Well, the first (official) World WakeSurfing Championships have come to an end and are now part of watersports history. Everyone agreed that it was a blast and pretty damn exciting for competitors and spectators alike. Some of the most impressive moves in Saturday’s Open Division competition came from the guys on the surfboards. Will Church from SurfTech just ripped it up with big powerful carving. I’ve never seen anyone bottom turn so far out in the flat and so far back on the wake! He pumped up in the pocket and blasted a couple of sweet 360’s off the lip. Another surfer that boggled the mind was a relative unknown from Santa Barbara, Cali, riding a SurfTech fish. Heath Braddock nailed numerous 360’s along with Floaters, then broke the fins loose off the lip and fanned some big water. Unfortunately Will and Heath just couldn’t get the moves on Colin Harrington, the pro wakeboarder / wakeskater from Florida. Colin turned in some very impressive moves, including some tasty Pop Shove-it 180’s into a smooth 360 then he Hang Five popped up to a Floater off the Lip and Ollied back down to the flats. He made it look so easy, like he was walking down the street. The big surprises, though, were Bill Bryan and Drew Danielo, both pro skimboarders. After the first heat it was pretty obvious why Bill is a 9-time world champion skimboarder, sponsored by Victoria Skim Boards. He threw some moves that haven’t even been named yet! Our incredible announcer, Hunter Joslin from Indo Boards, was definitely kept busy describing the tricks all the athletes were able to pull off. Drew Danielo managed to secure his place in history as the Open Champion with the only successful Pop Shove-it 360 in the competition, taking away a $4,000 share of the $10,000 prize money up for grabs.
Friday competition saw some great wakesurfing in the amateur divisions from some terrific up and coming competitors. Almost every one of the amateur participants took home a new board, supplied by our sponsors, Trick Boards, Phase 5, Inland Surfer, Shredd Stixx, SurfTech, Victoria Skimboards and Spun Surfboards. They’re going to be doing a lot of practicing on those new boards, perfecting their tricks and getting ready for next year’s event!
Level X sponsored a fantastic Friday Night party for all of the competitors and industry people. The party gave everyone a chance to listen to some great music and have an opportunity to really get to know each other. How many other times have surfers, wakeboarders, skiers and skimboarders gotten together to share ideas and tricks? The main talk, though, was about the history being made at this event and the “official” unveiling of a brand-new sport!
Centurion Boats really came through with the big cash prizes and the manpower to make this event so successful. The total value of the cash and product prizes that were supplied by our incredibly generous sponsors far exceeded that of most Pro-Tour stops for any of the represented disciplines. In addition to some state-of-the-art boards, competitors walked away with WetBox custom tower speaker boxes, Pro-Flite and Fluid Concepts board racks and tower speakers, Fluid Concepts ballast sacks, t-shirts, hats, Legend Sunglasses, Titan speaker systems, Indo Boards and more. Thanks again to everyone who donated their products and their time. We couldn’t have done it without you!
It was a great event and we can’t wait until next year!
Open Men Finals
1st Drew Danielo /Phase 5
2nd Colin Harrington /Phase 5
3rd Heath Braddock /SurfTech
4th Bill Bryan /Victoria Skim Boards
5th Will Church /SurfTech
6th Daniel Watkins /Phase 5
7th Greg Nelson /Cope and McPheters
8th Blake Smetts /Phase 5
9th Bryan Frances /Inland Surfer
Way to go, Ryan.
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