Though there appears to be a lot of similarity between the two water rides, wakeboarding and water skiing are two completely different sports.

The most obvious difference between the two sports is in the nature of the ride itself. Water skiing is a relatively straightforward sport while wake boarding is a derivative of several different games. In water skiing a person uses skis to ride the waters while being pulled along by a moving speed boat. Wake boarding, though it adopts the same principle also includes skills derived from other sports like surfing, snow boarding and skate boarding.

As mentioned earlier water skiing is a simple water ride. It is not concerned with jumping wakes and riding waves. A water skier prefers smooth sailing over the waters. Wakeboarding on the other hand is a sport based on the thrill and excitement of jumping the wakes created by the boat and thus the size of the waves play a huge factor here.

Some of the major differences between the two sports involve the equipment and gear. Water skiers ride the waters on water skis whereas the wakeboarding sport makes use of specially designed boards complete with foot straps and fins to help maintain the balance of the wake boarder. Depending on the type of skiing, water skiers may use either one or two skis while wakeboarding is done with both feet strapped onto a single board.

Boats used for these two sports will also vary as the very nature of the two rides seems diametrically opposite. A water skier's tow boat can be any simple boat but the wake boarders need to use specially designed speed boats. In the case of wake boarding, since the wake boarders thrill lies in riding waves, the wake board boats are designed for leaving extra wake behind them. The wake board boats have increased weight at the rear to create larger wakes. The lower the stern the higher the waves produced. Newer technologies are being used as manufacturers compete with each other to create boats with higher waves.

The ropes used to pull the skiers and the wake boarders also belong to opposite categories. While the ropes used in wakeboard belong to the non stretch variety, the water ski sports requires ropes with some stretch which helps to pull the skier back and forth as he rides along the curve.

OK, so much for the differences between water skiing and wakeboarding.