Phuket Wake Park 🏄 Wakeboarding in Phuket

Cable Ski Wakeboarding in Phuket ✓

Phuket Wake Park, located near Kathu Waterfall, is a popular spot for wakeboarding in Phuket. It features an O-shaped lake with a 700-metre cable running counterclockwise at 30 km/h, offering a thrilling cable ski experience for both beginners and advanced riders.

This cable ski has been in Kathu for a long time, but we only started this thrilling sport in recent years. Wakeboard is much easier to enjoy than one would imagine! You will be surprised how fast you can succeed and how much pleasure you will get for each little step done.

Wakeboarding in Phuket is expensive, starting at 750 Baht per hour, but they have cheaper options. They have longer and less costly options, but if it’s your first time, you won’t survive one hour of this intense sport; even kneeboarding is exhausting and will leave you panting but happy. You better plan a spa or a beach massage after that: we promise you that the next day will be painful!

Phuket Wake Park also has a shop an open-air roofed bar, and a restaurant, so you can comfortably stay the whole day and see who does better than you but already look down with a condescending smile at the guy crashing on his first attempt 🙂

Almost anyone can succeed instantly in wakeboarding on a knee-board; it is simple, exciting, and fun. You’ll get plenty of speed adrenaline as you glide close to the water if it is your first time.

Knee-board will also allow you to succeed in the two most difficult moments for a cable ski beginner: take off and manage your first curve. You will fall, no doubt about that, but it won’t hurt (yet), and staff will come and pick you up in no time on their motorbike with a sidecar.

The cable rotates permanently around an O-shaped lake with an island in the middle at an average speed of 26km/h. A series of numbered hooks are attached to it. People queue on a platform at the start station, and staff hand them the rope before the hook approaches so they have time to get ready.

The hook then catches the rope, and off you go. No rush, no stress. Staff is also there to teach the basics of each option, and beginner’s equipment is free of charge. This way, you can show up with your swimsuit (and your money, of course).

Once you have completed your few rounds on a kneeboard, you’ll start noticing some cool guys doing pretty cool jumps (like me). So it’s time for you to move on to the next level. Staff will recommend a few rounds on double skis to get a feel for the ‘standing’ position, but it’s tedious and cumbersome; plus, trying to negotiate a curve with two skis is a nightmare for your knees.

So you are now ready for wakeboarding in Phuket, all nervous and impatient. Phuket Wake Park crew will let you borrow one of their old wakeboards with a pair of massive but light shoes attached to it. Don’t worry; these old wakeboards are good enough for what you are about to do: take off and crash. Once again, it won’t hurt unless you forget to let the cable go, and you’ll do what they call a ‘Superman’: bouncing flat on the water. You won’t do that twice; you will never forget to let go of the rope.

First, you’ll start on a ramp, more or less sitting on your wakeboard. If you manage not to fall when the cable pulls you out, your next challenge will be to stand up. Tricky. Once you do, your success will be short, the curve will not be far, and not many will succeed in both challenges in a row!

Pass that point; you are all set to go around for hours with a silly smile. But soon, you’ll get bored. Once again, you’ll look at these cool guys doing casual jumps with one hand while chatting with the girls waving on the lakeside (me again). You might need to rent a proper wakeboard or start investing on your own, and you’ll need a helmet.

Ramp jumping is fun and not too hard; all you have to do is align yourself well (at beginner’s level) and bend your knees when you enter the ramp. Landing is also tricky, but I’m not going for a full lesson here; you’ll have to do a lot of swimming.

Last, you want to go for the real corner jump or even a flip to hear ‘oh’ and ‘ah’ and have your photo taken by the ecstatic visitors… Well, that’s not me, to my shame; I never succeeded in that one. I tried, but crashing while attempting this kind of jump is like being hit in the face by a wrestler. You think twice before you try again!

Phuket Wakeboarding Photos

Phuket Wake Park Street View

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