Personal watercraft and surfing have become connected in a manner unthought of not so long ago. Surfing is a soulful sport, arguably pegging the “cool” factor, with guys and girls using the power of mother nature to provide them with walking on water ride. It was in the very late ’80s when some stand-up personal watercraft riders were hanging out with some big gun surfers in Hawaii when they tried a little experiment. Surfing has been a sport in the Pacific islands for hundreds of years and has rapidly progressed as has the innovation of the equipment, mainly the use of foam and fiberglass. Surfers were pushing the limits of whats possible but physical limitations still held them back from some of the best breaks in the world.

The paddle to the good breaks were near impossible and getting in the right spot, and out of the wrong spot, was overcome by the next progression in surfing technology, the personal watercraft. In Hawaii surfers were being pulled into waves that they would normally not be able to reach of paddle fast enough to catch and the sport of Tow-in Surfing was born. In fact it has come so far, professional big wave rider, Garrett McNamarra only two months ago rode the first 100-foot wave after being pulled in by a Sea-Doo RXT-X in Portugal. These guys trust their lives with the reliability of Sea-Doo watercraft, as with out them, surfing these watery skyscrapers would be next to impossible.

Mauro Diaz from San Juan Puerto Rico pulled into the Cocoa Beach, Florida surf by Shea Lopez aboard a Sea-Doo WAKE PRO

The United States East Coast Surf scene is different. The Atlantic Ocean usually provides smaller swells to those in Florida waters to New York. On the Atlantic side, the challenge was how to catch much smaller waves, waves that don’t always break consistently in the same spot forcing surfers to paddle back and forth to catch the good sets. Sea-Doo watercraft have been utilized to grow the sport of Tow-At surfing where Sea-Doo WAKE models are used to tow surfers to the breaks where they can ride the wave faster than normal and pull off big arial tricks they could never do by simply paddling.

This past weekend in Cocoa Beach, Florida the Beach and Boards fest sponsored by Quicksilver took place and some of the best East coast surfers took to the air in the QUIK Tow-At. Competitors were treated to a perfect day with head high waves in temperatures in the upper 70-degree range. Tow-At surfing has grown in popularity with famous Florida breed surfing brothers including the Slater brothers, Lopez brothers, and the Hobgoods. Sea-Doo watercraft has been an integral part of that sports growth and will continue to help these wave riders push their sport to new heights.

NOTE THESE ARE PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES AND DRIVERS IN CLOSED AREAS DO NOT ATTEMPT ANY OF THESE STUNTS.