Date: 10/20/00
Author: Ben Morgan and David Williams
Photos: Ben Morgan

The annual Surf, Wakeboard and Waterski Expo kicked off on September 14th and ran through the 17th this year. The Expo is a closed event for shop owners and distributors to come and check out all the latest gear for the new year. This year's Expo proved to be bigger and badder than previous years, boasting more companies and quite a few new innovations. Trends where obvious among the companies' finless boards, laces and latches on the bindings and fat silver jewelry on the body.

Parks Bonifay and company in the Hyperlite booth

The boards for 2001 are definitely innovative. Everyone from the big to the small had their best ideas on display. Hyperlite made it known that they came to do business, boasting one of the largest booths and biggest lineups. They had several new boards in the line up for next year including Danny Harf’s first board, The Premier. The ever popular Project got a face lift for 2001. Which will be piloted by Hyperlite's newest team member, Parks Bonifay.

Right next door to Hyperlite was Tony Finn and his crew from Liquid Force. Liquid had their ever popular Trip line of boards on display along with their latest offering, Shawn Watson's signature Helix 136. There is reportedly a larger Helix, around 140 cm, in the works. Liquid Force also had their recently released Pickle Fork out for all the kite boarding enthusiasts to view. That board will be put to the test by kiteboarding legend and Liquid Force rider, Lou Wainman.

Core's 'Mad Cow' wakeskate and designer, Ben Morgan

Other smaller companies such as Core Boards were turning just as many heads as the big guys with their new wakeskate series called the Mad Cow with sizes ranging from 102 cm to 120 cm. Not only does Core offer several different graphical set ups that can be custom mixed and matched for each of their 2001 board models, but for a few dollars more they will put your custom graphic on your board for you.

The boys from Double Up were in the house boasting a large line of boards including Collin Wright's new 145 cm board and the Nelson Pollution series. They also sported products from Fresh Water Traction and Hardline, two companies that have been brought under the Double Up umbrella recently.

Krown's 2001 Flake and YBR

Some of the best graphics for 2001 were turned in by Travis Harpes and Jeremy Demming of Krown Boards. They were showing five new graphics on their four board models that were pulling the spectators in to the always plush and comfortable Krown booth.

Thruster has also joined the finless board frenzy and come up with one that looked pretty nice. With this board is you get your choice of graphics since this is both Randy Harris’ and Steve Whalman’s pro model. Thruster is continuing with their innovative binding mounts. In fact, Thruster is now pressing GB Boards and they are sporting the same binding mounts.

Neptune redefined most their boards for 2001 and added a trio of World models to the lineup. They've also come a long way with complete redesigns on many of their Universal binding models. Veteran, Dean Lavelle, was representing at the Neptune booth as well as pumping up his new wakeboard school, Lavelle Train Station.

O’Brien threw several new boards in their lineup for the upcoming season including the Option and the Custom. Daniel Watkins will be seen upon the incredible graphics of the Option, while Josh Sanders will make his living on the Custom. They also have a limited edition graphic for Darin Shapiro's Answer that will only be available on a couple hundred boards. This is the graphic you'll see Darin riding.

There were plenty of other board companies on hand including Free Motion, Origin, the new kids in on the block from Austin, Texas, Bad Ass, CWB and Iconn. We still haven't seen anything from the rider owned Clutch or Best. However, Shannon Best told us that things were going great and that they'd have some boards produced within a month.

The Bindings for 2001 look better than ever, but may be a little more complicated than you're used to. Some of the most anticipated bindings on display were the new Concrete Mach 5 bindings featuring a full front lace up system.

Zane Schwenk hocking the CWB wares

Universal bindings should get the creativity award for 2001 with their new Harness binding. The Harness features a single wrap, a lace up closure system, toe box strap, mesh overlay and top ankle strap.

Also going heavy in the lace department is Hyperlite with the 3060, Byerly and Shaun Murray's new Belmont, which exhibits a front lace up system, a heel support strap and extra padding for them boys who like to go big.

Liquid Force isn't jumping on the lace-up band wagon, but they continue to come to the table with the reliable lineup of Suction bindings that they're known for. Double Up showed off a new line up of bindings with extra thick foot beds for extra comfort. Allen Petersen and his crew from Nice bindings gave all their 2000 models a graphical face lift for ’01. Bad Ass bindings gave us their standard line up of simple yet effective bindings with new and improved graphics and O’brien had their popular Plush Pro binding on display as well as a few other new models.

There were also a few new and interesting products out to storm the market at Expo. The new Hippo wake system was there showing off a hidden ballast system that has mountable switches for your dash that will control the filling of up to four tanks that are custom fit to your boat.

Titan Towers, Sky Jac, Wake Designs, Skylon and several other manufacturers were on hand with their latest in towers and board racks for all to see. To compliment any of these towers, Hot Buddy has come up with a bolt on electronic, remote controlled flag for those of you in states that require such safety features. It retails for a whopping $650, but definitely gets the gadget-of-the-year award.

The Reef Girls

As can be expected, the Reef Brazil booth was brimming with bikini clad talent. The mild traffic jam in front of their location was a sure indication that it was one of the most popular at the show, yet I don't recall seeing a single piece of footwear on display. Scantily dressed beauties were a common sight at many of the Expo booths. However, the innovative-way-to-show-off-skin award would have to go to Fat Crack shorts. They were pushing shorts with a clear window in the back that is destined to put an end to the saying, "where the sun don't shine!"

The Expo after hour parties for were by far one the most anticipated highlights of the weekend. On Thursday night, Hyperlite threw a nice gathering for all out at the legendary Orlando Watersports Complex. Afterward, some congregated at the local Hooters and Adobe Gilas, while a select few were invited to a private party at the house of Darin Shapiro.

Friday night there was the traditional bash out at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon water park, which was furnished with a big screen, live DJ and plenty of food and drink. If that get together didn’t party you out, you could have made it out to one of the local clubs, Icon, where Third Rail clothing and KIK wear threw a late night hootnanny until the wee hours.

Saturday night had the finals of the Cable World Championships at OWC. The weather was a little gloomy and everyone was talking hurricane, but the show did go on and we got to see some great cable riding. Unfortunately, a conflict between the International Water Ski Federation and the organizers of the Cable Worlds forced many of the European competitors to pull out of the competition at the last minute. Even last year's Cable World Champion, Rob Mapp, was not able to compete without losing his privilege to compete in future European events.

If you'd like to find out about more 2001 products, check out the 2001 WakeWorld Board Guide and Binding Guide.

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