One of my newer sports; I started wakeboarding during the summer of 1998. My uncle and cousin bought a boat and wakeboard, and we went out a couple of times. It was an absolute blast, and I fell in love with the sport. By my second time, I got the hang of 180's, wiped out on many 360 attempts, got the hang of sliding on the wake, bit it almost every time I tried to switch stance while not jumping the wake, and had a spectacular wipeout attempting a backflip. It is much more sensitive and difficult than snowboarding, but the wipeouts rarely do more than shoot water up your nose or give you a wedgie. It obviously has a large startup cost associated with it, as well as needing to be near a lake.
This wasn't a big issue when I lived in Michigan. A few of my friends had boats and lived near the water; so I was able to get out a bit. My cousin went all the time, and got into several competitions. He could do some spectacular tricks. I never did it consistently enough to get really good, but always had a good time when I went. It's much more difficult to do out in Colorado, as there aren't as many lakes; so everything is more inconvenient, crowded and expensive. Have still gotten out a few times out here though...