Parker Payne is a professional wake surfer from Richardson, Texas. He’s been a lake rat since 9 years old and started surfing behind a boat at 11 years old. In fact, in February of 2013, Parker tried a surf style board for the very first time and declared that he wanted to focus on wake surfing with a goal to compete. Just a few months later, and at the “ripe old age” of 13, he made a huge splash in the wake surfing community by racking up multiple first place and second place podium finishes in both Men’s Amateur and Men’s Outlaw divisions. Parker turned Pro in 2014. The highlight of Parker’s 2013 rookie season included a World Championship title in Men’s Amateur Surf in Las Vegas and a National Championship title at the USA Wake Surf Nationals at Callaway Gardens in Georgia. Parker finished the 2016 season as the #2 men’s surf style pro wake surfer in the world and has continued to remain one of the top professional wake surfers in the world thru 2019. Parker brings an energetic, creative and stylistic approach to his surfing. He’s known for huge aerials, 540 and 720 Big Spins on a skim board and 360 Shuv-Its on a surf-style board!
In the off season Parker enjoys flow boarding at AquaShop. It’s a great way to cross train, work on new tricks and stay in shape when the weather is cold.
When not on the water, Parker enjoys lots of activities and hobbies. In 2018 Parker was a freshman at Rollins College in Winter Park, FL which is a private college in the suburbs of Orlando. Outside of school Parker is a technology and sports car buff. If it has an Apple logo on it, Parker is all over it! He’s owned a number of sports cars and high performance 4x4s. Other passions of Parker’s include dirt bikes, gas scooters, Segways, skateboards, longboards, go carts, RC cars and golf carts – toys with wheels! You can also find him ripping around on his motorized OneWheel and Boosted Board as well!
Parker enjoys the support of various sponsors that help him with the tools to perform at his best. Some of those include Supra Boats, Phase5 wake surf boards and Lead Wake.
For practice time on the water, Parker spends much of his time traveling with family and friends. He travels all around the country to experience new lakes, meet new people and spread the thrill of surfing behind a boat. Check him out at his next competition or stop by Dallas to say hi and even try surfing for yourself!
