No strings attached

What at first glance looks like wakeboarding is the next evolutionary step in fun sport. Wakeskaters do the same tricks as skateboarders – except on water, and preferably in the weirdest places possible. Just like the participants in the Red Bull Human Trailers ...

A good place for skating is one that is declared a good place for skating. In the case of the Red Bull Human Trailers, these included an indoor swimming pool, a river and a man-made lake near a closed down goldmine. H2O, in skating otherwise only related to sweating in fear of dangerous tricks, had a central role in this project – since it was about introducing the new sport of wakeskating to the most beautiful and surprising spots in New Zealand.

Skateboarding in the water

The concept of the combination between skating and wakeboarding is as simple as promised action: With wakeboarding, the rider is towed over the water by a boat, jet ski or a cable; as with skating, the rider directly rides the board without being attached. Not an easy task at speeds of around 35 km/h, but a prerequisite in order to be able to show ollies, kickflips etc. on the water. Because this is most fun in the most unorthodox places, Red Bull Human Trailers sent their competitors on an adventurous journey from Auckland to Queenstown.

Ten men and a whale after wakeskate fullfilment

"The plan was quite different from Step Up and Adrift, our wakeskate projects from the last two years,” said Ivan Mennim, one of the pioneers of the sport and organizer of the project, “this time we didn't want to stick in one place but see more of the country and adapt to things as we found them." And for that reason, at the end of March, 10 men, amongst them the wakeboard pros Brian Grubb and Aaron Reed, went looking for white areas on the wakeboard-map. They took with them an SUV, a 12-seated Ford Transit, two waverunners, two cables and, hm, a huge inflatable whale.

From indoor pool to an outdoor insider’s tip

It all started in the Institute of Sport in North Shore City. With a high-speed cable the wakeskaters ploughed through New Zealand’s swimming elite’s indoor pool. “When Aaron got attacked by a concrete wall,” said Mennim, “we changed to the outdoors.” Firstly to the wakeboard Mecca Orakei Korako, then to the insider’s tip Kaikoura, and in between, to the
“let’s-just-wakeskate-right-near-the-campsite-in-the-river”– chance location: Christchurch. The highlights of this journey were however St. Bathans Lake and Wanaka Lake. This was not only a sporty but also a logistical challenge, said Mennim. Both these locations were namely only accessible by helicopter. "But I really wanted some super startling landscapes for the images of this project." And probably to make us stay-at-homes even more envious?