The IWWF World Cup is the most prestigious tour in wakeboarding – and to get an invite to partake is quite an achievement in itself. Two of our own, Shaun and Gina Faccio, were invited to compete in Palembang, Indonesia in one of the World Cup legs. The brother-sister duo will be up against the crème de la crème of world wakeboarding and will have to pull out all the stops to hold their own in this calibre of competition.
For the Pro Men division they’ve invited the top 20 riders from around the world – and Vaal River local Shaun Faccio can proudly count himself the only male rider from SA to crack the nod. “The World Cup is the most prestigious wakeboard tour. For a wakeboarder it’s the best tour to be on,” Shaun says. Shaun loves the sport and spends most of his free time shredding up the Vaal River.
When he convinced his dad to buy a family wakeboard after seeing one on TV 13 years ago, he discovered that wakeboarding comes as naturally to him as swimming does to Chad le Clos; and he has been a dominant force on the South African wakeboarding scene ever since. He was named SA Champ in 2008, SA Tour Champion in 2009 and Pro Wakeboard Sessions Champ in 2010. His family owns a beautiful home on the banks of the Vaal, and when Shaun isn’t working as a Tige Boats dealer, you can expect to see him behind the boat, doing what he does best – right in his own backyard!..