Who's Attending Nautique Nationals in Minnesota?

Hey everybody! I had asked in another thread, but this may be a more visible way to do things.

Is anybody heading to WWA Nationals in Minneapolis over the weekend of the 31st? I plan on driving up from La Crosse with a few people for the Finals on Sunday. I think it'd be fun to meet a few fellow WakeWorlders up there!

I plan to be there a couple of days. I have a wedding to attend on that Saturday but I should be there on other days.

Billy Tonis is riding, if he can keep his rib cage together!

I had hoped to, but it looks like I'll be out of town. I think a better part of a MN crew is planning to head over there. Bummed!

I am riding.

If anyone is coming to town and needs Pulls PM me I would be more than happy to drag peopel around.

nice spelling error on my part.

I watched flights go from 400 to 600 and changed my mind

I'll be spectating... looking forward to it...

J-Rod,

Don't worry about Tonis, I will Be there with duct tape to keep him in one piece.

I really want to go seeing as its the first ever WWA National with a sit-boarding division (disabled). I think of course I would be one of the few if not the only one there. Unfortuantley I just cant afford a trip that far. Its 1200 miles from NC! SUCKS!!!

I'll be there...

Andy, will you be riding there on Sunday? That's when we're heading up.

I'll be there spectacting with Bryce

Anyone know what kind of tricks are going down in mens 2? suppose I would be up against Mr Ryan again?

John, FYI Colin is only human and he can be beat. And you're a guy that can beat him. As far as tricks go, I hear a Batwing will win it. Hee, hee (inside joke).

or a toe 9 right?

Which of the two days, Sat/Sun does everyone think would be the better day for spectating? Any Minnesota riders riding?

John - Colin will be riding Pro division.

I talked with Rob from WWA a while back about Men's 2. Sounds like it is mostly 3's, 5's and basic inverts...there may be a few mobes, and possibly a few 7's. I thought about riding, but it's like $240 to register now...quite a bit of cash to ride a couple times for a chance at a medal.

It is looking like I'll be headed down Sat afternoon to watch the Men's Pro division. Should be fun.

Terry and I are going over at noon to watch some Mens 2 and see how its laid out.. We'll report back.. If anyone is there already - come say what's up.

Ben I am riding Mens 2

See you in a bit Andy

werd

Anybody have the schedule or know where to find it?

Wads you and Terry are going when?

going at noon.

We'll be there for lunch all week, then all day Saturday as well.

schedule

http://wakeboardingmag.com/nationals/

Well I am learning a very valuable life lesson, dont some else take care of your registration, having a major issue!!!! Dont know if they will let me ride today or not. UGHHHHHH!

lol.. of course

we looked for you.. No Nintzel sighting.. Bumped into Colin and his kids, Eric and Ben from MWMC and that was about it for familiar faces.

Mens 1 was throwing down pretty hard.. One cat was killin it - musta been one of the first riders on the block..

Water conditions were pretty bad today - it was blown out.. looking forward to the next 4 days.

We say Casey from MarineMax too but he was talking to some dudes..

Looks like a fun weekend on tap.

sounds like I should of rode, oh well watching will be fun too

Ill be there on Saturday and Sunday with a booth and my electric winch. Come by and check it out!

Kyle that is super bad ass man!

Finishing our setup this morning, Glad to here Colin is stepping up and riding pro this year. Conditions look better since the wind won't be 15-20 MPH up river. The evening actually looked alright.

Any body out here? I am running around in a white obrien hat and red shirt. Love to meet some fellow wakeworlders!

lol.. 3 of us were there over lunch break - we didn't see you.


Jacob Valdez threw down a SICK run in Jr. Mens.. Jr Men was strong riding today..

anyone take pics of the SANS pulling the riders

Jeff I got crazy short hair now. I was sitting with Dano bsing for a while.

DId you catch Josh Twelkers run he was money too.

Originally Posted by migs

anyone take pics of the SANS pulling the riders

I'll do that tomorrow. Nothing good today.. The wake is MACKIN

nice, thanks. Cant wait to see what CC put out for this years nationals.
From the vid feed, looked like the 230 was the new lime green????? All i could see was the corner of the tower.

The boat doing the pulling was lime green and grey. They had a Black and Blue 210 on a trailer. Also had an all white 200 on a trailer. The wake looked huge behind the 230. The current still looked pretty strong today to.

Originally Posted by dahmsy686

The boat doing the pulling was lime green and grey. They had a Black and Blue 210 on a trailer. Also had an all white 200 on a trailer. The wake looked huge behind the 230. The current still looked pretty strong today to.

Is this the lime green boat your talking about? If so this is Adam Wensinks Boat. Ive shredded it a few times, LOVE the wake! Its super sick!

Right on Andy. No doubt will I represent the smallest company there. I hope people have good stuff to say about the winch. Getting pumped for Saturday!

Kyle,

for real bro, when I met you I was amazed by your vision. I have to admit, I didnt think you would actually make it work. I really hope this thing blows up for you! Its so cool to randomly meet someone who wants to buy some gear off craigslist, tells me a story about a vision he has for a wake machine. Then suddenly it's built, patented and being shown off at the Nationals! Freaking amazing bro!

Anyone know if there is any rules to having dogs at the comp site?

I saw quite a few dogs there. You should be alright bringing your dog.

Wednesdays boat was red, Thursdays boat was grey and green similar to the above.. I'll snap some pics today..


Dogs all over both days Fogelson - bring him up... If you're bringing kids - bring an umbrella. Aside from under the vendor canopys there isn't much shade in the viewing area and it's been crazy hot there..

We'll be there over lunch again today and then all weekend. Came says what's up.

Originally Posted by dahmsy686

The boat doing the pulling was lime green and grey. They had a Black and Blue 210 on a trailer. Also had an all white 200 on a trailer. The wake looked huge behind the 230. The current still looked pretty strong today to.

That wake was MACKIN... Although we did see a couple of guys get caught up in the infamous Natique 230 wake wash.. But when it was clean - oh boy - that thing was HUGE.

Not sure I'll make it there during lunch today...we're gonna go shred at 10am.

Jeff I noticed that too, the wake wash that is. Wake was huge but I wonder how much the current played into the wake wash. Its intersting that they chose the river the current is insane there. Definetly best to fall on your second pass, you gain a bunch of riding area back. I have ridden on the other side of Broadway as well, as i reacall the current was not as insane there but I dont think its as deep.


Really cool to see a wake only contest. Nice change.

Originally Posted by ironj32

Not sure I'll make it there during lunch today...we're gonna go shred at 10am.

thanks for the heads up/invite that you guys are taking PTO and riding.

FML

I'll be up there sunday for finals. Looking forward to meeting some other WW folks!

I'll be there Sunday..

I'll be the dark haired Jersey Shore looking guy with the fat, pale baby strapped to his chest in a Baby Bjorn..

Come say what's up.

Originally Posted by jeff_mn

thanks for the heads up/invite that you guys are taking PTO and riding.

FML

LOL. I've gotta start using my vaca time...I've got about 19 days left to use up this year. Colin and I just went out for a few quick sets...he's getting his pass dialed in for tomorrow and Sunday. I'll give you a hollar when we do some mid-day/late morning sets in the near future.

Originally Posted by ironj32

LOL. I've gotta start using my vaca time...I've got about 19 days left to use up this year. Colin and I just went out for a few quick sets...he's getting his pass dialed in for tomorrow and Sunday. I'll give you a hollar when we do some mid-day/late morning sets in the near future.

Also have piles of PTO to use up and nothing to use them for..

Holler

From Friday afternoon - girls amateur and a couple Jr. Pro Mens (mostly Twelker)

Ran into Twelker and Valdez today and also saw Nicola and maybe Amber? Couldn't tell.. Twelker had a good run, missed some 7's but hammered a lot of big tricks.

Dan-o the Man-o mentioned that the water was flowing something like 22,000 feet per second and the river usually flows at 15,000.. the riders were getting carried 50+ ft on crashes at times..

Water is HIGH.. We've had TONS of rain the last month.

Forgive the pics.. They are from my Evo phone..

Took pics of the Natiques for Migs..

Wake was insane huge again today.

More pics from Friday...

Some pics of some of the Natiques on display.. Last one is a Byerly Edition

Couple last pics from Twelkers run today.. Should be able to see the wake in one of these..

If ANYONE is going to the show this weekend I *HIGHLY* advise you stop into the MidWest Mastercraft booth and check out the 2012 Ronix One...

Apparently it's one of the few ones in the country and the bottom is like nothing I've EVER seen in a board...And I've seen a lot of boards - my first deck was a unidirectional yellow skurf board..

That One is INSANE... and the matching boots are pretty bananas as well.

Jeff -thanks man!!! so looks like they are running the same Red 230 as they did in the wake games.
thats black & blue 210 is NASTY!!!!!!!! sooo sooo Dirty! love it.

Originally Posted by migs

Jeff -thanks man!!! so looks like they are running the same Red 230 as they did in the wake games.
thats black & blue 210 is NASTY!!!!!!!! sooo sooo Dirty! love it.

they are alternating between the red 230 and the lime/gray 230.. Sick boats.. We had a 230 pull the MN Spring Ride this year as well.. Beautiful

hey jeff thanks for the pics man . im not attending the event so i am really curious about the new 2012 one u mentioned ... can you post some pics of that board?

I wonder if the strong current had much effect on their riding?
Anyone know how deep the river is there?

I realize the location is most likely a good choice for spectators, but I would think picking one of those 10,000 lakes would make for better riding. Cleaner water and less of a gamble in the event of high water from extra rain. Plus deeper water makes for larger wakes!

2012 Ronix booth you say?? I'm down! AHH!

Originally Posted by jeff_mn

Also have piles of PTO to use up and nothing to use them for..

Holler

Me too - I am sitting at about 16 days left this year

Originally Posted by fabio

hey jeff thanks for the pics man . im not attending the event so i am really curious about the new 2012 one u mentioned ... can you post some pics of that board?

Unfortunately I don't think you will see any pics of the 2012 one....The Ronix reps will not let any flash photography of that board happen and they told me they will take cell phones if they see them taking pictures of it. That board is super crazy though - I am trying to bribe someone to let me demo it!

I've been here all week. The current really messes with the wake. There is constant chop because of the current. Spectating is very good at this site, but the water is a joke. You have the whole country to choose from and you pick this place. If you fall on your second trick on your first pass, by time the boat gets back to you you Might be able to do one more trick. People train pretty hard and spend a lot of money to participate and then they get this crap. Nice choice.

Jeff sounds like its time for the fake phone call picture taking.

Originally Posted by roughrivermike

I've been here all week. The current really messes with the wake. There is constant chop because of the current. Spectating is very good at this site, but the water is a joke. You have the whole country to choose from and you pick this place. If you fall on your second trick on your first pass, by time the boat gets back to you you Might be able to do one more trick. People train pretty hard and spend a lot of money to participate and then they get this crap. Nice choice.

^mad

Can some one post up the Pro Men's Heats!

Originally Posted by roughrivermike

I've been here all week. The current really messes with the wake. There is constant chop because of the current. Spectating is very good at this site, but the water is a joke. You have the whole country to choose from and you pick this place. If you fall on your second trick on your first pass, by time the boat gets back to you you Might be able to do one more trick. People train pretty hard and spend a lot of money to participate and then they get this crap. Nice choice.

I think you will run into this anywhere - conditions are always up in the air...You cannot predict what weather, current, etc will do when they are planning the stops. I am sure that they took the current into consideration when they planned to have the stop here. The fact is that we have had a ton of rain this year that nobody could have predicted and that is likely causing more issues with the current.

I have seen videos of other competitions where they are riding in white caps, so current like this is just part of the deal. Sure they practice hard and they spend money to get here, but it is just part of the sport. No need to start getting mad at the organizers for something that they cannot predict.

Pro mens heats! Please!

Here you go Andy:

http://lockerz.com/s/125093613

Originally Posted by garveyj

I think you will run into this anywhere - conditions are always up in the air...You cannot predict what weather, current, etc will do when they are planning the stops.

Just constructive criticism, and before I even start let me say that planning and organizing a contest in general is a lot of hard work, let alone one of this size.. So everyone involved deserves a big pat on the back.

But I think a river holds a whole new set of variables with current flow, boat flow and so forth. I've even seen them stop several times for river boats to pass through, although it never seemed to cause much of a delay. Depending on the wind direction rivers are either dead calm for miles, or some of the worst chop you will ever ride. The site itself looks great spectator wise and probably really works well with the format of the contest.

Someone said you cannot predict the weather which is very true, however I think the best you can do is plan at a private lake. You eliminate any boat traffic or blown out conditions because most private lakes are small enough that wind doesn't effect them nearly as much, and you also have a whole site for tents/displays and so forth.

But take it easy on the bashing, there's a lot of work that goes into these contests.. And besides most of those guys can ride that chop like it's glass anyways.

Congrats to Colin for making it through in A stacked heat!

Bryce and Jeff,
I am not mad; I am dissapointed. I know that a TON of work goes into these things, but I agree with Nick that why go somewhere that you know there is going to be current. Take that variable completely out of the mix. Mother nature will do her thing, but current is a constant at this location. If it sounds like I'm bashing then I'm sorry, but if no one speaks up then we will never get a National Championship held at a location where the conditions are not the determining factor. I know that a lot of people on WW aren't big INT fans, but INT would NEVER pick this spot to determine their US Champion.

you are right that there is always a current there, but in a typical year it is not nearly as bad as it is now. The River Rats hold a weekly ski show about 1000 feet up river from the event and they have obstacles that they put in for their show. The event organizers could not get things to anchor safely because of the current...I am not sure that it would always be like that. I know other events are held on the river too - last year they had the national wakesurfing championships there. I am sure that they could find a lake (I can think of a few spots off the top of my head), but this is close to the downtown area and has alot near it which is a draw where the other places are kind of in the middle of nowhere.

Colin's hoochy to blind was huge. Heading down tomorrow to watch again.

Historically speaking the water is moving slow in late July, early August. On a normal year this is a great location. I have been on the water quite a few times, it's always been smooth. But the current this year is nuts.