Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times / Sport

Wakeboarding: Bishop pins hopes on new tricks

Bay of Plenty Times
12 Mar, 2013 09:01 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Tauranga water sports athlete Darren Bishop is looking to cut through the competition and Christchurch's Lake Crichton at the 2013 Wakeboarding Nationals on March 22-23.

The former New Zealand junior representative, who finished second at the North Island Championships in late February, has a couple of new tricks to aid his pursuit of favourites Brad Smeele and Nick Gibson.

"I just recently broke through a barrier with landing new tricks - I've learnt more in the last year than I have in the last four, so I just want to keep that train rolling," said Bishop, who now counts a Pete Rose and toeside frontside 720 among his arsenal of tricks.

With no foam pits in which to safely hone new tricks, wakeboarders such as Bishop take a novel approach to training.

"I do a lot of practice on the trampoline, which is really good for air awareness and handling.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"If it feels all right you just have to go out there and throw it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but I'd rather do that over water than over big dirt jumps like the dirt bike guys.

"If we mess up nine times out of 10 you're all right - if they mess up it's broken bones."

The 24-year-old has sharpened his skills in Florida during past northern summers and departs these shores in early May. He will fly to Oklahoma City to meet friends before travelling through Texas and Louisiana en route to a summer riding in Florida.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

With 30-40 minutes in a boat costing about $50 for fuel alone, the O'Brien Watersports sponsored rider reckons the sport is not accessible to everyone.

"Gas is the main one because it is endless. The better you get the bigger you want the wake to be, so you put more weight in the boat and it chews through the gas.

"Unless you know someone with a boat or have one yourself it's impossible to do it.

"But hopefully that will be changing soon. There's talk about some more cable parks cropping up. They're basically just a lake with a cable system hooked up similar to ski lifts except it goes round and round. That's what made the sport a lot bigger in America."

Discover more

Wakeboarding: Florida flights help take Kiwi to greater heights

19 Dec 05:00 PM

Bishop is looking for a strong showing at the nationals to propel him into consideration for the national squad to travel to Korea for the world championships.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Bay of Plenty Times

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses

Bay of Plenty Times

Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought

Bay of Plenty Times

Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses
Bay of Plenty Times

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses

The new facility will include a new building plus 14 asphalt and nine cushioned courts.

14 Jul 07:00 PM
Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought
Bay of Plenty Times

Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought

14 Jul 05:17 AM
Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes
Bay of Plenty Times

Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes

14 Jul 04:28 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP