Wakeboarding is a water sport in which the rider, standing on a wakeboard (a board with foot bindings), is towed behind a motorboat across its wake and especially up off the crest in order to perform aerial maneuvers. A hallmark of wakeboarding is the attempted performance of midair tricks. Wakeboarding was developed from a combination of water skiing, snowboarding and surfing techniques. The rider is usually towed by a rope behind a boat, but can also be towed by cable systems and winches, and be pulled by other motorized vehicles like personal watercraft, cars, trucks, and all-terrain vehicles. The gear and wakeboard boat used are often personalized to each rider's liking. Though natural watercourses such as rivers, lakes and areas of open water are generally used in wakeboarding, it is possible to wakeboard in unconventional locations, such as flooded roads and car parks, using a car as the towing vehicle. Wakeboarding is done for pleasure and competition, ranging from freestyle wakeboarding and wakeboard parks to wakeboard competitions at the X Games, WWA Wakeboard World Championships, or similar events. Though it had an obscure start, it is now the world's fastest growing water sport. History Monowaterski The sport that would later become wakeboarding began as water-skiing with monowaterskis (single waterskis) in the USA around 1950. The main difference between monowaterskis and contemporary wakeboards is the shape of the board and the stance. Surfboards as Monoski Wakesurfing - using surfboards as monowaterskis - began picking up traction around 1964, where it was seen as an "exciting new sport that's soon going to sweep the waterways." Although surfboards were originally used, boards without straps or bindings were first seen in New Zealand with boards called "skurfboards". Eventually, wakeboards with bindings or straps were sold in Australia under the name "McSkis". Later, another company called "Skurfer" was founded by Tony Finn in 1985, named as such due to the board being a cross of a surfboard and a water ski. The first board made in the early 1990s was the Hyperlite board by the O’Brien company, a water ski manufacturer who marketed the board as a “compression-molded neutral-buoyancy wakeboard.” This was followed by a variety of boards that are curvier and more compact, creating a smoother ride. The wakeboard rope has advanced over the years with improvements in the material makeup. When wakeboarding first started, wakeboarders used ski rope, which was made with stretchy