Nick Ennen Died?

Not really, but Jobe says he did. Read this article. My understanding is that he slid like 200+ feet and when he crashed a bunch of pipe folded in above him trapping him. He's still breathing but check out this shot:

http://www.alliancewake.com/whatsup/whatsup_article.aspx?id=103


Anything for the shot!

here is what that link says...

I've had the Portland Flu, symptoms include vomiting and diareah. We're not getting any shots, it's been too hot to film, and I haven't seen Charles since I met him at the Hippodrome. He gave away the car to someone and stole the prize money from the winners. He has the cameras and no one knows where he is, I think there are illegal substances involved. The cops are looking for Collin Wright and I'm pretty sure that Nick Ennen died. To top it off I lost my cell phone. Kyle Walton is a crazy nomad. Brian Francis is shorter than i thought he would be, but his girlfriend is really hot, even though she wears the sames clothes everyday. Which means that her and I have a lot in common at this point in trip. Jeff McKee stole my car, I think he's partying in Portland somewhere, I haven't seen him in four days. Like I said, Nick Ennen almost died this morning, it was my fault because I was pretending to film him. Nicker Sweets is on it all the time.

I know exactly where that is. If you know any of these guys or their sponsors, let them know to stay the hell off of that stuff so the Ross Island Lagoon doesn't close to all wakeboarding. Its cool they roll into town with the tour and there are pros who are originally local, but if one day of fun costs me a place to ride it is going to piss me off.

It is a pretty rare place on a river that can get busy and beat up and if they went in there, especially if they got hurt or, God forbid, killed, the riding in there would shut down immediately. It is private property that is only able to be used with the consent of the owners.

Props to these guys for being good at what they do but it hardly seems to advance the sport by promoting something so illegal on a very public waterway.

If the company closes the lagoon to public entry I will let these guys sponsors hear about it.

what is that all about?

No need to get all worked up.

This is what is said on the Alliance website


"Uh oh, uh oh. A few minds popped and some wakeboarders and wakeskaters almost died at aproximately 9:47 am Sunday, due to the filthy mcnastyness that went down on some river dredging pipes. Where you ask? Well, right now we can't say. Stay tuned to our tv show debuting on Fuel in Sept to figure out where it was and what happened. All I can say right now is check out the few photos we got from it. Basically these pipes are 800-900 feet long and Nick Ennen, Kyle Walton, Nick Valliere, and Silas Thurman did not just some amazing manuevers, I would go as far as saying they were mind blowing. Oh, and there is some kind of record that goes along with sliding front board for almost 200 ft. on a wakeskate, right? Kyle Walton is one gnarly wakeskater. Oh, and Nick Ennen killed the pipes, something like 250-ish absurd, record-smashing feet ... and he almost died. He got swallowed by falling into one of the holes and the swaying pipes closed up on him. Nick Valliere got his shred on too by hitting it first this morning. He almost died on the pipes too ... no joke. These guys are good, really good. "

that shot is soooo freakin hot!!!!!

No duh the floating pipes swayed - he rode through there behind a damn 210 from the looks of it. (yeah, yeah, Monday morning quarterbackin')

Anyways, cool pic - it looks like something out of Mad Max.

Hahn, where's the photo credit?

Sorry Pic By Jeff Mckee.

Not so into the almost died thing. That's some serious $%&*, but after losing a friend recently hearing something about someone dying isn't my thing. I just don't like the way it was written up.

I agree Evan. I got the impression they were either trying to downplay the fact that they almost died riding, or bragging about the fact that they did something so difficult it almost killed them. Either way the article didn't give off a don't try this at home vibe for all the local kids reading it. I'm all for sick looking photos like that, something about the wording bugged me too though.

If you guys ever read Alliance, you would find out that there is a lot of sarcasm going on over there with their writing staff. They have a very different approach and style then Wakeboarding Mag does in their writing. Not knocking either mag, they are both cool.

I just spoke with Nick, he is fine.

I know I'm overreacting and I can be a pessimist somedays but I feel maybe a little background is in order and also a clarification of my argument.

The Willamette R. runs through downtown Portland. Anywhere on the lower Willamette during the summer there are a million boats out and the wind can blow making it virtually unridable. The Ross Island Lagoon is a dredged out island owned by the Ross Island Sand & Gravel Co., Inc. It is private property and posted as such but is allowed to be used by the public as long as there is no interference with commercial operation including the dredging they do to produce pit run rock and eventually gravel. While the lagoon isn't really a secret, it does tend to stay fairly uncrowded and rarely are tubers and PWCs in there, it is usually wakeboats in my experience. There are all kinds of pieces of commercial equipment in there, barges, huge mooring buoys, dredging pipes, etc.

Those dredging pipes would not be safe to be in between if wakes were hitting them, they weigh more than a person and could pretty easily crush someone. Anyone venture to take a guess what the consequences of riding in this area if the following happened: A) Someone got hurt of killed in amongst this commercial equipment B) Someone sued the company due to hitting something or getting hurt in the lagoon C) Most simply, if one of the RIS&G execs, or their lawyers, happened to see pictures of wakeboarders sliding these hugely expensive and dangerous pieces of equipement? Maybe it is the professional occupation in which I work and the types of people who I come in contact with, but I would tend to think that would lead pretty quickly to the area being shut down, at least until the stop taking rock out of the river which I believe has been discussed as part of a 50 year plan, of course, it also involves the island becoming a nature park for the city.

I just don't understand how there can be such a dichotomy amongst the wakeboard community. How do we, as a community, have the right to complain about something like tubers roughing up good water, PWCs operating unsafely too close to riders, or even people making power turns to mess up the water an still promote the illegal use of private property?

We can't have it both ways. There is the perception amongst those who don't have an understanding of the sport that we are a bunch of punks. How many examples are there where one bad apple can ruin the whole bushel? Do people on the ramp notice the five wakeboats that pull up to the dock that pick someone up and quietly pull away and start the stereo out away from the dock or the one that pulls in with all 6 tower speakers on full blast? Think about it.

Skateboarders have been fighting the stigma they were stuck with for the exact same activities for close to three decades now....the result, many public places where it is illegal for them to ride.

Whether we like it or not we have to cater to the uninformed majority to promote our sport. Locally and nationally. I wish things like the pro tour and the X games riding, or even Wet Wednesdays wakeboarding would get TV airtime, it is an awesome display of acrobatics that the layperson hopefully will see and like. Unfortunately there are no ratings in it apparently. But how quickly would it make the news if a wakeboarder tried to slide a dock and hit the family dog or ollie a flock of geese and killed one. Of course this is tongue in cheek but it serves to go toward my point that bad news and perceptions get passed on much more quickly than good. One business maxim you learn early is if you provide good service to someone they will tell a friend, if you provide bad service to someone they well tell five people how bad it was.

Sorry for the manifesto. It is an issue I get passionate about. Only a month or two ago there was a proposal to limit wake size on the Willamette on a two mile stretch of public waterway that would've effectively killed wakeboarding along that stretch and most likely set a bad precedent. Those kinds of kneejerk reactions are what come from negative perceptions.

By the way I would love to have an intelligent debate about this issue with anyone. Publicly or back and forth via email or PM. I'll listen and evaluate your position if you do me the same courtesy.

You have some good points.

For the sake of your formerly partially secret riding spot, I hope none of the "RIS&G execs" watch Fuel TV.

B Fitz,

You're not overreacting. If someone came in and, because of an hour of fun, got my favorite riding spot shut down, I'd be pissed.

I also don't like it when I see wakeboarders acting like spoiled self-centered pricks. In an environment where it is SO easy to ban ballast, limit boat size, restrict contact recreation, limit speeds, or ban power boats, every wakeboarder needs to be considerate or others and act as an ambassador of the sport.

I wonder what the statistics are on watersports restrictions (like those cited above) before wakeboarding existed and after. Did the "clean cut" water skiers have much trouble with the cops, HOAs, PWDs, city governments, etc. or did that all start with the punk ass wakeboarders?

damn wakeboarders!

B-Fitz, your right.

I would imagine that if someone got caught between/underneath those pipes, it would not be a good thing for all parties involved. But I wasn't there so what could I know.

That water is nasty. Either in or right next to a federal toxic superfund site. I have wakeboarded there before. We were there the day before those guys found that floating body nearby. Then that guy got flesh eating bacteria a mile downriver. The Willamette is filthy. But it has some good water. Above the falls. It still has that sewer smell up there though.