HOW TO: SAVE A QUICK BUCK

The 2012 Open Men’s SA Champion and MB Sports Team Rider Craig Eygenberger (also known as “Egg-’n-Burger”) knows that times are tough, and wakeboarding isn’t exactly the most inexpensive sport around. He provides us with some of his own personal (and often dubious!) tips on saving a couple bucks on a tight budget when the burning urge for a wakeboard set just can’t be suppressed any longer…

If you think you’re the only person out there who is cringing at the idea of paying around R11.80 per litre of petrol, you aren’t. As the current petrol prices soar (not to mention the general cost of living), everyone, even the well-off, will have to adapt to a new budget.

Modern wakeboard boats are thirsty and a 30-40 minute set can cost you anywhere up to a grand of your hard-earned cash! However, this doesn’t mean that you have to stop ripping it up on the water. There’s an old saying by gangster rapper Ice-T that rings true: “don’t hate the player, hate the game”. By simply increasing the money you save, you can maximise the amount of time you spend riding behind the boat. Here are three scenarios a wakeboarder might face:

SCENARIO 1: YOU OWN A BOAT
If you own a boat, you’re clearly pimpin’ it up in style and one of the lucky few that can afford it. Here are a couple of buck-saving tips for boat owners; No fuel – no shred! Everyone wants a quick session behind the boat, but your mates “quickie” can consume up to five litres of petrol that YOU could have used to ride. Set up a clock or timer in your boat to regulate sets. When your buddy is riding behind the boat, click a couple of minutes off the timer to save some of that gas for you! It’s worthwhile to limit the amount of guys on the boat (no limit on ladies though!). Too much weight can cause your motor to burn unnecessary amounts of fuel. Plus, your male friends aren’t as much fun to look at, and they always want to ride more…

Just because the pro riders of the world use 5 000 lbs of ballast in their boat, doesn’t mean you need 5 000 lbs of ballast to go wake-to-wake (4 999 lbs could probably do the trick just as well, but consider using far less!). Cruising around the lake is fun, but if you’re not actually wakeboarding, you’re just blowing bank notes out of your exhaust. Consider making your friends paddle the boat with pre-supplied oars. Remember that fitness can be very important to get your wakeboarding really waxed! Invite your skinny friends to come ride with you. The lighter and weaker they are, the better! They won’t be able to ride long, and when they do, you won’t feel them behind the boat – and the boat will notice even less – which means you save that extra fuel.