Wakeboard World Series in Mackay

Mackay I flew into Mackay for the 5th stop of the Wake Park World Series, which was the first time Australia has ever had a World Series Cable event. With big names like Tom Fooshee, Daniel Grant, San Im, Aaron Gunn and Matty Hasler, who is current world champion, the pressure was on. With everyone only getting one day to ride the brand new GoWake Cable Park, it was quite a fair playing field. 

With all the world’s best cable riders competing, it was great to watch the standard of competitive cable and to see what level all of these boys are at really helped me put things in perspective. I had solid rides in both Pro Men’s cable and Rail Jam divisions, having just been pipped by Matty Hasler and Aaron Gunn to make the finals, I wasn't disappointed, just became more focussed. 

There was live music and multiple stages where the entertainment never stopped, unfortunately mother nature didn't come to the party and the big event on Saturday night was rained out. All in all, was one of the best contests and best setups I have ever participated in, let alone in Australia. Kirk and Des from GoWake have really raised the bar on this one, and I'm more than excited to see what's in store for this contest next year. 

Heading North to the Sunshine Coast

Recently I have been contemplating whether I should give the Cable Pro Circuit some attention. With cable always being a passion of mine as down time from the boat and a way to relax and really enjoy my time on the water. Watching my good friends Matty Hasler (2013) and James Windsor (2012) win the World Titles in both divisions on the cable, I really decided to sink my teeth into Dedicating a lot more of my time into the cable scene.

I have just got a nice place on the Sunshine Coast, about 5 minutes away from the cable park I learnt to ride at, Go-Wake Cable Park in Bli Bli which is my favourite cable in Australia to ride at. This has really given me the best opportunity to ride every day and really put myself to the test. 

Riding with James Windsor, Luke Boor, Mitch Langfield, Ben Doreen, Manu Rupp and all the other Bli Bli boys have been great as they were the original cable boys I grew up riding with. I have a massive season ahead of me before departing to the States once again, and I'm really excited to see how it all pans out. 

First comp of the Aussie Summer

Stoked to be back in my home town and catching up with all the Wakeboard Vic crew. Great contest, perfect conditions and the best Pro Men’s line up I have ever seen at a Wakeboard Vic Contest. With the likes of Parker Siegele, Nic Rapa, Jacob Hore, Sam Singleton, and more. 

With over 50 riders it's really great to see the future of our sport evolving. Watching Parker go off the dock and land multiple mobe 5's, 7's and 9's the pressure was on, but I'm glad I put it together and finished on top of the podium which was a great start to my Aussie competitive summer. 

The Aussie Summer Starts Today!

I have now been back in Australia for around 3 weeks now and I have to say that I am not liking the Melbourne weather one bit!

I have been taking this time to my advantage to do some cross training to try and get fit in my little time off before the Australian season kicks off again.   A month off the board and away from the boat is good and something my folks encourage me to do every year.  It's a chance for your body to recover as well. 

The Aussie Summer kicks off this weekend with a Wakeboard Victoria Round up at Twin Lakes, Mulwala. It will be fun to finally ride again, and catch up with all of my good friends from Vic and see how they have progressed over the winter! I've notice a lot of the Bundalong Crew kept riding right through Winter so I'm expecting to see some progression.

My other big focus this year is Cable.  I am super excited about the development of the sport and the direction being taken with the establishment of Cable Wakeboard Australia.  At last someone is taking the sport seriously and realising that you need to be professional in the way events, judging and formats are managed.   I am setting up a base on the Sunshine Coast and will be using Go Wake's Cable Park at Bli Bli as me base.  

Yep, I'm starting to get the itch back. I also have a new video coming out shortly which I'm excited about.  It will be a BIG summer ahead, can't wait to see how it all pans out.

Wrapping up the US Tour

Had a great end to the american summer, my knee was really touch and go this year which caused me to have to sit a few events out, but still really stoked with how I finished up and really happy with my progress by the end of the summer looking back on how I started out.

The Surf Expo was pretty cool as usual seeing the whole industry get together in one place.  It was really good to catch up with Bret from CTRL as well as Matty and Angie who have been doing the Cable Tour.

I stuck around for an extra week to try my luck in the Monster Energy Triple Crown at OWC and ended up making the semi finals in a cable contest, pretty happy with my efforts going against some of the best in the business, and has also inspired me to take on cable a little bit more seriously this summer.   I will be doing the cable tour as well as the boat tour and I'm really excited about it all.

Most importantly I'm excited to be going home and settling in with my family and be blessed with the birth of my God Daughter, Ayla Rose who is due about when I arrive home.

What a perfect way to end a perfect summer.

Heading North to Train for the World Championships

After wrapping up US Nationals in Ohio, I headed over to Illinois to Cullen Runford's Lake House to spend some time riding on Crystal Lake.  With my knee feeling stronger after a solid month of gym work and physio, we had lots of water time, riding a bunch and hitting double ups and even did some filming for a short video featuring a bunch of Cullen's friends all riding.

One thing that I did take away from the comp was a new Board.  Phil Soven convinced me to try the CTRL RX as opposed to the Supreme that I have been riding since I switched over from O'Brien.  It feels good, I am already in love with it.

The Northwest Herald were interested in doing a story on wakeboarding and our story was a good one to write about.  A photographer and a reporter came to Cullen's Lakehouse to meet up with us and see what we do everyday.  He came out on the boat to see what out lives are all about. Then it was printed on the cover of the news paper. Super stoked about getting some exposure in the media up here.

I have also been staying at Jamie Mccauleys house and riding everyday at his Lake House and on the Wolf River which is an awesome river.  We have been riding everyday, improving our consistency and filming a lot including some footage for my new edit that will be coming out very soon.

I have also been able to spend some time with Lisa Hentz Roller and her daughter KC.  Great family.

Lisa is a sports photographer and has taken some of the shots here in this blog.  I went with Lisa to a fun day on the water at the Mastercraft Boats, Chicago Tournament of Champions where I did an exhibition ride, competed in a stand up board race and had some of the most fun I have had in the US full stop.  What a great family.  Thanks Lisa, you are amazing!

On Wednesday morning before we shredded the Wolf river filming for Ryan Murphy's up and coming wakeboarding short film, 'Do or Die' (you can find the teaser on his Instagram). After that we pulled into Fort Fremont Marine which is waterfront on the Wolf River in an awesome spot. It was round 3 of the Fort Fremont Marine Wakeboard Series.

We had perfect conditions all day and I had a great day networking with a bunch of new people from the area and did some MC duties at the competition which was alot of fun.

I had a fantastic ride standing up both of my passes as well as my wild card trick.  I stomped 3 7's, a 9 and multiple mobe 5s as well as a hoochie to blind. I was super stoked that all this training that I have been doing is paying off!  It was a confidence boost heading into the World Championships which starts tomorrow for me at Pleasant Prairie in Wisconsin.   Lucky for me its only 20 minutes from the house I am staying at.

 

US National Championships - Ohio

The King of Wake Tour took us to Ohio for the US Nationals. It wasn't my best stop this year.  Unfortunately, I fell on some big tricks.  I was in a very tough heat and basically had to throw down my best pass to get through.  So I just went for it!  I'm still happy with my run and landed a few solid tricks.  Time off the water has consequences but I have to focus on my physio and rehab for my knee.  Whilst every stop is important, The World Championships is the big event on the tour so I am doing everything I can to help my knee get stronger.

Washington State

Stoked to be back in Washington State.  It's a long flight from Florida and I had a big stopover in Phoenix Arizona.   I had a great time here last year and am stoked that I was able to get to the CTRL factory and catch up with everyone. My knee is still sore so I am not getting the water time I really need.  However it is important to rest it up and then ride.  I had a solid two rides though and stuck all my tricks but just got pipped by Austin Hair who ended up taking second overall in the stop.

Phil Soven is proving why he is the World Number 1.  He just keeps winning every stop.

California Here I Come

I went from Florida down to Costa Rica for a short break.  My knee had been swelling a lot due to meniscus damage and I just needed to get away and chill.   San Jose was great, very relaxing.  Spent days around the pool and riding an exercise bike for low impact knee conditioning.

Then it was straight to San Francisco.  It was the first time in 3 years that the Pro Tour has come to California.  I was super stoked to be out here and out of the humidity and into something that was more like Aussie heat. 

I had a sick ride and stomped all my tricks but Randall 'Vandal' Harris an old school legend in the sport who lives in California came down to Tracy to shred and killed it.

After the contest I got to shred The Delta for the first time.  This is Josh Twelker's home ground, and I had an amazing time on a Nautique 230 till after sunset, was one of the best stops, cant wait to return next year.

North Carolina Pro Tour Stop

Great weekend in North Carolina for the Pro Tour. It's awesome to hang out with mates and enjoy the competition.

The 4 Aussies in Juniors made the final but Noah and Massi are proving to be tough to beat.

Harley got over Phil in the final which makes the King of Wake battle really close.

As for me, I'm still trying to break though with another 40+ riders in Pro Mens.

I didn't make it through, however guys I really respect like:

JD Webb,
Oli Derome,
Aaron Rathy,
Shawn Watson,
Chad Sharpe,
Trevor Hansen,
Tony Carroll etc
also went out in the same round as me. It's tough.

WWA King of Wake - Pro Tour Stop 2, Mooresville North Carolina

I'm just 18, young enough to ride in Juniors but focused on earning a place amongst the elite.

Every comp makes me stronger and closer.

Thanks for all of the support I get from CTRL Wakeboards, Hart and Huntington Clothing, Moskova Underwear, Von Zipper Eyewear, Nautique Central and my amazing family.

I have a little escape planned later this month to San Jose Costa Rica and then I will be off to California to catch up with mate Tim who is flying in, and then Pro Tour Stop 3!

Back to Georgia - Pro Tour Stop 1 at Acworth

I had the First Stop of the Pro Tour in Acworth, Georgia. This is always one of my favourite stops because the crew down there always put it on for us, between hanging on the beach with my local mates at the contest to hanging at Cliffs house, always the best weekend! I rode OK but came unstuck on a sticky rail.  No excuses, just not good enough to make the Semis.

This time the event was at a different location, but as usual it was a great spot.  It was awesome to see Phil Soven take out the first stop.  Great for CTRL to be on top of the podium and it really backed up my decision to join them as a company that is going places.

Then after the contest, we headed to the SMG 2.0 contest trying to get a grab at the cash prize, the contest got rained out so it got cancelled. But Austin said he saw some sick hand rails on the lake due to the lake being so full. One of the boys makes a call, a G23 with like 16 people on it and a jet ski roll up and say, 'lets do this'.

Scoping the scene for a rail hit

So many options - good rails

Then one thing lead to another and we ended up meeting them back at their Lake House to take a set on the G23.

Nice place to enjoy some Georgian hospitality

We jumped at the opportunity to do this so we met up with them at their lake house mansion, down the road from their actual home.  We showed up to ride the G23 with about 15 other people coming to watch us ride.  This was about to be the cap off to an almost perfect day!

Super Air Nautique G23 - Ultimate Ride

Back to the USA

After saying goodbye to my family again I headed off for my 4th tour of the US, my 4th year of the 'Endless Summer'.  I landed in Orlando at about 6 am and got picked up by my good mate and former tour champ  Nick Galotifiore.  As soon as we got home it was straight out on the boat for a sunrise set on Lake Conway on Nick's Nautique 230.

It was the best first set here, glassy lake, big wake, and sick tricks being thrown for both our first sets in the American summer. It was a great way to shake off over 24 hours of travel time.

I couldn't wait for good friend Freddie Wayne to get back from college to spend the his summer in Orlando and to catch up with Mike Dowdy whose Nautique G23 puts off the biggest wake around.

Between Nick, Freddie, Mike and Chloe Mills' Nautique 230, it really has started off as a Summer of Nautiques with the sickest wakes ever!

Orlando Fun - Picture Credit David McGregor - DM Photography

Training for Aussie Nats and Moomba Masters

On Friday night I headed to my childhood best friend Jordan Urens cabin in Echuca which is right next door to my old parents cabin the had since before I was born.  I rode with Charli Shore and her family on the Nautique 230 all of Saturday and Sunday morning, then I rode with Lachy Sims out on his Malibu Wakesetter on the Sunday afternoon.  I coached Lachy and his sisters and I personally rode better and better after every set I took, and i was loving it!

I'm back to my old self and feel onto of the world again! All my old tricks are coming back and I'm already working on a few things leading into Nationals. I love that I'm able to ride again, I can't believe how much I missed it and I'm finally strong enough to ride hard. Bring on next weekend, it's back to Echuca again aand then sneaking home for my sisters wedding!!!!

Victorian State Titles

This weekend was my first time back on the water in 7 weeks due to a recurring knee injury that troubled me towards the end of my US tour. I was really nervous about my ride, because I hadn't ridden in so long and I honestly didn't know how my knee would hold up after all my physio work.

The View from Dad's Office - The pickup boat!

On the Saturday which was Round 4, I turned up to see all the usual Wakeboard Victoria crew along with Troy Roker and Parker Siegele.  I really surprised myself and had a good solid ride, I stood up 2 passes and killed it, so I was super pumped about Sunday for State Titles! My knee was feeling strong and I was feeling even better about my ride!  We were back behind an Axis A22 and the wake wasn't too bad.

Sunday came around, I got to the site super early and was hanging out with my childhood best mate Jordan Uren for most of the morning before my ride, the conditions were horrible, and it was really really cold.  However I still stood up a perfect pass and even ollied back up onto the dock with dry hair and dry boardies! which is exactly what I wanted to do.   I managed to beat Parker with us both having standup passes so it worked out perfect for me.

Riding the CTRL Supreme on the Melton Weir

As the day went on, hanging out with all the cool Wakeboard VIC crew the conditions only got worse as the day went on, and by the end of it, we were riding in white caps!   However I  went out and had a super solid ride but fell at the end of both passes.  Parker just had a better ride and pipped me off the top spot in a close decision, but that's fine by me.  I proved everything I needed to for myself this weekend and I have a lot of confidence leading into Nationals and Moomba now.

I'm really happy that Parker and Joff came down for our event as it really caused me to focus on the main game.