Board Certified

© rumbum.com, Andrea Barrack

Jeff Weatherall at Board-Up Miami 2009

With the steady escalation of action sports like wakeboarding, it’s not unusual to discover that a boarder on sea is often a border on land as well.  Sharp as a JStar Brigade slicing thru a glassy lake, the brains behind BoardUp Miami aptly responded this year by throwing a skate park in the wakeboard mix for boarders of a different kind.  Riding the trend even further, earlier this month a west coast contest called The Ultimate Boarder hosted a triathlon-like competition comprised of three board sports. And though remarkable, it’s not surprising that BoardUp Miami competitor and pro wakeboarder, Jeff Weatherall, graced their roster.  Weatherall finished an impressive 14th out of 50 competitors, exemplifying his versatility at all three sports … and wakeboarding wasn’t even one of them.

Weatherall became New Zealand’s first pro wakeboarder six years ago, but has only been cutting the wake for eight.  The quick ascent he attributes to his history in skateboarding, surfing, and snowboarding – which just happens to be the three events in which he competed during the recent boarding triathlon.  Of the three, and including wakeboarding, his real love is the surf.  “Wakeboarding is my fulltime job,” he says, “but surfing is my fulltime passion.”

But just because his heart belongs to the wave and not the wake (he’s even admitted to using his wakeboarding career to take summers in Hawaii in order to feed his surf habit), his international popularity as a wakeboarder is exceedingly warranted after two world championship wins in 2003 and 2005 and victory in the Aussie Pro Tour in 2007.  And between drinking beers in natural hot springs on New Zealand’s Lake Ohakuri, Weatherall has secured the New Zealand National Championship seven years running – all the while playing role of big brother by paving the way for younger Kiwi stars like Brad Smeele (whom, in fraternal rivalry, Weatherall calls “my nemesis”).

While in Miami, the big-hearted Weatherall also rode a wakeboard demo for inner city kids.  Good thing Miami didn’t serve up suitable surf last weekend. “If there was surf here right now,” his chiseled, tan face grinned, “I probably wouldn’t be talking to you.”