Along with a few young sports (by which I mean younger than snowboarding), wakeboarding has come of age recently. The wack boardies over the wetsuits are gone, most lakes no longer have a park comprised of boxes wide enough to park a car on and, best of all, style has really come a long way, to the point it’s almost unrecognisable compared to ten or fifteen years ago.

But why should you care about any of this? Because it’s actually pretty damn fun, and not so different to snowboarding.

In fact, there are more snowboarders with wakeboard backgrounds than you may think, the best example perhaps being the McMorris brothers, who were wakeboarders before snowboarding took over. The reverse is also true, with 2017 X Games Real Wake (the wakeboard version of Real Street) Gold medal winner Felix Georgii simultaneously pursuing a career in snowboarding alongside wakeboarding, making it to the finale of the Nike Chosen series in 2012 and riding for Rome and Smith before choosing to focus on wakeboarding full time.

Wakeboarding is also really quite accessible in the UK (well, England at least). It’s (sort of) possible to ride all year round if you’re not expecting to be getting much snowtime through winter.

So, this all sounds great right, but how much is it gonna cost? Kind of a lot, unfortunately, although no more than the average yearly snowboard investment. As mentioned, the lack of boat does keep the cost down, but you’re still gonna have to fork out a fair bit of cash to ride regularly – yearly pass prices depend on location, and vary from £600 to just over a grand.

Board design has improved massively in the last ten years, meaning a less aggressive rider should expect a setup to last several seasons will have to shell out £700-1000 for a quality new board and bindings. Second-hand options are plentiful and usually decent.

“The lack of boat does keep the cost down, but you’re still gonna have to fork out a fair bit of cash to ride regularly”

If you want maximum snowboard feel, some brands now offer separate bindings and boots, instead of the traditional all-in-one design – for example, the slightly fiddly Jobe Evo and Hyperlite System.

You’ll also need a helmet (no, don’t use your snowboard helmet unless you want it to fall apart come winter) and approved life jacket to ride at almost all locations. This being the UK, a decent wetsuit will help keep you warm and a second, thicker one is nice if you intend to ride in the colder months.

That all sounds like a lot of money, and it is. But that’ll cover you for almost year-round riding, all-day every-day in the warmer months. Winter temperatures combined with cold water means things get a bit harsh in winter (as in, fucking brutally cold), but you’ll be snowboarding then anyway, right?

If you don’t plan on riding day in, day out ten months a year, the occasional two-hour ride may be all you need – wakeboarding is surprisingly hard on the upper body, don’t be surprised if you can’t ride more than a few hours a day and then spend the next two days aching!

If you’re still reading, I’m going to assume you’re keen, and even if not, there’s loads more summer options at the wakepark or boat lake – wakeskating, wakesurf, boat-riding, urban winching (ever thought of who developed those motorised winches snowboarders started using for street spots?) and so much more.

Not sure where to ride? Mpora already compiled a handy list of a few UK spots to get you started.

So, no excuses not to get down your local lake, give it a try, figure out what you like and be prepared for a whole new world of summer pain, expense, broken boards and fun!