Disneyland of extreme watersports docks at CamSur

All the excitement of watersports converges in Camarines Sur’s Camsur Watersports Complex (CWC). It all begins on the first time you try it, and then peaks at when it all begins to be addicting. Imagine this: Automatic cable system gliding you through a six–hectare cruise of water track where you are free to touch the water surface, ski over ramps, and break self borders.

CWC, the biggest, best watersports complex in the entire world, has attracted the best of the best wakeboarders.

Australian wakeboarding champion and world wakeboarding placer Reuben Buchanan has made CWC his second home. Devoting more than a decade now to extreme water sports, Buchanan was tapped by CamSur Governor Luis Raymund Villafuerte to come see what has become of Pili in Camarines Sur.

"When the governor first asked me to see this, I just said why not check it out. But once I’ve set foot here, it’s amazing how it all dawned on me. It’s the best in the world! All the wakeboarders who’ve traveled half the globe to see this all say the same thing—this is by far the best wakeboarding arena in all they’ve seen," Buchanan said.

Since experiencing CWC, Buchanan had hardly gone back to Australia .

"Wakeboarding, which has been my life, for the last 12 years, is nothing short of addicting. Once you’ve tried it, it’ll all be like gliding to one trick after another," Buchanan said.

TEAM PHILIPPINES

Wakeboarding sets the extreme action to full motion via 8 to 12 meters of an overhead cable, allowing the wakeboarder to cruise the water surface through specially designed pylons. With the cables running clockwise between 20-65 km/h speeds around the biggest man-made lake track built for wakeboarding, the rider circles the track via different strokes of gliding motions while the speed lets him do exhibitions on the built-in ramps and all sorts of flips.

It is like skateboarding on water but different in some ways: One, you fall into the water so there are lesser chances for dangerous bumps and injuries; and two, the board has a built-in pair of shoes that you can control and swing up the air or to ant possible desired motion.

The cable-run lake track has a six–point cable ski system so six participants can enjoy the thrills of watersports all at one time.

"In other countries, there’s just about a month or two of summer. But here in the Philippines, the weather is almost good for wakeboarding almost all year round which is why it has attracted a lot of my fellow Australians, Germans, American. Almost all kinds of wakeboarding athletes have come here and stayed because of the weather and the world-class cable system," explained Buchanan, who now also makes sure that the machine at the CWC runs well.

Not only foreigners have gotten into the wakeboarding zone in CamSur. Filipinos who can turn the board in jawdropping stunts have become addicted too.

"The governor told me I can train the people here but it was by a fortunate accident that I met some of the locals who can now do spectacular stunts. I played basketball with a few locals one afternoon and one of the guys flipped and I was amazed because he did that on the concrete and then I found out that most of them can do that. Imagine how well they would do on water. So I told the governor, ‘These are the guys we should train.’ He gave me the greenlight and now I have a team of wakeboarders here with me. In not time, I’m sure a Filipino will emerge in the international wakeboarding scene."

The other cable water sports made extremely available at the CWC aside from wakeboarding are cable skiing, kneeboarding, water skiing, and wake skating.

In cable skiing or ‘riding the cable,’ wake surfers get full command of both water and air. Unlike surfers who need to gamble with the tides, wakeboarders easily execute tricks. Nonetheless, it is still not injury-free. Before you try wakeboarding, you are made to sign a waver should the participant be injured.

What’s amazing is that sprained ankles or shattered knees are seemingly of no consequence.

"It’s just something difficult to stop yourself from doing," one wakeboarder revealed. "What’s important is the great opportunity for the rest of water extreme sports athletes to experience the sport here in the Philippines. Here, wakeboarding is very affordable. Whereas, for instance in Australia, it costs about 50,000 to 200,000 Australian dollars because you have to bring in a boat aside from your gear," said Buchanan

LOCAL GOVERNMENT’S SUCCESS

The success of the watersports in CamSur is mostly due to the passion and hardwork of Gov. Villafuerte, disclosed Buchanan.

"The Governor is an amazing person who makes things happen. Nothing he sets his goal on is impossible."

Villafuerte and his team have commanded world wakeboarding attention to CamSur in less then three years. In fact, the next World Cable Wakeboard and Wakeskate championship in 2008 will be held at the CWC.

For this year, the first ever international wakeboarding competition or CWC Open happens next month, coinciding with the Kaugma festival.