Pics of the ST. Louis Scion Open Rail Jam

Here are some pics of the Scion Tour Rail jam from last weekend in St. Louis.

The event was held at Hidden Valley. KC watersports and Dri-Port worked to have a Wakeboard scene there. The temp was roughly around 40 degrees and the sun was shinning. Tons of people showed up for the event. More pics are posted on; http://www.driport.com/photo_gallery.html

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<img src="http://www.driport.com/pp/uploads/101_2164_web.JPG">

<img src="http://www.driport.com/pp/uploads/101_2169_web.JPG">

<img src="http://www.driport.com/pp/uploads/101_2170_web.JPG">








(Message edited by mowakeboarding on February 27, 2008)

You people are crazy. But it looks like fun, so what the heck.

(Message edited by wakeboardern1 on February 27, 2008)

It's a shame that you and KC Watersports only let select people participate in the wakeboard rail demo. You could have easily had 10 - 15 people versus the 4 you had. Would have definitely made it have a little more flavor.

This is why the St. Louis wakeboard scene will never be big or get off the ground. It's someone always trying to outdo someone versus everyone working together for the same cause.

Just my .02

As for the scene- there was around 200-300 spectators there through-out the event.

As anyone knows, insurance is a big factor when doing legit wakeboard event.

To have the rail jam at Hidden Valley (St. Louis) we needed to have Insurance.
For that liability purpose, we allowed only Pro-rider invites, whom were covered under this insurance, to ride.

I am always open to working together on events. Let me know if anyone has something in mind.

(Message edited by mowakeboarding on February 27, 2008)

Here are some pics

When has there ever been a 200-300 people deep wakeboard scene in st. louis? the scenery at hidden valley had 200-300 people spectating. Im with JP on this one.

Who were the PRO rider that participated?

The folks that participated were:

Kyle Woehler - St. Louis, MO, great rider, has not ridden in any events that I know in a few years.

Gabe Fowler - St. Louis, MO, great rider, has not ridden in any events that I know in a few years.

Andrew - Arkansas, don't really know anything about him

Carter - KC Watersports, don't really know anything about him

I am not sure of Andrew's or Carter's last name, but both super nice dudes.

that looks like snow.

shouldnt you be using a SNOWboard? very cool, but crazy.

when you say we.... You say it as if you had something to do with the event or helped with the event....other than trying to make money for your shop and being" pro" what have you done for the " STL wakeboard scene"?

I'm with johnny p and jammer

That looks fricken cold!

Please RE_READ my comment above;

"...As for the scene- there was around 200-300 specatators there through-out the event."

Thats a great turnout for the sport in St. Louis - especially to people,(snowboarders), who may now try it out.

Wow some people can be pessimistic...

John,

Sorry you guys feel left out.

As for the event. No selling ($) was done in my tent, just simply promoting the sport - hence the flat screen playing videos and no cash register. I was helping Mike on digging holes until 10pm Friday. Saturday started around 8 am and didnt end until 9pm. I had Slingshot and Mastercraft send out a bunch of stuff for the event and had Alliance Mag promote the event and send out mags aswell .

And in the past 2 months I have held 2 Premiere's (Oakley Push Process and Transgression), had Oakley, Redbull, Slingshot, Gator Board Co, Mastercraft all come out and give away tons of great stuff to the local wakeboard community.

I have been Riding for 14 yrs and teaching the sport for over 11 yrs.(do the math if I only taught 10 people a year). On top of private lessons, this year I am advising/sponsoring a local wakeboard team consisting of over 30 local rider aging anywhere from 5yrs old to 50 yrs old.

That'll do!

Again I am look forward to having the pleasure to work with many others on events in the area. My motto has always been events are simply done for the community.

This happens in every town, at every rail jam. Just now seems to have effected you. I have had to sit and watch multiple rail jams with people (not bragging) half my rail skill level, and I couldn't ride because I wasn't on the "IN" crowd, or didn't know the right people. This just comes with the industry, the way it goes, and it all depends on how many hot dogs you want to play with.

Randy - Thank you for the words. It should be stated that we, wakeboardSTL; nor, I personally, feel left out. I simply stated that the rail demo could have been that much better if other folks, also insured by the WWA, could have participated. As your name states "Go big or go home", meaning do the event big.

I am not questioning what you have done or what intend to do this year or how long you have been riding. That has nothing to do with any of this, so I apologize if you see something I said as a personal attack.

If you recall, wakeboardSTL has been supportive and been at every one of your events. I even brought you some items from a sponsor/vendor for one of your events. The very same vendor gave you some items to give away at the rail demo as well. You may want to tell them thanks where thanks is do.

First and foremost, this was Mike Olesen's event (with KC Watersports) and dealerships found out about it and invited themselves to the event. Mike was nice enough to let them come and set up a booth to further promote the sport. The purpose of this was not to make money. The purpose is to promote the sport and put St. Louis and the midwest on the map - not any individuals. This is an event that is ground breaking and is still having the kinks worked out, so the fact that a select few trusted riders were invited should not be a problem to anyone.

For those of you that don't recognize the names of the riders, Andrew Dyrhood and Carter Collins are two of the biggest names on the midwest wakeboarding scene. They are two riders that Mike trusted to represent the midwest well.

About the 10-15 riders, this could not have happened because of the strict time schedule the event was on. This was not a tournament, it was simply a demonstration.

I wouldn't have been upset if I wasn't invited to ride in the event - I would have still come and supported it. If you weren't invited to ride, you shouldn't be upset. Be excited that the event went so well and now will be happening annually so that there is opportunity for you to ride in it in the future.

Lastly, if you have any questions or suggestions, Mike Olesen is an awesome guy and would be more than willing to take your ideas into consideration.

Thanks to Mike all was possible!

(Message edited by aubuchon03 on February 28, 2008)

I think we all want to make the sport to grow bigger and better in the area. Good luck to all and I'll see you on the water!...

Gabe nice riden...haha!

Wow.
all i can say is wow.

...oh yea... and "i would freeze to death doing that.

Here is my side....

We (KC Watersports) have done several winch events for Scion and Toyota and Kansas City. The event we did at Snow Creek (the ski hill in Kansas City) went very well, so well that Scion asked us to put on a similar demo at Hidden Valley. The decision to for us to participate, was last minute, to say the least. We did this as a favor to Scion, and as a means to connect with the snowboard / wakeboard scene in Saint Louis.

After we hosted the Liquid Force Slide Show, in May of '06, I swore I would never let anyone I did not know ride in a winch rail jam again. Any of you that saw that event know what I am talking about. A couple of guys got destroyed.

Based on this experience, I called four guys that I knew could handle this set up. I called Carter Collins who has ridden in every winch event we have done, and Andrew Dyrhood, who is possibly the best young rider in the region and made the finals of the Gilleys rail jam.
I also called Kyle and Gabe, two local Saint Louis guys that I know have experience in riding a winch, and two of the best riders in the region.

When I put my name on an event, I really don't want any surprises. Hitting a rail with a winch is totally different than being pulled by a boat or cable, particularly when you add in snow and ice cold water. You slide in off of the snow and have 35 feet to set up and ollie. If you jack up, it's over. The last thing this huge crowd wants to see is someone get hurt.

I am really sorry that some people felt excluded, that was never my intent.

The event went very well and the huge crowd saw an awesome display of riding in a very unusual setting. It opened the eyes of a lot of snowboarders. This is good for our sport.

We all had a great time meeting and hanging out with the the guys in the Saint Louis scene, Dri-Port, Statamind, and S.O.K.A. and others.

We left Saint Louis feeling great about the event and stoked by the scene. Everyone that attended and sponsored this event should be proud. We hope someday soon to be a part of this wakeboarding community on a more permanent basis...

We hope to see all of you this summer.

Thanks

you think i could hit that thing with a kneeboard... yeah i bet i could do it

Amen to Gabe and Mike's post. I am pleased along with many in STL that we had such a successful event to promote the sport...in the winter! That is what needs to be celebrated. Thanks to everyone involved for bringing the event to STL.

On another note... I would support any activities related to kcwatersports comment about being a perm part of STL's wakeboarding community.

"I wouldn't have been upset if I wasn't invited to ride in the event - I would have still come and supported it. If you weren't invited to ride, you shouldn't be upset."

Thats funny.

A-Dub, what's your real name? I want to know who you are, apparently you know who I am.

As for you having to "watch multiple rail jams with people of half your rail level."

That's funny.

Alright everyone, this is fritz, I am the one who put on the whole scion open and incorporated the wakeboard DEMO at hidden valley. As a long time supporter and rider in both snowboarding and wakeboarding, i thought we did a pretty good job.

Frist, Mike Olson and KC Watersports is the only people that i will allow to do DEMOS for my clients. Now if you want to be part of these demos, please go to KC Watersports ride the cable get to know mike and then be a part of our demos. We will be doing tons of these in st. louis and KC this year and Mike will be the one inviting people to ride.

Second, Randy from Dri-sport got involved very late in this event and in his defense he pushed very hard to have his local riders in the event. Now i know alot of you have WWA and in most cases that works but in the case of the events that i do WWA is just a small part of the insurance i have to take out to do these big events. Randy did everything he could to get the word out about the STL wakeboard scene. He DID NOT sell anything or ask to sell anything, instead he got his vendors to give stuff away!

In the end. I am sorry that some of you are so upset with how things happened. Again this was a DEMO that we did to help crowd interaction at a snowboard tourney. Mike from KC Watersports has shown my his and his teams ability to do demos at my events and do them right. I give mike full credit for pulling off an event like this that has NEVER been done! All of you that are complaining i am sorry that you feel left out. These events cost me alot of money to do and my overall hope is to promote the sport.

I want to personally thank Mike for KC Watersports and Randy From Dri-sport for all of their help and dedication.

If any of you have a problem or want more info on how to get involved in my next STL event I invite you to email me direct at fritz.heffinger@gmail.com and please dont post things on the chat board just because you felt left out.

Thanks!

.... The one thing I DON'T miss about putting on an event...... The BS bickering!!!!

R.I.P. MWWF

I have no idea who you are, I just found it funny for you to tell other people that you wouldn't be upset or bothered, so they shouldn't be. It is funny, or really sad, that I have had to sit and watch people that can't ride rails ride in a "rail jam". I get that it just has to be that way, I'm chill, you just can't tell people to not be bugged when you got to ride and they didn't. You're not in their shoes.

Word up Fritz! You're the man! Best stuff since sliced bread!

KC Watersports is hosting their annual "Fools Fest" the first weekend in April. I know the riders who did the demo at HV will all be there? Will A-dub show up for the event or will he continue to use his keyboard to speak?

Hahaha no idea my man. Read my first post with an unbiased opinion, and see that I was actually backing ya'll up saying it happens everywhere and it's part of how it goes. How else would I speak on a web forum?

Show some positivity towards the sport. Why can't everyone be happy that St. Louis had a wakeboarding event with 300 spectators? Did anyone notice that the Snow Events had 1/3 as many people watching? The crowd was going nuts for the wake event.

Mike w/ KC watersports is leading the Midwest scene in wakeboarding. Period. He is promoting the sport in an area that is long overdue. There's a lot of great riders in the midwest, and with the cable park, national attention has been directed this way.

If you didn't get to ride in this demo, then get out to KC and meet Mike. Show him you can ride. Talk means nothing.

As far as the riders in the Demo . . . I've seen them ride on and off rails - if you feel that they didn't represent the sport, then you need to re-evaluate why you're wakeboarding in the first place. These guys killed it in the middle of winter.

i use to work at the hill!!!!!!
wakeboardstl.......whats up fellas

Mike,

The slideshow looked really cool, nice work! We are trying to get a group of the MU Team guys to come up for a weekend to ride the cable this spring. Anything new going in the park this year? Maybe throw another 5-10ft in the middle of that funbox? : )

For those people saying that the demo riders have 'lackluster' skills.....gimme a break. I ride at the cable in KC frequently, and Carter absolutely kills it. Wish I could've made it out for this event, looks like it was solid!