Bec Gange, 18, has begun an "endless summer", following her wakeboarding dream all over the world.
"I first started wakeboarding five years ago. My family always went waterskiing on the Murray River at Mildura, so when wakeboarding was invented, I was desperate to give it a go. Wakeboarding is one of the fastest growing watersports in the world. It's basically like snowboarding behind a boat. You use the wake of the boat as a launch ramp to do inverts, spins and grabs. Modern top-line wakeboarding boats have high-tech systems to make the wake bigger, so you can get more air.
When I first started riding I struggled to steer the board. It took me about two years before I could land a backroll, but after I got that down-pat, all the other tricks started to come more easily. I reckon I had about 200 stacks before I finally landed my first one! These days, my favourite trick is a toeside 540 – it's really challenging and I’m always stoked when I land it!
I'm now the three-time Australian Junior Women's National Champion. I spend a lot of summer weekends travelling to different state competitions and competing on the Australian Pro Tour. The competitions are fun, but the best thing about wakeboarding is getting to hang out with all of your friends in the boat on a warm summer day. We crank some hip hop tunes and encourage each other to try new tricks. The rules are: as soon as someone lands a new trick, everyone in the boat has to jump into the water (even if they're fully dressed) and give the rider a high five.
I finished year 12 last year and am now trying to pursue wakeboarding as a full-time career. I recently went to America to work at a wakeboard camp (where you get paid with board, food and unlimited wakeboarding). Most of the Aussie pros live in Australia in summer and America in winter, so they can ride all year ’round.
I really want to encourage more girls to get into the sport – it's so much fun and there are countless different tricks to try. It's easier for girls to get recognition because the female standard is a lot lower than the men's and we want more girls to participate so it's more competitive and it pushes us all harder!
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