After working at wakeboarding parks in two other states, Ash Hannig said that Woodland’s Velocity Island “is by far the full package.”
This is Hannig’s first season at Velocity, but the experienced wakeboarder has already settled into her role as marketing and programs manager.
Velocity Island has been open since 2013, adding onto its offerings as the years went on.
“There are tons of areas of the park that pertain to just about whatever activity you want to be doing,” Hannig explained. In addition to the cable-towing system for wakeboarders, the park offers a white sand beach and swimming area, a giant inflatable obstacle course — for adults and kids alike — and a board shop for “the sunscreen, the towels and the flip flops you left behind.”
The Black Pearl Bar & Grill was added after Velocity’s initial opening, to provide food and beverages to visitors.
Scott Hartmann, the park’s chief executive officer, grew up in Yolo County and wanted to bring cable wakeboarding to the area.
When scouting for a location, Hartmann found that the visibility of the 755 North East St. site from Interstate-5 was a major selling point. Typically, such parks are built out of the way, so having that visibility from the highway has been key.
Velocity occupies a space that was once Dubach Park. Dubach, however, was prone to flooding because it is built below ground level and over time became unusable as a baseball facility due to repeated flooding created when farmers in the area watered their crops.
Now, Velocity and its man-made lake utilize the space, which was overrun by towering weeds and leftover softballs when Hartmann first walked the grounds years ago.
“These cable parks were more rare when I first started,” Hartmann explained during a recent visit to the park.
While such parks are a staple in other countries such as Germany and have made waves in Texas and Arizona — where Hannig got her start — there are only two on the West Coast: Velocity Island and Wake Island in Sutter County. There are about 30 such parks across the U.S., Hartmann added.
The alternative to a cable park involves spending money to rent a boat, gas it up, travel to a water source and then wait your turn as only one person could go out at a time. At Velocity, six people are able to be on the cable course at once, Hannig emphasized.
Due to the scarcity of wakeboarding parks, Velocity has hosted multiple competitions over the years, including the Monster Energy Wake Park Triple Crown in 2015. The park also partners with nearby UC Davis and Sacramento State to host collegiate competitions.
Hannig, who has been wakeboarding for eight years, explained the basics of scoring such competitions as patrons practiced tricks behind her.
“When you are riding a cable wakeboard there’s kind of two areas that judges look for,” she said. “There’s aerial tricks and there’s tricks on features.”
“Features” are the white, hard plastic objects in the lake while the aerial tricks are performed on “kickers,” that are ramps positioned in the water. There are also rails spread throughout Velocity’s course.
“Different tricks can be held on those and then also with the aerial you can essentially hoist yourself up using tension from the rope to the cable and do tricks in the corner areas of the park,” Hannig added while a wakeboarder slapped down in the water behind her.
“I would say moving forward wakeboarding has become more focused on the features in the competition.”
While there are no upcoming competitions on the schedule, Velocity is seeing a great turnout of summer visitors from across the region.
Groups who didn’t take advantage of the cable wakeboarding could cool off with the 26-piece inflatable obstacle course located on its own section of the lake.
In terms of wakeboarding itself, Hannig said it is a male-dominated sport. In hopes of combatting this, Velocity offers a “ladies only” night, to introduce women to wakeboarding and have a safe space for them to try it out. She started a similar program at a previous park that’s “still going strong.”
“The wakeboarding industry is very small,” she said. “If you know anyone in wakeboarding, you pretty much know everyone.”
The hope is that, with time, Velocity Island and other parks like it will change this.
WHEN YOU GO
What: Velocity Island Park
Where: 755 North East Street, Woodland, CA 95776
When: Hours are generally noon to 5 p.m., with night hours Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays
Phone: 723-6885
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