A greener and cheaper alternative to wakeboarding...

I've spent much of my life going to the cottage and spending time around boats. One of my favourite things to do is go wakeboarding. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, it is basically a combination of waterskiing and snowboarding, where you get pulled behind a boat and ride a large board that you can use to jump off the boat's wake and do all sorts of tricks. Some footage can be found here. I am by no means anywhere near the calibre of the guys in the video, but I bet Tim could do all that and more...

Wakeboarding, unfortunately, has an environmental impact. Like many watersports, wakeboarders need a boat to pull them. And often, the bigger the boat, the bigger the wake, and the better the wakeboarding. But, the bigger the boat, the more fuel consumed and usually, the louder the engine. And boats are notorious for their impact on bodies of water, from oil and gas emissions into the water and also into the air.

I recently stumbled upon something very comparable that could serve just as exciting, but without the boat. It is called kiteboarding. You use a similar board, but instead of being pulled behind the boat, you attach yourself to a large kite that you use to pull you across the water. You can also use it to seemingly float in mid air after hitting waves, allowing you to pull off just as many, if not more tricks you could perform wakeboarding. While I have never tried it, the videos I have seen lead me to believe that it offers one a freedom similar to that found in cycling.

There are dangers, of course, the biggest being the wind sweeping you up and throwing you into hazards like rocks or other kiteboarders. But with practice and quickly developing safety technology, many of these dangers can be avoided. Finding places with major wind resources can be a challenge, but in most major lakes and oceanic coasts, winds can get high enough. Throughout the Great Lakes, for instance, there is a multitude of appropriate locations to go kiteboarding.

I'm certainly looking into kiteboarding as something I could do, especially since I have little access to a boat. I certainly can't afford one. But kiteboarding is a little more financially accessible. If you're into this kind of stuff, I suggest taking a look. Here's one of hundreds of videos online.  

Now I am certainly not denouncing wakeboarding or jumping on the proverbial environmental high horse. If someone offered me the chance to go wakeboarding behind a 28 foot ski boat, I would jump at the opportunity. But there would be some guilt attached to it. Several watersports are dependent on boats or other vehicles. Finding ways to get the same excitement without as much environmental impact and as  much as a hit to the wallet can be pretty rewarding.