If you were not able to make it to the SFWA Pros and Joes event this past Saturday at Okeehelee Park in West Palm Beach, Florida, you missed out. The event could only be described as a huge success. The crowd at any time throughout the day was between 300-350 and I imagine by the time you factor in the number of people who came and went we probably came close to 1,000 visitors. The weather truly was perfect and the water was close to glass all day long. Our sponsors displayed the newest and best of their upcoming product lines and families with children could enjoy the carnival games, bounce house and dunk tank. Everything was perfect!!!
The event begin with a huge bang as Nick Taylor took the first run of the day and landed a Toeside Backside 3 on a wakeskate. Nick set the mood both with his run and with his attitude (look for him in the upcoming Volume Wakeskate Video #6-early reports are he does some never before seen things in this video) this kid is amazing. From there the riding was just incredible all day. The line between pro and amatuer was close. At the end of the day the finals came down to Team Greenwood featuring Ben Greenwood, Nathan Brown, Jeffrey Skulnik and Travis Cook vs Team Henshaw featuring Kevin Henshaw, Nathan Schneider, Justin Beale and Steel Lafferty. When the riding was finished Team Greenwood took the crown with a final score of 129 to 126. Each joe on the winning team was presented with a brand new 2008 Liquid Force wakeboard and a set of 2008 Liquid Force bindings.
In addition to the team event, prizes were handed out for best trick and “best” crash. Best Trick was awarded to joe Travis Cook for a huge S Bend that had the judges super-stoked. This was one of many tricks that Travis threw that could have been picked but the S Bend was amazing and won Travis $150. “Best” Crash went to Steel Lafferty for his attempt at a backside 720, unfortunately for Steele it was a backside 690 to face plant. I hurt thinking about this fall (as I type this I cringed). Steel was ok and for his trouble picked up a cool $150.
At the end of the day the event was amazing. The pro riders were incredible-I can’t say thank you enough to these riders. Each of them came out and was super cool. Without them the event wouldn’t have been what it was. To see them stoked about the event and to stay until the very end when they had another event in Homestead that evening really meant a lot. A special thank you to Nick Taylor, Ben Greenwood, Kevin Henshaw, Colin Harrington, Zane Schwank (his slurpee trick in person is so sick), Tara Hamilton, George Daniels, Jimmy LaRiche, Kyle Hymes and Aaron Reed.
Check out the photos from the event and keep an eye out for the video in the next coming days. Visit
www.sfwake.com Jimmy
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