Helicopter pilot Lt Victoria ‘Vee’ Arden flew the flag for the Royal Navy in the boom sport of wakeboarding – and left most of the Army’s finest trailing behind her.

Wakeboarding is a mix of surfing, snowboarding and water-skiing: a rider is towed behind a boat riding a board at speeds of up to 20mph.

So new is the sport that the Navy doesn’t have a team yet, but the Army can muster about 80 regular wakeboarders – and invited their best competitors to Willen Lake in Milton Keynes and Holme Pierrepont near Nottingham for the first wakeboarding contest.

The soldiers threw the contest open to guest riders from the Navy, and welcomed Lts Victoria ‘Vee’ Arden, Graham Humphries and Keith Considine, all from 845 NAS in Yeovilton – the Junglies.

Lt Arden took up the sport to improve her kitesurfing skills, but has since dropped the latter in favour of wakeboarding.

She saw off 19 of the Army competitors (and her Navy colleagues) at the first championships to finish in sixth place. Lt Humphries was placed 14th and Lt Considine came 25th.

The boarders spent three days in Milton Keynes, two for training and one for competition in disciplines including cable, kicker and slider.

The competitors then moved north for the last two days of the contest, concentrating on the boat competition on the Trent.

The next step for the officer, based at RNAS Yeovilton, is to ensure the sport is recognised as an official sport in the Navy, and then see an Inter-Services competition held in 2005.

“Wakeboarding is currently unrecognised, unloved and unfunded across the Forces, but it’s about to enter the main arena,” said Lt Arden.

“We are aiming to beat the Army and, to coin one of their slogans, be the best. We want to show them who really rules the waves.”

The RN wakeboarding ‘team’ is currently ten-strong.

Anyone looking to take up the sport, or provide sponsorship, should contact Lt Arden on 01935 456696 or e-mail navywakeboarding@hotmail.com