Due to incessant rain during my clinic in Copenhagen, I don’t really have enough photos for a blog on Denmark. There are a couple of things that I need to say though: The cable in Copenhagen is sweet, visiting Christiania was an experience, Andreas Kjærgaard rips and Lars Andersson has a great setup for his school. Now, onto the Netherlands.
 
Unfortunately, due to some flight issues, Abel Vegter was forced to sit around at the Amsterdam airport for two hours waiting on my arrival. Once I got in, we piled into his new truck (possibly the biggest vehicle I’ve seen in Europe) and drove to Arnhem to pick up his X-Star and drop it into the Rhine. At the launch ramp, I saw one of the greatest signs that a wakeboarder could ask for... “No Jet Skis.” I knew that it was going to be a good week.
 
Riding on the Rhine was pretty similar to the Mosel with lots of cargo ships and restricted riding areas. The only noticeable differences were the lack of vineyards and a much stronger current due to lots of rain. We had a sweet setup for the week consisting of two X-Stars and a floating house at the marina. We would ride until everyone was tired and then we would relax at our floating house until everyone wanted to go out again.
 
Most of you guys probably haven’t heard of Abel, but he kills it. The first time we rode together in Orlando he went out and literally stuck everything. I was impressed and told him that he needed to move to Florida and compete on the tour. He didn’t listen to me and instead went home, started a new company and became very successful. Again, I’m impressed. Anyway, riding with him, Ben, Pepjin and Wouter out on the Rhine was really a treat. They all love wakeboarding and were always excited to go out. They constantly pushed themselves, which, in turn, pushed me to ride harder...unfortunately, leaving me with a broken finger.
 
The weather didn’t always cooperate while I was there, but we had a great time finding things to occupy our time. One day we were shooting potato guns and the next we were wrecking ourselves on the flowrider. Of course, we also incorporated a field trip to Amsterdam into our schedule. We didn’t visit any of the coffee shops, but we did go to the Marijuana and Hemp Museum, which was actually pretty interesting. We also made the obligatory walk through the red light district and I gotta tell you, I wasn’t that impressed. Maybe I just walked through at the wrong time. Either way it was still an eye opening experience in one way or another.