Wakeboarding is not such an expensive sport as you may have thought. So what’s the trick ? Wakeboarding behing a boat is expensive, but there’s an alternative called cableski. A cableski is an overhead cable that tows up to 10 riders around an 800m loop circuit in about 1″30 at 30km/h.

Cableski vs Boat

WAKEimperial supports both boat or cable wakeboarding. But if you’re on a student budget, cable wakeboarding is for you:

Price

During term times, our members ride the cable for 2 to 4hr for just £14 — basically. In comparison, wakeboarding behind a boat would set you back £20-£30 per 15mn ! See our price list at the bottom of this page.

But boat is better, right ?

Most objective people will tell you that they’re different practices and that one isn’t better than the other.  If you watch a Wakeboarding video, you’ll generally see both boat and cable wakeboarding.
A Boat is expensive and short, but you get the driver’s full attention and a nice constant wake.
A cableski may not generate a wake, but it compensates with loads of obstacles: from small to big jumps (kickers) , along with slide bars, ‘box’, ‘walls’, ‘pipes’, etc. That’s hours and hours of fun guaranteed, and that’s good, because you’ll get at least a couple of hours riding time.
Fact: the biggest wakeboarding tricks are on cableski.
The downsides are that you’ll have to swim/walk if you fall (that’s why you try new tricks close to the starting dock), and you won’t get the instructor’s full attention all the time (but there’ll always be an advanced member to watch and advise you).

Also, wakeboarding behind a cable is much slower with a higher pull point than behind a boat, this makes the falls much more forgiving.

I’m not sure it’s for me / I just want to try it once in my lifetime / It’s on my bucket list

… then come along ! Try before you buy membership : You get your first session at the reduced member’s prices without even having to buy membership.

What do I get ?

• Door-to-door transport in a minibus on most Wednesday afternoons
• Reduced rates – whether you come on your own or with the club – to our local cable during uni term time
• All equipment supplied, included in the price
• Use the cable parks obstacles with our club wakeboards – normally prohibited with the venue’s rental gear
• A friendly club atmosphere: we’re not geeks nor competition freaks, we wakeboard purely for fun and as such you will find that this is one of the most friendly and easy going clubs at Imperial.
  
• Advice and support for beginners, if you want to purchase a new board, or you want to join our competition squad.
• Socials: We are a very sociable club and even if you don’t have the determination to ride all year round we do many events from all you can eat feasts to bar nights . We’re a sociable bunch who enjoy exploring what London has to offer.

These are last year’s prices, for reference. 2013-2014 prices will be added soon.

	WAKEimperial Members	General public
WAKEimperial Membership	£12 club membership. On your second visit to the cable there’s a cable membership of £12 to keep using the club’s amazing discounts
Transport	£6 Door-to-door transport	£10.6 or £8.2 (with Railcard) (taxi fare normally payed by the club) By tube + train + taxi
Use of Cableski	£8->4Hr • October-April £8->2Hr • September & May £14->2Hr • June £20->2Hr • July & August	£21 -> 1 Hr £27 -> 2Hr
Equipment Rental	Wakeboarding venue’s gear rental (wetsuit, helmet, life vest) included – outside of summer holidays Use of cable park’s obstacles allowed – with our WAKEimperial’s club boards	> £14 for a full kit (1Hr rental) Use of obstacles prohibited

Where do I sign ?

You can buy membership to WAKEimperial, Imperial College’s wakeboarding society through the ICUnion’s online shop.
You’ll have to register with your regular Imperial College Username and password.

Follow this link to the ICU shop: Wakeboarding Society membership