For the 19th year, the SC Rough Riders put on their Weekend with the Pros event on Lake Murray.

On June 9, professional wakeboarders like Bec Gange and Joey Harris gave lessons and tips on how to successfully wakeboard and wake surf out on the lake. 

On June 10, Gange and Harris as well as a few other professional wakeboarders like Parker Swope spent an hour demonstrating some of their best tricks and abilities out on the lake with a large crowd of spectators lined up along the boundaries in their boats. 

The now annual weekend of wakeboarding showcases and lessons first began as a way for a few local competitive wakeboarders to get more cost-efficient pro lessons from the likes of Sean Murray and Gerry Nunn. According to SC Rough Riders founder Chris Farr, an event that originally began as a casual series of lessons has blossomed into a yearly event that has attracted a new wave of wakeboarding fans.

“All of a sudden, we looked around and we realized that there were more people coming to the event to watch it. We said, ‘Alright, this is something we can make bigger.’ So the first event, and for about the first eight or 10 years, it was actually in my parents’ back yard just here on the lake,” Farr said. “Luckily as this sport has gained interest in this area, we’ve gotten really lucky. Not every region has businesses that want to support the sport the way that we do.”

The businesses Farr alluded to are title sponsors like Blue Cross Blue Shield and other sponsors like Captain's Choice Marine. Captain’s Choice Marine provided the boats that were used for the lessons and the demonstration on June 10 as well as hosted the pro wakeboarders’ t-shirt signing event afterwards.

For professional wakeboarder Gange, who has won multiple world championships, this event is a unique way to grow the sport to a younger demographic.

“I’ve been coming here for four years and I’m always excited and stoked when they invite me to come back,” Gange said. “It’s just fun. We get to go out, teach people to wakeboard and teach them new tricks and build their confidence and on Saturday we do a demo for everybody. It’s good fun.”

This year was Harris’ first at the event. The pro wakeboarder and wake surfer already spends time competing as well as instructing at his new wakeboard surfing academy located in Table Rock Lake, Missouri. He left the first day of instruction impressed by the smoothness of the water at Lake Murray and was enjoying the time spent teaching the sport to local kids.

“It was awesome. I always love teaching and seeing the smiles on people’s faces when they get up and rip it out there and learn new tricks. It’s a good time,” Harris said.