6 Best Wakeboards: Beginners, Experts, Women, Kids (2024)

If you’ve tried kneeboarding or kayaking, chances are you’ll love wakeboarding. Before you try it, though, you’re going to need a wakeboard. When it comes to choosing your wakeboard, size, style, edges, and core all make a difference. To help you make this important decision, we reviewed the six best wakeboards in categories like budget and kids, as well as the best wakeboard for beginners.

Maybe instead, you’re an experienced wakeboarder looking to upgrade to the latest model. If that’s you, keep reading because we have an expert pick as well. No matter why you’re here, wakeboarding is a fun and exciting way to spend a day on the water. With any wakeboard from our ranking, you’ll leave the shore and never look back.

Our Top Picks

Skim the surface of each wakeboard in our ranking.

A Closer Look: Best Wakeboards

Hit the wake because an in-depth look at each wakeboard in our ranking is coming up next.

 By using clean solar energy and sustainable wood, Pacific Northwest-based Slingshot prioritizes the planet whenever possible. None of this would matter, of course, if the wakeboards weren’t also great, and they are. The Slingshot Windsor is one such example.

What earned the Windsor first choice in our ranking are features like flex tips for stronger transitions, and the atomic wood core adding flavor. We also like the light, responsive, and strong carbon bedrock inserts. 

Consistent, the board also offers pop without reducing speed due to the hybrid rocker profile, and it’s an especially good choice for cable riding, according to reports.

To get into the popular sport of wakeboarding on a budget, we recommend the System 140 wakeboard from O’Brien. Not only is the board reasonably priced, it has a continuous rocker design, helping this well-balanced board stay consistent and easy to control. Roll up to the wake on the System 140 and expect a smooth and predictable pop, and overall, it stays very stable in the water.

What’s more, the board has foam core keeping it buoyant, which helps beginners get back up on it should they happen to fall (and they inevitably will). It’s also durable, with flank fins for easy tracking and better edging.

All around, it’s a great beginner board that will stay with a rider as their skills improve, according to reports, and extra stability is provided by the dual channels at the tip and tail.

Before choosing their board, wakeboarding beginners should consider first and foremost the edges, sometimes called rails. For speed, look for sharp edges. For control — which is especially important for those just learning — rounded edges are best. And for this reason, we like the soft edge Hyperlite Franchise for beginning riders of all ages.

What’s notable about the Franchise is that it’s narrow at the tip and tail with a dual-fin configuration for better edge hold, especially when approaching the wake. Also worth mentioning is the thin profile and the OT toe binding, blending both functionality with flexibility. 

And although the board is a great pick for new riders, experienced wakeboarders find plenty to like about the Franchise as well, calling it tough and durable due to the layered fiberglass construction.

For the most experienced wakeboarders, we like the Rusty Pro wakeboard from Hyperlite. Integrating a top and bottom fiberglass layer into one, durable layer, the Rusty Pro is an abrupt continuous rocker board with better kick and speed. But the tip and tail are also slightly exaggerated, adding pop. 

In addition, the full-length cupped rails help riders break free should they have to, or simply save a landing if they’re not quite on a target. 

Extremely light and responsive, the Rusty Pro offered one wakeboarder the best ride of their life, they said. While another added, “they killed it with this one.” What’s for certain, it’s grippy, snappy, and fast, according to feedback.

Women, of course, should use whatever wakeboard fits them, but female wakeboarders with especially small frames should consider the Ronix Quarter ‘Til Midnight. 

This 5-star board is a hybrid 3-stage middle with a continuous outer rocker. It’s generally lighter while offering more flex than other boards, which suits some female riders better than others. 

But most notably, the bindings are designed for boots sized to fit most women’s feet. Nevertheless, riders should expect predictable take offs, wake to wake jumps, and smooth, low maintenance turns with high-speed wide open cuts.

And for kids just getting into wakeboarding, we like the Super Grom kid’s wakeboard from Slingshot. 

Learning edge control is often the most important lesson for young riders, and the Super Grom offers bolt-on fins to help keep control while they’re learning. 

Otherwise, it’s a hybrid continuous rocker, appropriate for beginning and advanced water experiences, and everything in between. And it’s designed to mimic the feel of a snowboard, offering softer flex, which is perfect for lighter body types, especially in the wake. 

Overall, it’s a great learning board, but sophisticated enough to keep kids interested as their skills improve. 

Youngsters particularly like the flashy graphics, but no fins are included, unfortunately. The Super Grom is alSO not well-suited for aggressive boarding, we learned and it’s a little slow for more experienced wakeboarders. Which is not usually a problem for kids.

Our Process

For this guide on the best wakeboards, our team spent 5 hours researching the most popular options from over 30 brands and manufacturers big and small. We then read about 5-10 user reviews per wakeboard (both positive and negative) to discover what shoppers thought about each one. After comparing this data, we narrowed our list down to the top 6 on the market. You can count on this research to guide you to a mindful purchasing decision.

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Further Reading