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Towed watersports are about one rider, one rope and a lot of style. At the top level they split into two families. Three-event water skiing is the classic tournament discipline — slalom, tricks and jump — where skiers chase precise, measurable results, and can compete in any one event or all three for an overall title. Wake is the freestyle side — wakeboarding behind a boat, or at a cable park — judged on the difficulty and style of the tricks.
Australia has a strong scene across all of it, from local club days to the Moomba Masters in Melbourne, one of the biggest tournaments in the world. Here’s how each event works and how it’s scored — and how to get involved. Try the game under each event to get a feel for it.
Slalom Skiing
The skier passes through an entry gate and then zig-zags around a series of six turn buoys, three on the right-side alternating with three on the left-side, before passing through the exit gate. It’s a test of precision and timing
How it’s scored
- You score one point for each of the six buoys you round cleanly in a pass. Fractions count too: a quarter-buoy if your ski gets outside the buoy line but you don’t make it past, and a half-buoy if you pass the buoy but lose the handle before the wakes. Cross the wakes in control for the full point.
- Scoring starts at your division’s set speed and full line; clear a pass and the boat speed steps up to the division maximum (58 km/h open men, 55 km/h open women).
- At max speed the rope is then shortened in set increments — from the full 18.25 m line down through 16.00, 14.25, 13.00, 12.00, 11.25, 10.75, 10.25, 9.75 and 9.50 m — so the buoys sit beyond the end of your rope. The shorter the line you complete, the higher you place.
- You can choose to start at a higher speed or shorter line than the scoring start (most skiers do, to save energy for their hardest pass) — but you must complete that first pass for it to count. Miss a buoy or gate and your run is scored at the last buoy you cleared.
Trick Skiing
On a short, wide, fin-less trick ski, the skier performs as many different tricks as possible — surface spins, wake flips and step-overs — in two timed passes.
How it’s scored
- Two 20-second passes: a “hands” pass (rope held normally) and a “toes” pass (rope held by a foot).
- Every trick has a set point value based on difficulty; your score is the total of all the tricks you land, and the two passes are added together for your tournament total.
- You can’t repeat a trick for points — only the opposite (reverse) direction counts separately — so variety is everything. Fall and the pass ends; tricks only count if you ride away clean.
Jump
The spectacular one. The skier cuts hard at a fixed ramp and launches off it, flying as far as possible before landing and skiing away.
How it’s scored
- Score is pure distance — how far you fly past the ramp, in metres (top men exceed 70 m).
- You get three attempts; your longest counts (some formats add your best jump from each round). You must land and ride away for the jump to stand.
- The harder and later you cut into the ramp, the more speed you carry and the further you go. Skiers choose ramp height and boat speed within the limits for their division.
Try all three ski events in the game below.
Three-event overall — competing in all three
Skiers can specialise in one event or take on all three. Compete in slalom, trick and jump and you’re eligible for an overall ranking — your scores from each event are combined into a single overall result. Going for the overall is harder than specialising (you’re spread across three disciplines), but it’s the path to the all-round title.
Because the three events are scored in completely different units (buoys, points and metres), they’re normalised before being combined and then compared. The highest score by an overall competitor in an individual discipline is awarded 1000 points, and each other overall competitor receives a percentage of the 1000 points. The overall competitor with the highest aggregated score is the winner.
Wakeboarding behind the boat
Behind a wakeboard boat optimised for throwing a big, clean wake, the rider uses the wake as a ramp to launch wake-to-wake tricks, spins and inverts. Unlike skiing, it’s judged on style and execution, rather than a fixed points basis.
How it’s scored
- Riders get passes through the course and perform a routine of their choice.
- Judges give a single score out of 100, weighing execution (clean, controlled landings), intensity/amplitude (how big and committed) and composition (variety and how well tricks flow).
- Repeating tricks and falling pull the score down; a varied, big, clean run scores highest.
Wakeboarding — at the cable park
No boat required. An overhead cable system tows riders around a course studded with obstacles — kickers (ramps) and sliders/rails. It’s the most accessible way into the sport and a discipline in its own right.
How it’s scored
- Riders complete passes of the course, hitting features and linking them into a run.
- Judges score out of 100, split between technical (variety and difficulty — using both edges, spinning both directions, riding switch) and style (amplitude, control, clean landings and flow).
- On rails, judges reward a “full pull” — riding the whole length — and technical hits like presses and transfers. Repeating a trick lowers your variety score, and runs usually allow a limited number of falls.
Want to give it a go? Get involved locally
You don’t need to be elite to start — clubs run come-and-try days and grading for every level across Australia. Australia’s national governing body for all towed watersports is Waterski & Wakeboard Australia (WAWA), a member of the world federation (IWWF). Find your nearest club and state association through the links below.
Links
- Waterski & Wakeboard Australia (WAWA) — https://www.awwf.com.au/
- WAWA Waterski — https://www.awwf.com.au/waterski/
- WAWA Wakeboard — https://www.awwf.com.au/wakeboard/
- WAWA State & Territory associations — https://www.awwf.com.au/states-territories/
- IWWF (world federation) — https://iwwf.sport/
- World Wake Association — https://www.thewwa.com/
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