UPDATED: Royce City wakeskater Clint Tompkins hosts world-class competition at Mayfest 2009

by Erin Rice

If you've never heard about wakeskating, don't worry, you're not exactly alone. Here's a hint for the newbies: it is pretty much what it sounds like.

Local professional wakeskater Clint Tompkins, who has been involved in the sport for more than six years, provides a more seasoned summation: "We used to call it wakeboarding without the binding, but it's really more like skateboarding on water. We get a lot of our motivation and tricks from skateboarding."

Like wakeboarding, the wakeskater is pulled by a rope, either by boat, jet ski, or a winch. However, unlike a wakeboard that binds your feet into a set spot on the board, a wakeskate has either grip tape or a foam material on top, sans bindings. Footwear is typical to that of a skateboarder, though designed to dry out a little faster. Imagine all the events you've seen skateboarders participate in, such as riding rails, ramp jumps, and freestyle competitions, in addition to wake-to-wake maneuvers performed by wakeboarders. Kick flips, ollies, shuvits. Wakeskating. There are a few other variations, but you get the gist.

This weekend, the top wakeskaters in the world will be shredding the Trinity River in Fort Worth as part of Mayfest 2009. The Trinity River Roundup, unique because it will take place in a natural setting, outside of a cable park or concrete pools, was conceived in large part by Tompkins.

“Hopefully this will spread the word, because a lot of people don’t know wakeskating exists or that it’s even possible.”

Now a Royce City resident, Tompkins attended Rowlett High School. While he admits to skateboarding as a youth, he never really got into it. "I just kept hurting myself. That's part of what drove me to wakeskating. It's kind of the same thing, but you get to fall on water... most of the time. It's definitely more forgiving."

After graduation, he headed to Florida. "Orlando is the Mecca of wakeskating," says Tompkins. "I had seen [wakeskating] before I moved out there... I was doing it for maybe half a year. That was part of the motivation to go out, because that’s where the big scene was.” Though he's a professional wakeskater now, it was a wildly different sport that was the other part of his motivation to head east: golf.

He picked up the gentleman's game because his grandfather often played. Competing throughout high school, Tompkins attended the Golf Academy of America in Orlando, essentially a school dedicated to developing professionals in the business of golf. But as he graduated the program, the attitudes of many involved in the game soured him on continuing down that path. So he traded in his khaki pants and polos for the board shorts and shirt-optional alternative.

Tompkins trains throughout DFW, often on Lake Ray Hubbard, but his favorite places to ride are winch spots. Whosits whatsits? The winch was recently introduced to the sport as an alternative to being pulled by watercraft. A winch can be set up on any piece of land near a pond or riverbank, and with a very long rope, can pull a wakeskater 20-25 miles per hour, according to Tompkins. Known for his prowess on the rails, he's a big advocate for what winching has done for the sport.

“It's opened up wakeskating to more urban people who don’t live on the lake or might not have a boat... It’s really helped grow the sport and push it in a new direction.”

For this weekend's Trinity River Roundup, Tompkins' competition is made up of fellow athletes who he considers to be top riders. With names like Reed Hanson, Scott Byerly, and Brian Grubb, as well as some of the younger, phenom additions like Nick Taylor, "ten of the guys I invited are top ten in the world." As in, this is no slouch introduction for Mayfest attendees.

Barring massive rain events that could flood the spillway, Thursday and Friday will be practice and exhibition for the competitors, with the actual contest taking place on Saturday and Sunday. The field has been broken into two heats to take place (tentatively) from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 4 p.m. on competition days.

Tompkins will be riding on his own board, a prototype that he designed and built "pretty much from scratch." It will essentially be those in the sport's introduction to his forthcoming business and post-competition retirement plan, Signature Waterskates.

While you might not have heard about it until now, wakeskating has been around for more than a decade. Probably time you shed that giant rock and head down to the river, eh?

UPDATE: As part of the Mayfest 2009 cancellation, so goes the Trinity River Roundup, as well. Maybe a resched sometime in the future? One can only hope.

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