AWSA Fall SoCal Wakesurf Event

It was nice to meet everyone and see some great riding in some not so great conditions. Everyone apparently thought SoCal is always sunny and WARM.

I thought the Sangers were pretty slick all around. I'm sure more time needs to be spent dialing the wakes in, but there are so many great features of these boats that just blew me away.

I've got tons of pictures to go thru, so be patient with me. I'll be posting a few as I edit them.

Coule more:

dtw, thank you so much for posting those pictures. I do appreciate all of your efforts on Sunday. Great pictures also!

Now I am the slow poke, as soon as I get the truck unpacked I'll post the results!

Couple more:

Who placed in which divisions?

See my post above - we got home very late and I haven't unpacked the truck yet! Hopefully I'll get that done this evening - I'm the slowpoke!

I was hoping someone else could fill me in All i know so far is congrats to James for another first place!

Couple more riding:

rob g - i'll be posting the 'podium' pictures shortly.

Nice nice =] enjoying the pictures.. what kind of camera were you using?

Thank you very much. Nikon D200.

Here's the podiums:

thanks guys for promoting the sport - jeff

The highs back here in Ohio have been in the low 80's. How cold was it?

That's funny, Ed. The highs were - mid 70's, the low the night before was 42 so it was rather crisp in the morning. What you CAN'T see is the 40 mph winds Actually not quite that bad on Sunday, but they were blowing. We had planned to do a wake check on the boat on Saturday and as Robert was describing, LA County shut the lake down due to small craft advisories (imagine my glee at the thought of having to cancel this event due to winds! ) Dennis and Co. didn't get the opportunity to even test one of the boats and only had a short test on the other. All things considered, I was so pleased with Dennis' efforts, the wakes were strictly seat of the pants or maybe wing and a prayer is more appropriate. I need to go find the results page!

dtw, thank you again so much for volunteering to take all in the in boat stills. I appreciate so much your time and effort and the great pictures too! I hope you don't mind me hijacking this thread, it seems as good as any place to post the dialog.

One of the things about organizing a contest is that you get to work with so many amazing people and the honor of being able to acknowledge their efforts publicly. I am truly blessed to have such a great group of folks involved. dtw, rode and took all the pictures. The time involved with editing, posting and taking the photos is tremendous.

My four judges during the event Dennis Horton of TWP, Mike Armstrong of Calibrated, Kit Howell of Inland Surfer, and Mike Walker of TWP. Most of my judges drove in excess of 5 hours and spent their own money to travel and stay in the area. The dedication of these folks is amazing. In particular, Kit had some last minute business that she rescheduled to attend this event. Truly above and beyond. Thank you one and for your dedication to the sport, then community and for all that you do.

Dinner time, more accolades in a moment.

The Garcia's have been incredibly supportive of the sport and of the AWSA. They drove over 10 hours towing jet ski's for our use in picking up riders and shuttling them back and forth. Truly selfless dedication to the sport. They are also parents that invoke awe. RJ and Whitney helped with shuttle and voideo duties and when they would need to ask a question they always addressed me as Mr. Walker. Such great kids. Amy and Robert you should be so proud!

Ashley Garcia handled some of the jet ski shuttle duties, as well as, the random prize drawing.

Huge props to the entire Garcia clan!

Dennis and Bunny Horton took care of all the boats and ballasting. Dennis drove down to Fresno to pick up one of the boats and deliver it to the event and eventually Sun Country Marine. As I mentioned earlier, we had not tested the boat with the new Trim Tabs before the event due to the wind issue. I'm so pleased with all the effort Dennis went through to get the boat and also to throw the ballast in there with no water time behind it.

Bunny always helps out with the clerical duties and keeping things running smoothly. Thanks so much to the Horton's!

As I mentioned earlier, Kit Howell put some pressing business aside to come help us. She also scored us the wonderful prizes from Inland Surfer and Monster Towers. A tireless and dedicated worker, truly a cornerstone in the sport.

Josh Howell, Kit's hubby, drives ALL DAY LONG! The man never complains and is onje of the best rated drivers in the nation. I can't thank you enough Mr and Mrs Howell!

My family is so supportive. Judy handled all of the registration setup and general "herding" duties. I couldn't do any of this without you and thank you SO MUCH for putting up with all this!

My son James for driving the boats back and forth and doing all those last minute tasks I always seem to forget about!

Thank you my dear loving family.

I would like to take a moment to thank our sponsors and those who loaned us product. Jerry Price of Shred Stixx sent is a new JaMako as a prize. Mike Walker of the Walker Project donated a new Composiye X 5.0. Larry Mann of Fresh Air Exhaust donated a new system that Tommy C won. The folks from Inland donated severals ropes, T-shirts and DVD's. Thank you for the most generous support of these events. The prizes are wonderful incentives for participation.

A special thank you to Jared Cutler of Lead Wake for letting us borrow 1,300 pounds of his lead bags for weighting the two boats.

On to the results!

The venue is superlative. 70 foot depth on average and the water was warm, in comparison to the air temps. We had grass and shade trees, picnic tables and if you can imagine the entire lagoon to ourselves. What is that 20 miles of shoreline? Anyone know the size of that body of water?

In the toughest contest of the event, the Mini Kahuna division, it was Maddie Garcia barely edging out her younger brother for the win!

Mini Kahuna

First Place: Maddie Garcia
Second Place: Thomas "T-Bone" Garcia

Another hotly contested division comprised of the Garcia family!

Youth Division

First Place: RJ "Sandbagger" Garcia
Second Place: Whitney Garcia

Braving the cold and crazy winds, the women's division went next. Kit was shivering on shore and wanted to know if she could forfiet and avoid the cold!

Women's Division

First Place: Kit Howell
Second Place: Lyndsey Hinther
Third Place: Judy "08" Walker

The ONLY division that REALLY matters, the master's division. Dennis came so close to nailing his 3. When the master's divsions comes down to folks boosting air and landing three's there is some serious competition!

Master's Division

First Place: Jeff "baldING" Walker
Second Place: Dennis "Big Kahuna" Horton
Third Place: Bryan Locke

Nice pics, Looks like it was a great time! Congrats to everyone!

The Men's Open surf had quite the challenge. Each of them boosting aerials INTO the wind and having to sort of chase their boards back under their feet in mid air. Take special note of RJ! No more Youth division for the man with the Smed!

Men's Open Surf

First Place: James Walker
Second Place: Johnny Stieg
Third Place: RJ Garcia

Thanks TXSurf it was a great time - we always enjoy these events.

The Men's open skim had some serious riding. # shuv's, switch backside big spins and a plethora of other tricks. Great competitors all.

Men's Open Skim

First Place: Dominic Lagace
Second Place: Ryan "My PFD is wet" Fair
Third Place: Tommy "Machine" Czeschin

I always forget folks! Thanks also to Sun Country Marine for the boats, to Sanger boats for their sponsorship and commitment to the sport. Scott Pelaton flew down from Discovery Bay the day of the contest to insure the boats were all working properly. Thanks again folks.

and with that dtw, I'll return the thread to you!

Great job guys. Congrats to all the competitors. I'll make it out to one of these things someday soon!!

I would like to thank Jeff for all his hard work. This type of event is not without it's last minute unforeseen issues. Small craft warnings and all. Jeff's leadership makes the whole event a fun place to be. We reward Jeff with the first place in Master's. Most of the time he rides better than we do.

What high winds? How ever was Jeff able to take first with the wind blowing his long hair in his eyes?

Thanks Dennis.

Ed it's Zen

Beanie cap

LOL

Jeff, I started this thread for all things related to the comp. So please keep going!!

It was great to finally meet you, Dennis, Robert (and the entire Garcia family), and everyone else. You guys put on a great show and I'd be happy to be involved any way I can in the future.

Probably the most fortuitous happening for me was meeting Bryan. Turns out we live less than an hour apart, can both ride during the week, and we are both goofy. So, next time we enter the comp, you should expect some improvements....from both of us!

I definitely had a good time and if we didn't have the wedding the night before, would have brought my family.

That is so cool that you and Bryan live some close and ride mid-week and are both darkside!

A few pictures of the venue, it extends to the left of the picture - a mile or so.

AND the MOB Group truck!

The trophies all lined up. I love the little surfer dude on top.

Lindsey Hinther won the Monster Towers surf rack.

RJ Garcia, the "winningest" rider of the day also walked away with one of the surf ropes provided by Inland Surfer.

RJ Garcia, the "winningest" rider of the day also walked away with one of the surf ropes provided by Inland Surfer.

Thomas "T-Bone" Garcia won one of the Inland Surfer DVD's. Check that boy's metabolisim. Everybody in the background is shivering with jackets on and T-bone is fresh out of the water and smiling! Grownups are wimps!

Ryan Fair, Calibrated team rider; Johnny Stieg, Shred Stixx team rider and the lovely Whitney Garcia all won Inland Surfer T-shirts.

dtw walked away with the other Inland Surfer rope!

Sean Cummings, Inland Surfer Team rider walked away with the shiny new JaMako presented by Johnny Stieg representing Shred Stixx.

Cody Birks won a sweet new Composite X 5.0 from The Walker Project

Tommy Czeschin owner and rider of the soon to be announced Crowley Wake won the Fresh Air Exhaust for his boat! Isn't Tommy's son as cute as a bug's ear?!

Congrats to all of you guys. I wish I could have been there (hopefully next year will be better for me). I really missed not competing this year, but have enjoyed watching all the progress that Wake surfing is making through out the country. I think that people like Jeff, Dennis, the Garcias, and others are un-sung hero's in this sport. i don't think that it would be what it is today, without the countless hours that these folks put into the organization. A HUGE thanks to them all.
P.S. Johnny, that S.S. quad is SICK !!!
Tommy, your little mimi-me is getting huge. Last time I saw him, he was just a little rug rat.

I would like to thank everyone who helped out and donated prizes. Thanks to Jeff and Judy Walker, Dennis and Bunny Horton, Mike Armstrong and Mike Walker. It is always a pleasure working with you guys. You all have done so much for this support; I just want to say thanks!

For our sponsors: Inland surfer, Monster towers, Shred Stixx, The Walker Project, Fresh Air Exhaust, Jared Cutler of Lead Wake, thanks again because with out you we would not be able to put on these competitions.

I also would like to thank my husband Josh Howell for getting certified and driving in our competitions. Thank You

Sanger Boats: Thanks you for donating 2 boats. Love the improvements

See you all next year

yea greg man thanks so much. the board shreds.

What a great competition it was this weekend, and everyone who competed was crazy for getting into the water because it was icy cold weather. Every body involved did a great job and big thanks to the Ashley and RJ for the jetski duties because you couldn't paid me enough to get on those in that weather. The Walkers and Horton's did it again, put on another great competition and I am happy to say I was involved in something this great. Thanks Jeff for the "one of the best rated drivers in the nation" comment, but we all know that is not true; I am the best in the nation.

Speaking of the best, those new Sanger V237 Surf Series boats I drove this weekend were amazing. Hands down the best boat I have ever driven and surfwake I have ever seen. This boat has one of the best features that I don't think any other boat has and that is the Launch System. It made it so nice to drive all day because with this system you can set it at 1 through 5, then you just push the throttle all the way down and the boat does the rest. 1 for the slowest easiest launch out of the water for beginners and 5 for slingshot you out. I used setting 3 for the comp and it pulled every rider out of the water the same every time at the same speed. It made driving so much easier. The other cool thing about this boat was the SAWS (Sanger adjustable wake system)...I think that is right. In other words, it is the trim tabs on the boat that lets you adjust the wake on the fly for any kind of rider. Each boat was weighted with about 1300lbs of lead (thanks to Jared at Lead Wake) and on the fly you could adjust if you wanted the wake longer or steeper. The great thing is the wake looked just as great on both side of the boat. A good example was during the competition most riders in the open skim wanted the wake a little longer and less peaky, so after the open surf went I just hit a button and changed the wake. Then during the open skim the last rider (Sean) asked during his ride for the wake to be steeper and one button push did that; so versatile. This system also allows you to leave the boat weighted and still drive to another spot or in to the ramp by adjusting the SAWS to level the boat at planing speeds; this will save lots of hassle not having to move all the lead out of the locker to get to the ramp at the end of the day.

I am very impressed with this boat and it is now at the top of my list; anyone got some spare change so I can buy one