Will the conquerer: wakeboarder Will Christien is the hottest thing to hit the water since the sun

Men's Fitness, August, 2004 by Matt Coppa

She may go by the masculine moniker of Will Christien, but one look at this pro wakeboarder and there's no doubt she's all woman. The buff Brit beaut picked up her sport while in Australia on "holiday," U.K. talk for "vacation."

"I pretty much got hooked from then onwards," says Christien, one of the top female boarders in the world.

For those who don't know, wakeboarding is like a combination of water-skiing and snowboarding, It's a trick-driven sport, where points are awarded for the style and difficulty of the gravity-defying flips, turns, and jumps executed in a speedboat's wake.

The fourth-ranked female boarder in Europe, Christien competes regularly in France, Italy, Greece, South Africa, and the U.S. Her specialty is the Heelside Front Flip--a reverse-cartwheel end-over-end flip. Not even the Fonz could do that.

"Well, I've never jumped over a shark while wearing a leather jacket," she hastens to point out.

When she's not competing or working her other job as a puppet-maker for children's TV (seriously), she trains at the Quayside Wakeboard and Water Ski school in southwestern England. Her strenuous muscle-sculpting routines include back and upper-body exercises, as well as trampoline training to build "air awareness."

No workout, however, can help you overcome fear, which may be a wakeboarder's most formidable foe. "You throw yourself around a lot, and you can get hurt," she admits, "so you've got to be a bit of a nut job. I've been lucky--I've just had a few concussions. But if you're not good at being silly, it's not the right sport for you."

It's clear this Christien's got the Will to win.