Wakeboarding

Parks Bonifay has been leaving people in his wake practically since birth. His parents were professional show skiers who made their son an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records by placing him on water skis at the tender age of 6 months and 29 days. Bonifay marvels at video footage of becoming the youngest skier, with his tiny feet planted in training skis and his father poised to jump in after him at the first hint of trouble.

W1ld.com Britain-based www.W1ld.com might as well be your nonstop ticket to shredderdom. Many other websites, including ESPN's www.EXPN.com, promise a catchall place for "extreme" sports such as snowboarding, mountain biking and wakeboarding. The trouble is that many of the sites are not reliable, and the slick www.EXPN.com is a little too ... synergistic with ESPN's X-Games. The "extreme" revolution may have been televised, but to me, if a gnarly act occurs and ESPN is not around, that's OK.

"Project Detention" showcases student filmmaking in the realm of action sports such as surfing, wakeboarding, snow sports, motorcycle jumping and street skating. Calling them students only reflects their unpaid status, because most of the footage is taken in long, clean takes, and the pro-caliber feats depicted are downright cool. The show is broadcast often, showing many submissions as well as music from underground bands.

Sixty-ONE people were killed and 502 injured in nearly 1,000 boating mishaps in California last year, the most annual accidents on record, state officials report. Improved reporting accounts for the increase, although there were more accidents involving such tow-sports as wakeboarding and knee-boarding, says Raynor Tsuneyoshi, director of the California Department of Boating and Waterways. Amy Rigby, the department's accident analyst, says last year saw the most fatalities in a decade.

Ocean View High 17071 Gothard St.

The sun wasn't the only bright thing on the sand at Huntington Beach for last weekend's finals of the Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing. Near nuclear neon hues of pink, orange and yellow radiated from board shorts, bikini bottoms, cheap sunglasses (a $5-a-pair booth sold retro Ray-Ban styles with flip-up lenses) and hats. Many of the latter bobbed through the throngs in a blaze of orange -- thanks to the branding mojo of Nike 6.

In a stunning surprise, the International Olympic Committee dropped wrestling, which has been a part of the modern Games since they began in 1896, from the Summer Olympics starting in 2020. Modern pentathlon was considered the most likely sport to be dropped. The decision was made by secret ballot over several rounds. Four sports were on the bubble in the final round: Wrestling, modern pentathlon, taekwondo and field hockey. The IOC board acted after reviewing all 26 sports on the current Olympic program.

What: "Topspin" Where: Channel 2, Sunday, 12:30 p.m. As the title might suggest, this half-hour show, produced by Wave Entertainment in association with CBS and the United States Tennis Assn. is about tennis players. But it's not only about tennis players playing tennis. The five-week series focuses on tennis players doing such things as swimming with dolphins, flying with the Blue Angels, taking batting practice with the Baltimore Orioles and bungee jumping.

Fabiola da Silva is the leading female medal-winner in X Games history, a seven-time in-line skating gold medalist, but she won't even be in California when the games are contested today through Sunday at Staples Center and the Home Depot Center. Dallas Friday won her fourth gold medal in wakeboarding last year, then talked about catching BMX rider Dave Mirra, who leads all X Games contestants with 14 gold medals.

"Sing to me, baby," I say. "Show me what you can do." The rental speedboat lifts out of the water like a dragonfly--on gossamer wings, zipping across the calm lake. I'm feeling pretty good, off to surprise the kids with this, the last available ski boat of the day. With only me in the boat, it's soon skimming along at 45 mph. On water, that feels like 90. "Sing to me, baby," I say to the boat's impressive engine.