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Story: Powered water sports

Wakeboarding

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Wakeboarding

Brad Smeele is wakeboarding on the Waikato River near Hamilton, in February 2008. Smeele, from Auckland, took up wakeboarding at the age of 12. He became a professional wakeboarder, gaining a number of national and junior world titles. In wakeboarding the skier uses the wake created by the power boat as a ramp for jumps and tricks.

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New Zealand Herald

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by Sarah Ivey

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How to cite this page

Peter Clayworth, Powered water sports – Water skiing, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/40452/wakeboarding (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by Peter Clayworth, published 30 November 2012.