The Salt of Wakeboarding
The famous Russian wakeboarder and Red Bull athlete, Nikita Martyanov, visited Azerbaijan in early September to show his skills in an unusual place – Masazir Lake. Masazir Lake is a pink salt lake in the settlement Masazyr, a suburb of Baku, and is a source of raw materials for a salt factory. Nikita is a 13-time wakeboarding champion in Russia and ranks consistently among the top three in Europe and top five in the world.
Wakeboarding is one of the most interesting and exciting extreme sports. It is a surface water sport, which involves riding a wakeboard over the surface of a body of water, towed behind a boat or a hydrocycle. It is a combination of snowboarding, skateboarding, water skiing, and surfing.
In addition to participation in the championships, Nikita often gives performances at unique natural areas of the world, which fascinate him with their exceptional and extraordinary beauty. Learning there is one of the nine pink salt lakes in the world located 15 km away from Baku, in the Masazyr settlement, he arrived in Azerbaijan to demonstrate his skills on the surface of this water reservoir.
After the unique race, Azeri Observer had an opportunity to interview the 29-year-old athlete and learn more about his unusual experience in Azerbaijan.
‘Since 2003 I have ended up on the sport’s podium 80 percent of all of my performances at the international competitions, among the top three winners.’
Question: As far as I know, your sports career did not start with a water sport. In youth, you practiced snowboarding. How did you come to wakeboarding?
Answer: Neither my parents nor I had the goal to make me a professional athlete. I practiced sports for fun. In the winter I snowboarded, and I wanted to train in a comparable sport during the remaining period of the year when snowboarding was not available. There was a large group of guys who rode wakes together, and these were the people who introduced wakeboarding to Russia. Since childhood, we attended lessons in ski schools in St. Petersburg with professional ski coaches who had a highly professional approach to training and prepared us for various competitions. Therefore, we performed at championships while enjoying the sport. We were the first who got the best boats in wakeboarding.
In 2003, I went to the European Wakeboarding Championship in London for the first time and received a gold medal, then I took part in the World Wakeboarding Championship in Australia and won bronze. These victories made me realize that I had to choose one sport to go further. I decided on wakeboarding since I already had great results in it. Besides, wakeboarding is less traumatic compared to snowboarding, which was an influential factor for my parents. Since that time, I have participated in various championships in Russia, Europe, and the world.
Q.: What makes wakeboarding a unique sport?
A.: There are three sports in the world which I adore: wakeboarding, snowboarding, and surfing. Wakeboarding is the easiest of the three. Other sports require a large number of conditions. For example, in snowboarding, there could be problems with the snow depending on the year. In surfing, the waves are never the same, and you need to find the right time, place, wind strength, and direction to ride a great wave.
In wakeboarding, everything is drastically easier. I have a professional tugboat on a stunning lake with the right depth, which is just a 15-minute ride from my house. I work with a boat driver who knows me very well, knows my preferences, and knows how to tug me. The wave height in wakeboarding is always the same, and the water can be either smooth or rippled depending on the wind. While performing at a competition we, of course, ride with any weather condition. Therefore, every day I go to the lake to train so I will be ready for any environment.
Nikita Martyanov, seen during thevisittothesaltlakeinMasazyr, Azerbaijanon4September2018.
Q.: How deep should a water reservoir be for wakeboarding?
A.: A great wave forms if the reservoir is up to four meters deep.
Q.: As you said, your victory in 2003 was a turning point for you and showed you the right direction to go. Could you inform us about additional victories which are especially meaningful for you?
A.: Yes, I can. The victory in London was significant, but I was quite young and competed in the junior category at that time. Since 2003 I have ended up on the sport’s podium 80 percent of all of my performances at the international competitions, among the top three winners. However, the ultimate achievement in my sports career is my performance at the World Championships in Korea when I won bronze. I am very proud of that moment. Some competitions lack top athletes, and it is not as much of a challenge to win against low-ranked teams. Meanwhile, the Championship in Korea brought together the best athletes in the world, and they were at the peak of their form. Harley Clifford, who is currently the best wakeboarder in the world, won the gold medal. Distinguished Japanese wakeboarder, Shota Tezuka, became the second-place winner. There were also very respectable athletes, who had occasionally even beat Harley, who finished behind me. Understanding the fact that I won third place from the best wakeboarders in the world is very important for me.
Q.: There is a large amount of incredibly beautiful videos where you show your skills in various parts of the world ...
A.: We have implemented an enormous number of projects jointly with Red Bull, and I am grateful to them. Red Bull is not just a partner providing you with an energy drink instead they are a company popularizing the sport. The competition is, of course, significant. However, if we want people to know about wakeboarding, there should be an extraordinary project, which will go viral on the internet, and everyone will want to repost it because it is unbelievable.
For the project in Azerbaijan, we immersed wakeboarding in an unusual environment and took crazy cool pictures, which everyone would want to see. Even if you never heard about wakeboarding, you will be interested and want to know more about this sport after seeing these photographs. I am grateful to my partners for the opportunity to show people that they can do something useful and trendy instead of an idle pastime. I believe this is my mission.
Q.: This is your first visit to Baku. Could you share your impressions about the city, people, and your experience at the salt lake in Masazyr?
A.: I am delighted to visit Baku. I always wanted to see the southern countries of the post-Soviet space. I have never been to Baku, but I visited the Caucasus many times when I practiced snowboarding. I fell in love with the beauty of the Azerbaijani capital, the hospitality of its inhabitants, and the dishes of the local cuisine. I hope I will come back here again for larger projects.
As for the salt lake, it is a cool visual picture. I did have some worries about safety since salt is a dangerous environment for the skin and eyes. Therefore, we finished the project pretty quickly. Meanwhile, I could say that we did almost everything we wanted. It was a unique experience. Unfortunately, I was not able to show all of my capabilities due to the extremely shallow depth of the lake. There was such a small quantity of water that it played the role of a thin layer of lubricant between the board and salt. However, I am fascinated by all of the photos and videos we took, and I think everyone who sees them will be interested as well.