I was pretty stoked to receive a call from Robyn Valdez (Team Valdez) Friday morning; saying that the OC Register was doing a story on the Canyon Lake Wakeboard Club. The article was to talk about us moving our tournaments back to the Lake Elsinore Channel. She informed me that they wanted to speak with people from OC and I was one of the only people she could think of. She put me in contact with Dave Strege from the OC Register, we talked awhile about the move, and such, and he asked me to send some pictures in e-mail. Anyways, to make a long story short, the article came out today with a small picture of me on the front of the sports page, a large backroll picture of me in the article, along with a sweet shot of Jacob Valdez!
Here is the link to the article on ocregister.com (you have to register to view it):
http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2005/04/05/sections/sports/recreation/article_468573.php but for those who don't want to register, here is the text:
SPORTS
Shawn Wilson, 26, of Orange, the 2003 co-champion in the men’s class of the Canyon Lake Wakeboard Series, goes head over heels while showing his form during the 2004 season at Canyon Lake.
AARON DAVIS, SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER
WAKEBOARDING SERIES
What: The Canyon Lake Wakeboard Series has five tournaments, all open to the public. It is put on by the Canyon Lake Wakeboard Club.
Who: All ages and skill levels. Divisions are open (21 and older), junior open (20 and under), boys and girls (13 and under), junior novice (under 12), novice (13 and over), junior men's (14-19), men's (20-29), masters (30-39), women's (all ages), veterans (40-49), super vets (50 and older).
Where: Lake Elsinore Channel.
When: Saturday, 9 a.m. Other tournaments are May 7, June 11, Aug. 13 and Sept. 17. All events begin at 9 a.m.
Cost: $20 for club members, $30 for non-members. Participants must be members of the World Wakeboard Association, $15 for daily membership, $30 yearly.
Spectators: Free. Bring your chair.
Directions: Take the 91 Freeway or Ortega Highway to I-15 and go south. Exit Diamond Drive and turn right and follow to the end of the street.
Information:
www.wakeboardclub.com.
Other events: Girls Learn To Ride Day, April 16; Learn to Ride Day, July 16. Both events at 9 a.m. at Canyon Lake. Call (951) 757-6356.
Tuesday, April 5, 2005
Changing channels
The Canyon Lake Wakeboard Series moves back to the more user-friendly Lake Elsinore Channel.
By DAVE STREGE
The Orange County Register
The wakeboarding community in Southern California is abuzz with excitement, as if it's received new life. Funny what a little water can do.
Thanks to near-record rainfall, the Canyon Lake Wakeboard Series, which begins Saturday, is returning to the friendly confines of the Lake Elsinore Channel for the first time in four years.
No longer is this unique venue high and dry.
Spectators will be able to see the flips, spins and spills of the riders. Riders will be able to hear the oohs and aahs of the spectators. Sponsors and manufacturers, several from Orange County, will be able to easily display their products.
That wasn't the case in the past three seasons, when the series was held on the backwater of nearby Canyon Lake, where space was limited and the viewing was, as wakeboarder Joe Pearson of Huntington Beach put it, like watching a drag race from behind.
"Everybody is behind where they take off, and they go away from you a quarter-mile and come back at you," said Pearson, 51, a past national champion in the veterans' division. "If you're an adult and watching your kid, you want to be able to see what they're doing.
"It's (the venue change) a boost for theclub and allthe spectators. It's a win for everybody."
That's because the water channel that enters the lake near the Elsinore Storm baseball stadium gives spectators an up-close 50-yard-line seat, though they must bring their chairs.
No question, Lake Elsinore is much more user-friendly than Canyon Lake, a venue that affected participation.
"We did notice a big falloff in participation and spectators when we moved back to Canyon Lake because of the water (situation at Elsinore)," said Shawn Wilson, 26, of Orange, a co-champion two seasons ago in the men's class. "Hopefully with the new venue ... we can attract some of those riders again."
Returning to a prime piece of real estate isn't the only change in the five-tournament series.
New this season is an event called wakeskating. Think wakeboarding without the bindings, or skateboarding on water.
More important additions, though, are the obstacles, or "sliders." Wooden rails, a rectangular box and a kicker (ramp) are among the sliders used by wakeboarders to perform tricks much like snowboarders do.
For the first time, the course at Elsinore will have three sliders so the series will keep up with those in the East, specifically Orlando, considered the nation's wakeboarding mecca.
"We understand the need to have sliders brought into our contest, because in order to compete with Florida, where they have lakes in everybody's back yard where they can build sliders, we need to have slider competitions out here as well," said new Canyon Lake Wakeboard Club president Robyn Valdez, whose son Jacob, 11, is a two-time world champion.
The venue change and new sliders are sure to draw some of the top professionals, including some who have climbed the wakeboarding ranks in this very series.
Unique to this series is the concept that anybody can compete. A beginner can participate and rub elbows with top pros, learn the ropes, and start climbing the ladder.
Locally, there's no better place to start.
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