Company Profiles

Hydroslide (Kransco) - The "Hydroslide" was the first kneeboard to be mass produced.  If you've been kneeboarding for 10+ years, this is probably the board you used.  The first kneeboards where made by using a method called roto-molding.  Basically, they created a styrofoam core which is then coated with melted plastic in a mold.  Once the plastic hardens, the board is released from the mold, wiped clean from the chemicals used to help keep it from sticking to the mold.  Then they glue the foam pad on, place the inserts for the footman loops (the D-rings which hold the strap on) and install the footman loops and strap.  Lastly, they place the decals on the board.  Hydroslide improved their first board by making a contoured pad and called the "Hydroslide Pro".  Over the course of time the "Pro" has stood it's ground.  It was last called the "Pro XL" and had retractable fins installed on it.  Hydroslide has produced several other boards too.  These are the Explosion, Kaos, Magna, Revolution, Phantom and Razorback.  All of these boards are roto-molded except the Kaos.  The Kaos is a high-end board of which you can find out more information in the board reviews.

HO Sports - HO stands for Herb O'Brien, the original owner of O'Brien Water Skis.  Herb wanted to expand his business and needed capital.  He found some partners who then grew tiresome.  When an offer from the Coleman corporation came along, they basically sold out.  Coleman began influencing the decision making process.  Herb knew he had better ways of making the same equipment and making it better.  In the late 80's, Herb invented a new way of making ski-boards/wakeboards and kneeboards.  This method was called compression molding.  The first kneeboard that he produced was called the "720".  It was the most basic looking thing.  The pad was flat except for a little hump outlining your knees.  There were 2 velcro strips about a foot long on the pad.  An oblong, triangular shin pad with the other half of the velcro on it.  This pad could be placed anywhere on the velcro strip according to your leg length.  This was a brilliant idea.  The board turned just like a ski - smooth, carving turns.  It had 1" diameter and 1/4" deep dimples throughout the flat part of the board.  This was to help reduce water tension under the board.  Herb's next board was the "540".  This had a much more comfortable kneepad and had 2 grooves or rails going down each side of the board on the bottom.  As Herb does everything, he made it adaptable to almost anyone.  He made this board in two different sizes.  This board was changed just a little to make it a twin tip (to match the wakeboards).  For one year it was called "The Edgeman".  It had a cartoon graphic on it.  Then came the Joker.  Cool graphics, a wide tail and a lot of rocker (the amount of curve on the board from nose to tail).  He included a standard "double-strap" on this board.  This strap was like your typical strap - you tighten down one side and then you pull it extra tight to lock you in from the other side.  This was for the hard-core riders and for doing spins and inverted tricks.  Know Herb produces the 540 (now called the 720), an upgraded Joker with sharper rails and the "Shark".

O'Brien - The number one selling kneeboards.  O'Brien is highly successful due to one name Jonathon MacDonald.  He set the standards.  He took the simple barrel roll to multiple rolls on one wake jump on national television and shocked us all.  Their most popular board the "Black Magic" was competition to Hydroslide's kneeboards.  A little bit of a different board was the "".  This had a spoon shape and was great for doing multiple flips.  You would dip the tip with out making it go completely under.  This would create a lot of extra bounce to do air flips.  O'Brien no longer makes this board because the design was to weak for the larger wakes.  They kept breaking in half.  O'Brien has a large variety of boards.  These are mostly for selling features.  Additional boards include:  Airageous, Ricochet, Tournament 2000, Surge and the Lowrider.  The Lowrider is a compression molded board.  O'Brien has hooked up with the Cinch company and as an upgrade, you can order a double-locking strap.

Neptune - One of the newest companies to make kneeboards.  Neptune is a division of Straight Line ski ropes and handles.  They also got into the inflatable market.  Neptune saw the explosion of kneeboarding and signed on Ted Bevelacqua.  Ted designed a board called the "Trident".  This board took off and all of the expert riders loved it.  It became the number one board.  Then came wakeboarding.  Neptune decided it wanted to focus all of it's attention on ropes and wakeboards.  Originally, they had a contract with Hydroslide. The "Explosion" is the same as the "Trident" with different graphics.  Finally, Neptune sold the mold to Hydroslide.  The "Trident" was HO's rival for compression molded kneeboards.

Connelly - Originally, Connelly was into the kneeboarding market.  They had designed 2 or 3 different boards.  With the hype of wakeboarding Connelly has pretty much dumped the kneeboard seen and changed their name to CWB (Connelly Wakeboards)

Kidder - Like Connelly, Kidder similarly has dropped out of the kneeboarding market.  Kidder is named after Denny Kidder.  Denny & Herb O'Brien both grew up in the Washington state area and tinkered with skis.  Denny's road has been much harder financially.  At one point, he was being financed by World Class 3-event skier Camille Duvall.  After a very bad break-up and almost total bankruptcy, Denny got back on his feet with the wakeboad craze and the ski jumping.