August 30, 2006

Old School Day and Vintage Boards

Last weekend, somewhere in New Hampshire my lovely wife and I were suffering behind someone brutally obeying a speed limit. At around the 55 mile mark, I spied something extraordinary sitting by the side of the highway: someone had decided to discard their H.O. Hyperlite ¹ - the first compression molded, mass produced wakeboard, grandfather of the current crop of wakeboards, and eventual collectors' item. I smashed the brakes to the floor, ran back on foot and grabbed the board. This gem was leaning against a dumpy looking foot locker, beside a badly damaged set of combo skis, a typewriter, and a bucket. The whole lot was surely heading for the landfill - and that is just not acceptable.

My new board is going to be perfect for 'Old School Day', an activity The Wakeboard Report team enjoys when the weekend warrior yahoos and jetskiiers out number us 376 to 1. On these days we quit wakeboarding and usher the dead sport of skiboarding back for a brief revival. Out comes the Skurfer Rage, Skurfer Launch, and we attempt what would normally be considered pretty simple tricks on boards as heavy as 3 modern ones, equipped with fins that belong on a sailboat. Invariably the fun lasts for about 15 minutes per person, and we spend the rest of the day talking about how thankful we are that people like Jimmy Redmon and Scott Bouchard were born.

I recommend participating in your own 'Old School Day' events on your own lake or bay. It will make you realize how good you've got it.

Speaking of old school, if anyone has a K2 Woody, a board made in the early 90's and popularized by Greg Nelson in the movie 'Gravity Sucks', I would really appreciate it. I'm in the market, as it were.

1 - I researched that name - as far as I can tell, it was indeed called the H.O. Hyperlite, as this was 3 years prior to Hyperlite breaking off as its own brand.
It looks like the order was H.O. Hyperlite > H.O. Hyperlite Pro > H.O. Hyperlite Perez > H.O. Hyperlite Shapiro > H.O. Hyperlite XP, then the H.O. prefix was dropped and the Hyperlite brand stood alone. Please email me if this is incorrect. I will be adding more white tape to my wakeboarding-nerd glasses in the meantime.

Posted by erik