How You Do It Is Often More Important Than What You Are Doing

In the early days of Alliance we had regular discussions about what looked good and what did not on a wakeboard. For the most part we all saw the world from the same jaded perspective and agreed that extra flips and 180s didn’t necessarily make wakeboarding look any better, and it definitely took it further away from what that masses could relate to.

So we had this idea to have a “Style Roundtable” with a number of the top riders at the time. The idea was to understand what the term “Style” meant to each rider. We got very, very granular on what style was. Tony Smith was our original editor and generally the best writer the watersports industry ever had. Tony is one of those guys that always has the right way to say or write his thoughts. Tony put it perfectly – ”Style is when a rider is so in touch with the moves they are doing that they can interpret them and individualize them.” Yep, that’s it right there: Style.

So how do we inspire the athletes that “need” to do 1080’s in contests to slow it down and focus on the basics? We have a contest! Less Than 5 was born in 2012 and it quickly became the most coveted invitation in wakeboarding. Those coveted invitations went out in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 and now they are out again in 2023.

It has been a minute but I guarantee that you will see some of the most inspiring riding you have seen in years. Stay tuned.

By Bill McCaffray

Check out the history of Less Than 5 below…