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Siblyback Wakeboard Cable - where did it go?

 In 2012, at a reported cost of £300,000, a Full Cable Wakeboarding System was installed in the South-Eastern end of Siblyback Lake. It was unusual in that it was the only Clockwise system in the UK.

It was publicised as having, "brand new changing facilities, onsite car parking and a fully equipped campsite".

Prior to the installation, there was some opposition to the wakeboarding cable as existing windsurfers and sailors felt that it took up too much of the lake and would impact on their use. There were also concerns that the lake was too remote from centres of population and that in the summer when the water level dropped, the wakepark would become unusable. Some people also felt that the structure would be unsightly.

South West Lakes Trust pressed ahead and the wakepark was installed with five 10m-high (32ft) lattice towers placed in the water with cables running between them.

Siblyback Lake Wakeboarding
Wakeboarding at Siblyback Lake in 2016
An enthusiastic user who was sixteen at the time said that "the wakepark was excellent fun and the instructors were cool dudes and generally the facility had a great vibe".

However, the system proved unreliable with frequent breakdowns and engineers had to come from abroad for repairs. After a fairly disastrous season in 2017, the facility was closed. In 2018, the wake park was removed from Siblyback. A spokesperson for the South West Lakes Trust (SWLT), which manages Siblyback, said that the wakepark was ‘no longer sustainable’.

Obviously, this caused a lot of disappointment amongst the wakeboard community.

Wakeboarding at Siblyback Lake
The Wakepark at Siblyback

Although the pylons, jumps, cable and jetty were removed prior to the start of the 2018 season, the remains of the plastic floating dock were left strewn around the lake for the whole of the year. Given the opposition to the wakepark in 2011/12, a reasonable course of action from the South West Lakes Trust would have been to remove these objects promptly and try to regain custom from sailors and windsurfers who had previously been unhappy but would now have more space again.

Remnants of the Siblyback wakepark
 Wakeboard Park detritus in May 2018

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