Lake Washington wakesurf

We just returned from Minnesota and if you've never been to that area, it's God's country!

http://www.mankatofreepress.com/local/local_story_208011645.html?keyword=topstory

The local paper made it a bit more about the "family values" of our travels than the actual contest, but they were complimentary of the Centurion that Crystal Pierz provided.

This year there were several improvements made. The first was the switch from the X-Star to the Enzo. An X-Star continued to pull the wakeboarding component.

Also, they had an onboard video camera with a wireless transmitter that sent images to a receiver and TV on the shore. This way folks on the shore were able to watch the wakesurfing action. THIS will be the way to make wakesurfing more enjoyable as a spectator sport. The idea, taken from barefoot skiing which has been using it since '01.

Last year they had 11 folks in the wakesurfing competition and they more than doubled that this year.

The Enzo tossed a great wake. They used 3 sac's rather than the Enzo sac and also had the switch blade deployed. The irritating "in your face" spray was less pronounced and they were able to travel at a much slower speed. It was no more than 11.5mph, a bit faster than normal recreational speed, but considerably slower than 13.7mph.

If you look at the attached picture you can see just a hint of spray at the beginning of the spine.



That had cool prizes, Inland Surfer donated a Yellow that Ben Hoffman won, amongst others.

I have a few pictures that I'll post as soon as I get them off the computer. If you are in the mid west, this is a great event and it's worth your effort to get there.

Glad it was a good turn out, I missed it because life sometimes gets in the way. I'll be there next time.

Holmesy, sorry you couldn't make it. We'll be there again next year too.

I wanted to give a glimpse into the pieces of the CCTV arrangement. This is the oictre of the Xstar that pulled the wakeboarding parts of the contest. If you look at the tower you'll see a large piece of PVC tubing taped to it. The transmitter and antenae were attached to the PVC tubing above the height of the tower.

The signal from the transmitter is sent to this "tower" with a receiver that was set at the end of the dock. The box at the bottom of the tower is a repeater, which is used to send the signal over to an addiditional receiver that is connected to the monitor.

This is the receiver that is set "line of site" alingment to therepeater and the picture below that is the TV, currently without a sigal.

Oh! and did you notice the butter on Lake Washington in the background of those pictures?!

Just a few of the riders that were staged for their run. Tom set it up interestingly. You had a straight run for 2 minutes or 3 falls, whichever came first.



This is the Enzo that Crystal Pierz provided. You can see the wake it threw, above, was very nice.



Jason of Crystal Pierz. Probably the best driver I've been pulled by in a wakesurfing contest. Smooth consistent up and straight as an arrow driving for me on the port side.