Hyperlite Wakeboards
The beginnings of the official extreme sport of wakeboarding can be credited to Herb O'Brien and Tony Finn. As the owner of H.O. Sports, Mr. O'Brien contracted the top surfboard designers of Hawaii to help him create a new type of water board. Seeking a specific balance of neutral buoyancy in a compression molded board, the final product made possible the increasingly popular trick performance wakesurfing.
Designed to use the wake of the towing boat as the platform for trick skiing with the single board, wakesurfing boards need to be thin and cut with sharper edges than a traditional surf board. The Hyperlite boards used to start this sport had concave "dimples" along the bottom surface to not only glide more quickly through the water but offered a softer landing after a jump. Wake board designs also have grown to include foot fastenings that can be altered between right and left orientation for further custom control.
In the quest for wakeboard excellence, dozens of other board manufacturers now create wake boards with such features as water grooves for speed and various sizes of bottom fins for stability or trick specific performance. The original Hyperlite boards are still being updated and new designs are tested to maintain the cutting edge of this extreme sport's primary equipment.
A good wake surfer will use several designs and models of boards during a competition as the various maneuvers required in this sport also require different configurations for successful performance.
While being instrumental in legitimizing wakeboarding as a sport unto itself, Herb O'Brien sold H.B. Sports in 2007 and took up with the professional wakeboarder Scott Byerly to create "Square One" which features the exclusive Ronix (tm) brand of wakeboards. As this sport gains popularity it is expected that the Hyperlite wakeboard will also evolve over time and maintain its leading edge over all newcomers on the market.
