Editor’s Note: Twenty-five-year-old Reed Hansen of Clermont, Florida, is the current reigning and seven-time World Champion Wakeskater and is one of the newest members of the Mossy Oak Pro Staff. The sport of wakeskating was born about 15-20 years ago, and Hansen was one of the pioneers of this new water sport. Like you, many at Mossy Oak didn’t know what a wakeskater was until Hansen gave us his information. Reed Hansen probably has one of the most-interesting jobs of anyone on the Mossy Oak Pro Staff.
I’m often asked what makes a wakeskate board different from a wakeboard. The wakeskate board is shorter (40-inches long and 15-16 inches in width) than a wakeboard that’s generally about 50-55 inches long. Many boat dealers across the nation sell wakeskating boards, you can buy them online, and there are pro shops around most major cities that sell wakeskate boards. The next question I’m often asked is, “How and why did you get on the Mossy Oak Pro Staff?” The answer is simple: I wakeskate professionally, so I can go hunting when I’m not wakeskating. My profession is wakeskating, and my recreation is hunting.
I got a call one day from Daniel Haas (the son of Toxey Hass, the founder of Mossy Oak). Daniel is into wakeboarding, and he told me Mossy Oak wanted to become involved with someone in wakeboarding and wakeskating who was also a hunter. He talked to a friend of mine and learned about my passion for hunting, and that I loved Mossy Oak. So, I was the person they picked. I think Daniel is planning to get into wakeskating now too, as well as continuing wakeboarding.
Many people want to know when I started hunting. I started hunting about the same day I began to walk. My dad took me hunting before I was old enough to hunt by myself. I’d go out and sit with him on the deer stand while he was hunting. I’ve always had a love for deer hunting. That time spent with my dad, seeing deer and watching him take deer is what has created my passion for deer hunting. I have a friend who has land in Pineapple, Alabama, and that’s where I do most of my deer hunting with some in Florida too. I took my first deer when I was 8-years old while hunting with my dad. My dad has a passion for hunting just like I do, and his job is teaching wakeboarding and wakeskating.
How Mossy Oak’s Reed Hansen Learned the Sport of Wakeskating
