Water, water, everywhere — when you’re in Myrtle Beach, which type of liquid fun is for you? The beach and the pool are old favorites, of course. But on the Grand Strand, there’s also cable wakeboarding — a hard-to-find-elsewhere activity that sees riders being pulled by a high-tech pulley system instead of a boat while navigating an aquatic obstacle course filled with ramps and rails. This exciting sport can be learned, practiced and viewed at Shark Wake Park in the North Myrtle Beach Sports Complex, located a short drive from The Cottages at North Beach Plantation.
This spring, you can add another option to find your (watery) happy place when the Wake Park World Series comes to Shark Wake Park this summer.
The World Wake Association holds the Wake Park World Series every year at locations around the world. Recognized as the pinnacle of cable wakeboarding, the World Series will draw a diverse field of professional wakeboarders and new talent eager to show off their best moves and compete for prize money. During this year’s event in North Myrtle Beach, Shark Wake Park visitors can watch about 250 competitors demonstrating wild tricks and creative approaches to the sport of wakeboarding, which has grown tremendously in recent years.
Cable wakeboarding is one of the newest action sports, growing rapidly around the world, and wake parks are making the sport more broadly accessible. There’s no need for a boat — just pay a visit to your local wake park, strap in, and take off. Instead of a boat, your tow rope is connected to a cable about 30 feet above the water. Because you’re pulled from a higher angle than if you were riding behind a boat, that makes it easier to make sharper turns and get “bigger air” when you make jumps from ramps and slide on raised rails in the water. Lessons and gear are available for beginners, and experienced boarders can bring their own gear.
When the Wake Park World Series comes to North Myrtle Beach, Shark Wake Park’s cable wakeboarding area will be reserved for the competition. But there’s still plenty for adults and kids to do when they’re not watching the pros make super wakeboarding stunts look easy. Shark Park’s Aqua Park, a floating obstacle course for kids, will be open as usual. Plus, all the dry-land attractions of the North Myrtle Beach Sports Complex — the Go Ape! Treetop Adventure, batting cages, walking/biking trails, a 3-acre dog park, a 10-acre meadow, and regulation softball, baseball and soccer/lacrosse fields — will be ready and waiting.
Shark Wake Park is located inside the North Myrtle Beach Sports Complex at 150 Citizens Circle in Little River. For hours, rates, and directions, visit sharkwakepark.com.
