Our Legacy in grassroots wake contests go back over 25 years to 1999 when watersports industry legend Herb O'Brien and Performance Ski and Surf CEO Bill Porter came together and envisioned the future of the wakeboarding industry. Around this time, the Orlando Watersports Complex, more commonly known as "OWC," was under construction. As it was being built, Herb and Bill formulated plans for a grassroots wakeboarding competition to bring out local talent at the new wakeboarding park. Bringing more riders into the sport and onto the water was their mutual goal and together they helped shape and grow the industry for the future. Our first series "The Gravel Tour" was created.  Over the past two plus decades, The Gravel Tour has become one of the world's leading grassroots wakeboarding competition with riders traveling from all over the world to compete in our series to win the coveted series title. 

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Not only did the Gravel Tour foster the growth of the wakeboarding industry, but it also paved the way for many of the world's  best Professional Wakeboarding Athletes who now compete worldwide. For many of the big-named athletes you see today leading in the industry, Gravel Tour was their first wakeboarding competition that helped shape their riding careers. 

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"Gravel tour was a huge factor on my career in wakeboarding, not only did it allow me to understand the pressure of a contest at a young age, but it also gave me the chance to shine in front of an audience and potential sponsors."

-Adam Errington

 

For 2024, We are proud to introduce:  The Performance Ski and Surf Roots Tour.   We chose this name as we feel in many ways we are going back to our "roots" of why we started doing these contests.  To bring together riders, and their families for a great day on the water and to continue to build and nurture the wake community that makes this sport so great.  And while we have decades of experience doing these contests, we are also humble enough to know that we will still have to "learn as we go" and be willing to improve the contests based on your feedback like we did with the Gravel Tour.  

 

Our new series will kick off on Sunday May 19th at Lake Ronix in Christmas Florida, the southern home of Herb O'brien and Ronix Wakeboards.  We will also have more events to follow as we find great venues where we can host them and provide you with a great experience.

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"My favorite part about bring back our wake contests and hosting the Roots Tour is seeing the riders come together and watching them progress their skills.  When I look at the historical photos of the riders who have grown up at our events and gone on to be the world's elite riders, I take a great deal of pride in knowing that they started with us. Beyond that, I love that Gravel Tour and now the Roots Tour is such a family friendly event, and getting to see families get out together and just enjoy being outside on the water with their friends and kids! "

-Bill Porter, CEO Performance Ski and Surf