By Reed Watson

National University Student Journalist

photos by Reed Watson

Ben Horan is a professional wakeskater who resides in the small town of Nahunta, Georgia with his family. He owns his own board company, Remote wakeskates, and has companies Nike and Rockstar Energy supporting his talent.

Horan is a top contender each year in the contest scene. In 2011 he received the Transworld Wakeboarding Magazine Wakeskater of the Year award.

Horan is always creating something new or fixing up something around the house. If his hands aren’t getting dirty, then you could probably find him skateboarding in his driveway or wakeskating across the private pond in his yard.

For the past three years Horan has held the annual Retention wakeskate event with the help of his friends, family and sponsors. He’s had several popular video parts—from Homeless to Aquafrolics to More Than Machines.

Horan tells the story of how he found his two feet on a wakeskate—

“We went to this wake/surf shop, Aqua East, not knowing what wakeskating was and then we ended up buying this flat deck (wakeskate with no concave) for $50. Then we came home and I went wakeskating for the first time out behind our Bass Skier boat, and it was on since then. Shortly after that I went to this clinic/tour that Thomas Horrell and a bunch of other wakeskaters/wakeboarders were doing. Here I was wakeskating for the first time and it looked like skateboarding on the water. I’ve been hooked ever since. I was skateboarding my whole life, so it just worked out.”

Wakeskating has given Horan the opportunity to travel all around the United States, Germany, Abu Dhabi, Curacao and his favorite place yet, Australia.  With all this traveling comes photos and video. Horan has had several photos published of himself wakeskating in numerous magazines such as Alliance Wake, Transworld Wakeboarding Magazine and The Wakeskate Mag. He has also been working on filming a video part for the first Remote wakeskates video that is due to release late this summer.

It’s not always the easiest to keep motivated and to progress the sport of wakeskating. Horan says, “I don’t know what keeps me motivated, winching pretty much. Just traveling and going out in the woods finding spots. Hitting new spots is the best thing. Being able to find these locations that are not built for wakeskating, and then they end up being the best thing ever for wakeskating. Like the Pandora gap in Australia. That’s insane. Winching is what keeps me motivated. That’s all I do now, is winch. Going out on the boat and the Seadoo is fun, but that’s more of like a summer thing. Weekend warrior style stuff.”

At 24 years old, Ben Horan, is one of the most popular wakeskaters in the world. He has been at the forefront for several years and has several more years to shine in the limelight of the wakeskate industry. Ben leaves us with a funny story— “I was standing over my mom’s shoulder while she was cooking. I was just checking it out and then she cracks an egg and a chicken comes out. There’s blood everywhere and this is for breakfast. I was a little disgusted and didn’t eat eggs for two weeks until I got back home from a trip.”

For more information about Ben Horan or his company, Remote wakeskates, you can go to the website www.remotewakeskates.com.

References

Interview with Ben Horan.