"Top Shelf"?

tedamenta · Outlaw Joined: 25 Jul 2004 Posts: 104 City: Breckenridge

I am just beginning to learn about wakeboarding and I am interested to know who the “top shelf” names are in the sport. For example, when it come to snowboarding:

Burton is a good name in boards and bindings.
North Face is a good name in clothing.
Breckenridge has good parks and pipes.
AASI trains good instructors.
And so on…

When it comes to wakeboarding, who are some of the top names in equipment, boats, instruction, self training, destinations, etc.?

Lizrd · Posted: Jul 26, 2004 7:48 pm Post subject:

Well, you just opened up a can of worms b/c everyone of course has their own ideas on this. Here are my two cents:

Board and bindings - Hyperlite -- they have all the best old-school and new-talent pros on their team and many companies imitate them (flame me if you will)
Clothing - Fox or REEF (although my personal fav is Ten-80)
Boats - The MasterCraft X-Star is the industry standard and is used by many top pros. Revolutionary design and truly wakeboard specific. Certainly one of the most expensive boats!
Self-training - the DVD Higher Education (although Detention is great, too)
Destination - Orlando is the hub of all wakeboarding activities.
I'll be interested to see other answers to this!

HyPeDwAkE · Posted: Jul 26, 2004 7:51 pm Post subject:

The Higher Education DVD is awesome... I bought it and watched it and got up the first time I went out... maybe its just talent thought haha... for destination... never been to Orlando so I can't say anything about it but I go to Texas Ski Ranch all the time... that is an awesome place to go with awesome instructors, camps, riding and awesome tournaments to enter to win lots of cash...

tedamenta · Outlaw Joined: 25 Jul 2004 Posts: 104 City: Breckenridge

aloharodeo · Posted: Jul 26, 2004 9:30 pm Post subject:

yeah, you'll get some mixed answers on these for sure.

boards: DoubleUp
bindings: Nice
Detention and Higher Education are both great
for clothing I go with: JetPilot, Rusty, LocalMotion, Roxy/Quiksilver, and Toes On The Nose. (but I love American Eagle!!!).
Shoes/Flip-flops: reef
Ropes and handles: straightline
boat: Xstar
gas: chevron
destination: definately O-town, if I could afford to move back there I soooo would. Well, not exactly just O-town, but pretty much all of central florida.

Bowen · Posted: Jul 27, 2004 12:51 pm Post subject:

Burton is to Snowboarding what Hyperlite is to wakeboarding (corporate, hated by many riders, but still make a good product, no i don't ride hype, but i do ride burton its one of the few brands texas snowboard shops carry and I got a good deal on it)

Boat is going to end up being between 3 companies...depending who you ask. You've already heard of them...Mastercraft, Nautique (correct craft) and Malibu.

everything else is subjective.

gayrat · Newbie Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 6

another question relating to teds. - how does a charger rank is it worth even buying?

jklein · Posted: Jul 28, 2004 3:07 pm Post subject:

I agree with the big 3 in boats ( Mastercraft, Nautique, and Malibu) not necessarily in any particular order.

Hyperlite used to be the premier (no pun intended) board / binding company, but recently Liquid Force has come out with some really nice products, especially in the binding department.

HatzicMotive140 · Soul Rider Joined: 18 Jul 2004 Posts: 261 City: abbotsford

yeh cwb has nice stuff too their bindings are i think some of the best

beasoldierprstn · Posted: Jul 29, 2004 8:45 am Post subject:

boards: obrien
bindings: cwb
clothing: quiksilver, reef, billabong, kirra and other surfing/ skating companies
Trianing: anything u can do (just go out and practice)
boats: mastercraft is good
riding spot: orlando, owc, central fl
shoes: dvs is great for wakeskating and just comfort
flip flops:quiksilver

that is all i can think of