Wake boarding and water skiing are entirely two different sports although there appears to be some similarity between the two.
The most obvious difference between the two sports is in the nature of the ride itself. Water skiing is a simple sport whereas wake boarding seems to be a combination of different sports. The principle of water skiing is based on being towed around by a speed boat. Wake boarding also includes being towed around by a speed boat but it includes features also common to surfing, snow boarding and skate boarding.
As mentioned earlier water skiing is a simple water ride. This is pursued for the simple pleasure of skiing over waters. In fact the smaller the waves, the better it is. Wake boarders, like surfers, ride on waves or rather wakes left by the speed boat behind which it is towed and as such a major factor in wake boarding is the size of the wakes.
Some of the major differences between the two sports involve the equipment and gear. Wake boarders use a board much like a surf board but include foot straps and fins for better balance over waters while a water skier uses the traditional water skis for riding on water. Depending on the type of skiing, water skiers may use either one or two skis while wakeboarding is done with both feet strapped onto a single board.
The speed boats used for these purposes also differ from each other. While the water skier may use any simple motor boat for skiing, the wakeboard boat is specially designed to create extra high waves as the thrill of wakeboarding (as in surfing) is to ride these waves without loosing one’s balance. The boats used for wakeboards have increased weight at the rear to create higher and steeper waves. Almost all wakeboard boats have the engine placed backwards at the rear of the boat as a load increasing measure. The lower the stern the higher the waves produced. Newer technologies are being used as manufacturers compete with each other to create boats with higher waves.
Ropes used in wake boarding again differ from the ones used in water skiing. A water skier’s rope has to have a good deal of stretch and flexibility while wake boarders need ropes that have minimum elasticity as the stretch factor proves a disadvantage when contemplating jumps over the waves.
OK, so much for the differences between water skiing and wakeboarding.