#Permacation – McCormick’s0
Posted In Uncategorized
Installment 3 of our #Permacation project. For this video we towed the Sea-Doo’s south into Tampa Bay to take a shred at the McCormick’s cable park. I had a lot of fun riding with JD especially, that dude boosts off the kickers!
There’s no better way to kick off the coming wake season than to invite the entire northwest water sports community to Koppert Lake for Active Water Sports’ Annual Spring Classic event held on April 21st. After a long and strange snow season, I was as anxious as the rest of the northwest wake riders to get back on the water with my wakeboard. The weather during the days leading up to the Spring Classic made it difficult for any pre-contest practice rides, but that didn’t stop the 50 competitors from showing up for a great weekend of wakeboarding!
The day before the event, Active’s newest addition to the team, Jake Southard, and I spent all day in our rain gear setting up banners and flags around the lake. A little later in the afternoon the rain slowly drizzled off and we dropped the brand new Super Air Natique 210 into the water to get it sacked up and ready to ride for the contest.
A big surprise came later Friday night when Bryan Douglass from Slingshot rolled in with the Slingshot team van packed full of demo gear and offered all of the Central Washington University riders free rides and demos at the lake. I noticed one CWU rider even chose to use the Shredtown demo deck in the competition after testing it out Friday night!
We ended Friday by the campfire and I was really pumped to catch up and hang out with Eddie Roberts and the CWU wake team. I met most of the team last summer at the Collegiate Regionals tournament and was excited to see them all come out to Koppert as a team to represent their school. CWU brought 16 competing riders and with them their friends and family to show their support.
Saturday morning my head popped off my pillow 10 minutes before the alarm was set and I was awake and ready before the rooster crowed. The weather forecast called for rain all week, except Saturday we were promised mid 70′s and clear skies! The sun was a bit slower to get out of bed than I was, but by 10 o’clock the blue skies were out and the shoreline was quickly covered with lawn chairs and excited riders and spectators alike. For most of our riders it was their first ride of the season, but a few were lucky enough to make it out once or twice before. We totaled almost 50 riders to compete in the event. The contest offered the same divisions as our previous events: Grom, Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Master’s, Women’s, Wakeskate, Rails, and Pro. Our division participation was pretty well rounded throughout the competition. Every division held between 6-10 riders and that gave a fair chance for all the riders to get on the podium.
Lots of free t-shirts, hats, and stickers provided by our sponsors were thrown out to the crowd throughout the day and we once again had amazing prizes for our top placers including head phones, wakeboards, vests, rope and handle packages, and apparel. Corey Bruce was on site shooting photos of the crowd and the riders all day sacrificing the safety of his own skin in the sun! Contest results are listed below along with a photo gallery. Huge thanks to all of our continuing sponsors:
Slingshot
Ronix
Hyperlite
Liquid Force
Northwest Riders Clothing
O’neill
Active Water Sports
Photos taken by Corey Bruce: http://coreybrucephotography.tumblr.com/
Podium Results:
Grom: Novice: Intermediate:
1. Tanner Higham 1. Austin Preuss 1. Dave Bodi
2. Seth Mckeon 2. Talon Sorensen 2. Sean Cebell
3. Paige Storey 3. Sterling Fry 3. John Macarthur
Womens: Masters: Advanced:
1. Molly Hawken 1. Ray Durkee 1. Tyler Higham
2. Priscilla Stultz 2. Mike Raines 2. Corbin Schafer
3. Michelle Moos 3. Darren Halsey 3. Ammon Markstaller
Wakeskate: Rails: Open:
1. Aaron Huntley 1. Jake Southard 1. Kyler Green
2. Sean Cebell 2. Zach Schneider 2. Eddie Roberts
3. Patrick Mahoney 3. AJ Westlund 3. AJ Westlund
This is the first installment to our webisode series “#Permacation.” We decided to start our series by showing how miserable winter really can be for a wakeboarder in the northwest, and how amazing Florida is when you finally reach the sunshine. The best place to break off the winter rust is at the cable park, so we hit OWC first. Kevin pulled a few strings and he was able to pull a string and get us a private set at the park before they opened. We came well equipped with a couple sea-doo’s to get some chase shots that aren’t always easy to get from a cable park. This video has riding from Kevin Henshaw, Keith Lidberg, Mike Ennen, and Raph Derome. Thanks to IODA Media for another amazing edit, looking forward to “The Projects” episode coming soon!
Music by:
Ipso – Bon Iver Holocene remix
Tourist – Placid Acid
Just as the winter season started to drag on I got a call from Zach Schneider asking if I was ready for some sunshine. He set up a small trip to head over to Florida and stay with Kevin Henshaw and Keith Lidberg for two weeks to get some riding and filming in. So with some help from Slingshot, Activewake.com, and Zach’s tax return, we packed our bags and migrated south for two weeks to enjoy life in the sun. What started as a two week trip has evolved into a state of mind we now all share and it can only be described as #permacation
A series of four webisodes will be posted. Each edit will be based off different locations during our trip in Florida.
Music By:
Jimmy Roselli- “I Don’t Wanna Go Home”
Jungle Fiction- “Dead City (F.O.O.L Remix)”