Water Skurfing...
Is a form of water skiing that uses a surfboard or similar board instead of
skis. The skurfer is towed behind a motorboat at planing speed with a tow
rope similar to that of Knee Boarding and wakeboarding. It shares an
advantage with kneeboarding in that the motorboat does not require as much
speed as it does for water skiing.
Skurfing is a towsport and it is very similar to water skiing. The skurfboard,
however, is a surfboard and is usually shorter by about two feet, wider and
has three larger fins that make the board easier to manoeuvre while being
pulled behind a boat. The planing speed of the motorboat is equivalent to the
speed generated by a wave and allows the skurfer to ride behind the boat the
same way a surfer would ride a wave. One of the advantages of skurfing when
compared with surfing is that when the water is flat, skurfing is still possible.
Skurfing can be done behind a boat or a jet ski on a river or in an ocean.
Freeriding is when the wake is surfed without the rope. First the rider
pulls themselves up the rope so that they are skurfing in the largest part of the
wake. The rider then gently pumps the board to maintain speed and moves
their weight further forward to help them stay on the wake wave. Once they
are being propelled by the wake the rope is thrown back into the boat.
Skurfing has developed into its own unique sport but has also been used in
adapting other sports such as surfing. Before skurfing was invented there
were limitations to paddling onto larger waves when surfing because surfers
lacked the speed needed to stay in front of the wave. Skurfing has shown the
world the potential of big wave surfing by towing the surfer towards big
waves. Therefore giving the surfer the speed needed to catch the wave
successfully.