History of Cable Wakeboarding

1960-1964 Prototype

Cable wakeboarding can trace its roots back to Germany in the 1950s, when during a holiday in Holland, Mr. Bruno Rixen, an engineer from Munich, Germany, experienced water skiing for the first time. Bruno Rixen, quickly became an addicted to waterskiing and asked himself why this magnificent sport was not more popular. A market research showed that waterskiing had two big disadvantages: to expensive and not very efficient. Mr. Rixen quickly saw the need for a system that would put large numbers of people through areas where there wasn't room for many boats. Being an inventor by nature and profession, he then set out to invent the ideal skiing machine, one that would adapt the snow skiing tow principle for use on water. The idea was to develop a system similar to that of a ski lift, where skiers were pulled over the water by means of an overhead cable and pulley system, eliminating the need for a boat.After spending a lot of time and money on prototypes during two summers, there was no turning back. In the year 1961 Bruno Rixen founded his company RIXEN SEILBAHNEN. Additional to the technical challenges, there were early financial difficulties to cope with. But, Bruno Rixen kept on inventing and developing as he took his power from the feeling of success and his pleasure in waterskiing.

37 Inventions had been patented since the inception of the cable system. The profitability of a cableway was only given when several skiers could drive continuously at the same time. Therefore, the problem of the start was the biggest problem to solve, as it is not possible to stop the cableway each time to engage a skier. Bruno Rixen positioned the skier not under the cable, but to the side, a full line length from the cable. The skier accelerates continuously until he is below the running cable. The tow line is attached promptly but the skier is accelerated slowly up to the running cable speed. This solution which seems so simple was the groundbreaking innovation which built the basis for each water ski cableway today. Despite all these important innovations and years of experiments with cable guide, cable twist and derailing, Bruno Rixen was still in the early stages of waterskiing with a water ski cableway.

1965-1969: Prototype to Production

The running cable had to be improved so that it had a durability of at least 1000 hours for 100 summer days. Today the durability of the running cables with 11,000 hours is equivalent to 8 years of use. After two years of attempts with a prototype in Hamburg and another two years with a larger prototype on the Baltic Sea, the first commercial Rixen water-ski cableway was built in Benidorm, Spain in 1966. 40 years later with over 50,000 operating hours, the water-ski cableway in Benidorm is still successfully working despite the hard conditions (saltwater, off shore, long season).

1970-1990: Improving and Expanding the Sport

Bruno Rixen felt competitions would be a large portion of the sport, and for the first time in 1970 organized waterski competitions were held on the cable system in Germany. The first German Cable Nationals were held in 1972. In 1978 an unofficial European Championship was organized in Spain. Finally in 1985, the first official European cableski championships were organized in Germany, and the fourth discipline in waterskiing was born and officially recognized.

The final step was to get cableski recognized worldwide by the International Water Ski Federation (IWSF). By this time, cableski courses were in full operation on almost every continent, but because some countries did not have separate organizations for cableski, it took some time before they were founded. Finally, in 1994 the World Cableski Council was created and started its work.

In the meantime, as the advantages and efficiencies of cableways became more obvious, other cable manufacturers such as Sesitec and Alta came onto the scene, and more and more cableways began to be constructed all over the world. Though the majority are in Europe, others began to show up in Africa, Asia, Australia, and North America.

Since 1976 Rixen water-ski cableways have been built with a 10mm running cable. Enormous operating experience has been made during this time. The technical demands of the water-skiers, wakeboarders and the cableway owners has increased continuously and has been kept up by constantly improving the system. The systems have also been utilized by snowskiers and snowboarders throughout the years.

1990-Today: Improvements & Release of the 2-Tower Systems

The technical development has changed the drive concept from the old belt drive to the state of art frequency regulated, computer steering drive with newest touch screen displays. This steering type eases the work of the operator, takes over a lot of working steps and offers the operator much more time to take care of his riders. Additionally, the safety measures have also been raised. Due to over 40 years of experience and close cooperation with the numerous water-ski cableway clients, the Rixen water-ski cableways are known as the safest and most reliable on the market. Today there are over 150 Rixen cables in 33 countries and on all continents at which about 390,000,000 kilometres have been skied on Rixen Cables. With all Manufacturers there are over 165 cables worldwide and growing rapidly. The U.S. has seen a rapid growth in new parks since Cable Wake Parks, the exclusive U.S. distributor or Rixen cables, was created in 2007. Rixen has manufactured all of the 10 systems in the United States and Cable Wake Parks has helped install and maintain the five newest systems.

In the 90's, Rixen began to develop the idea of a two-tower system, originally called the "Easy Start." This system was initially designed to help beginners, but quickly became a favorite training device for professional wakeboarders and wakeskaters. This system has been through numerous designs ensuring that it is truly the safest system possible before bringing it to the market. After Rixen installed at least ten Easy Start systems in Europe, McCormick's (Tampa, FL) installed the U.S.'s first commercial two tower system in June of 2008. In fall of 2008 Sesitec also came to market with a completely different two tower system that is portable and utilized in events like the Red Bull Wake Lab. The 2.0 system has helped bring the latest version of cable wakeboarding to the masses rather than making them travel to a cable wake park. In April of 2009 Texas Ski Ranch installed the newest version of the easy start, the Rixen Little BRO. The Little BRO name fit perfect because the Rixen system is a ideal compliment to a full size system or may work as a stand alone product. The acronym BRO stands for Bruno Rixen Original and applies to the Rixen two tower system.

Though cableski facilities have now been around for over 45 years, an interesting shift in the cable world seems to have taken place over the last 10 years. Cableways were built primarily during the heyday of waterskiing, and have for the most part been primarily composed of three-event skiing, kneeboarding, and occasionally barefooting. In 2004, the Cable Wakeboard Commission completed a survey of most all the cableways around the world to determine the average percentage of skiers versus wakeboarders observed at each facility. Incredibly, virtually 95% of all patrons at cable parks around the world were wakeboarders!

Another emerging trend that has been seen in the cable world is the growth of wakeskating. At some cable parks, wakeskaters comprise close to 25-30% of all riders. In addition, the emergence of sliders, kickers, and other obstacles have only fueled the fire for the growth of the sport.

By all accounts, most industry experts agree that the potential for a dramatic rise in construction of even more cable parks around the world over the next decade is excellent. Indeed, if history is any indication, cable wakeboarding has an awesome future!

Cable Wakeboarding Event History
As wakeboarding began its phenomenal growth in the 1990s, riders began to show up on cableways around the world. As an increasing number of impressive big air tricks began to be thrown on the cable by some of the then up-and-coming riders such as Darin Shapiro and Shannon Best, tournaments and other organized competitions in many countries soon followed.

In response to the explosion of wakeboarding around the world, the IWSF created the World Wakeboard Council (WWC) in 1998. The WWC governs both boat and cable wakeboarding in three regions around the world.

As the sport continued to grow, Cable Wakeboard National Championships were held in several countries. Sports industry sponsors are finally beginning to take notice and realize the potential growth that comes from cable.

1999 European Cable Wakeboard Tour Launched

1999 WWA Cable Wakeboard Worlds
Held at OWC in Orlando, FL laid the groundwork for the future of cable wakeboarding. Here are some of the riders that competed in this event and then went on to dominate the wakeboarding industry: Shannon Best, Parks Bonifay, JD Webb, Dean Lavelle, Shane Bonifay, Danny Harf, Dallas Friday, Cathy Williams, Trevor Hansen, Phillip & Bob Soven, Josh Rice, Reed Hansen, Rob Mapp, Emily Copeland, and Sonja Scheffler.

2001 WWC Cable Wakeboard World Championships
Held in Duisburg, Germany, and was an astounding success. Over 150 riders representing 20 countries around the world attended.

2002-05 USA Cable Wakeboard Tour
The tour was dominated by Ski Rixen riders, the experience from Deerfield Beach - the oldest park in the U.S., set the bar for cable wakeboarding. Donald Shelbrick always rode consistently and took home the overall title the first two years. Many riders continued their wakeboarding and wakeskating success after competing in this tour. (Rob Jacques, Jimmy LaRiche, Brandon Thomas just to name a few.)

2003-Present TSR Cablestock
Since TSR opened this has been the largest cable tournament in the US. While Cablestock is alway much more than just a tournament, the cable takes center stage as the industries best athletes take advantage of that famous Texas hospitality. The early years saw Keith Lidberg and Rob Mapp dominate. Recent champions include Tom Fooshee, Josh Rice and Nick Davies.

2005 WWC World Games
Cable wakeboarding finally achieved true international Olympic-level status when for the first time in history, not only was it included as a featured sport in the 2005 World Games in Duisburg, Germany, but also ranked #2 in television ratings (American Football was #1) out of over 30 different sports covered at the prestigous event. The 2005 World Games was won by Texas rider Josh Rice.

2006 Australian Pro Cable Tour
Matt Wilkings wins the overall title in the tour's first year

2007 WSIA Winter Summit
Blake Hess was asked to give a speech on the benefits of the cable to the growth of the entire industry. The reaction was so great that Blake was again asked to speak on the same subject at the Surf Expo later that year.

2007, 08 & 09 Byerly Toe Jam
The best wakeskaters in the world embraced the cable as Scott Byerly introduced a cable stop to his international series. Byerly reconized the hidden talent on the cable and helped introduce it to the industry. His visions were proven when unknown local (and cable operator) Bret Little won the first event at his home site, Texas Ski Ranch. Byerly continues to make a stop each year at TSR and utilizes OWC for part of the finals

2007 WWA US Wake Park Series
Tom Fooshee from TSR was the overall champion the first year of the tour. In fact, 3 of the top 5 riders hailed from Texas (Josh Rice, Kyle Reed)

2008 WWA World Wake Park Series
Tom Fooshee again showed his dominance winning 4 of the 5 stops, including the WWA World Championships. He has proven that he is the best overall cable rider in the world by mastering both air tricks and structures

2009 World Champion & Pro Model
Hyperlite makes a signature pro model board designed for cable for European rider Nick Davies. On the new board Nick wins the 2009 WWA World Championships at CWC in the Philippines.

2008 & 09 Red Bull Wake Lab
Red Bull creates the largest floating structure ever to be hit first in Orlando at Surf Expo and then again in Arizona six months later!

2009 Ultimate Wake at CWC
Tom Fooshee wins the Ultimate Wake Championship. An event that was comprised of four different wakeboarding disciplines, three of which utilized cable systems and the fourth was a traditional boat event.