ‘what can we do to offer a quality product to smaller numbers?’ and that’s when we came across these cable wakeboarding systems, we were using just one section of the lake for kayaking but there was another part that was being under-utilised and the water was so amazing (still) that we said we had to do something.
“The cable systems were just brilliant, we went out and did our research and said it could be a great addition to service the groups we already had but also, offer this quality experience to the smaller numbers.
“The beauty of the cable system,” he continued, “is it allows you to pick it up so quickly, you progress really quickly. We’ve had guys who were never out on boards before, snowboarding or anything, never even done watersports, but tried it in April/May when we just opened and those guys can now do front rolls, backflips, all these aerial tricks on our boards, and they could barely stand up a few months ago!”
So far, it’s been stags and hens, school tour groups and summer camps but sports teams on bonding sessions are now really tuning into it as part of pre or mid-season training.
“It’s great for that kind of group, but also for individuals, a beginner will get as much out of it as a pro level rider from learning his first backflip, there’s a progression ladder that never ends, there’s always something new to learn.”
Backflip? Surely there’s an element of danger involved in all this?
“It’s like anything, when you start you’re going a lot slower, we’ll only take you over ramps we think you’re ready for but then it comes to a point where we’ll drive it for you and we’ll do whatever you want to do.
“Like any sport, there’s injuries, in here you might get more knee injuries because there’s a bit of repetitive impact there but no more so than any other sport.”
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Ballyhass Wake Park Fitness wakeboarding water sports