Illustration: Mickey Duzyj

Wakeboarding? Pansy sport. The hardcore crowd right now is crazed for "winching," a radical offshoot of wakeboarding in which riders skate across the surface of millponds, boulder-studded creeks, alligator-infested swamps and the occasional office-park fountain. They ride on bindingless boards, pulled by a diesel winch constructed from an industrial snowblower motor, chain-saw parts and parachute cord. Today the sport's madcap messiah is 24-year-old Kyle Walton, the lead rider of a Bellingham, Washington, team of winchers called Homeless — so named for their hitchhiking and couch-poaching tendencies — who represent the freshest talent in the nascent sport. "The boat kept a lot of kids from riding on the water," says Walton. "Now, with the winch, it's anybody's game." DAVID HOLTHOUSE

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