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.

Back in Old Melbourne Town

It was really great to get back to Australia after a 26 hour journey from Chicago to San Francisco to Sydney to Melbourne.  Flying in to Sydney on a clear morning is always a great site and I knew I was home.  Landing in Melbourne was awesome and I get to check out Mum & Dad's amazing new diggs.  I'm almost tempted to stay.

It was great to see my family and finally get to meet my brothers new born, Oliver, along with his other two kids, Charlotte and Sophia. 

I am planning on running a wakeboarding school on the Gold Coast along with having the privilege to ride for the summer in my hometown behind my Nautique 230. 

It was a pretty mixed US Summer.  A couple of steps forward, a couple of steps backwards here and there but overall, a lot of new experiences and good times along the way.

Roll on the Aussie Summer

Westchester Ohio - US Nationals

After having a great weekend in  San Jose Costa Rica with my girlfriend Jillian, we headed back north from Orlando to Nautique Nationals.  We were still without my Aussie Photographer Mate Tim Mossup (Twiggy) who was still in California living it up on the beach getting snaps of skaters. 

When I arrived at the comp site, I saw the heats and was surprised to see how hard the heat was that I was up against the King of Wakeboarding Danny Harf.  I wasn’t overwhelmed with how hard my heat was but was stoked to be riding in the same heat as Danny himself.

After watching Danny ride I was pretty intimidated when he fell three times in his run behind his own boat the Nautique G23, but I put my boots on and went for it, unfortunately trying to open with a toe 9 is hard enough, but i was NOT expecting the wake to buck me that hard or to get that much airtime, the wake was so big it was unbelievable.

But never the less, got back up and kept going for gold, after a rare and unfortunate fall on the transfer rail, I was seeing myself to not make it through to the next round. At least I got to hang out with Shawn Watson and Danny and a few of the other Nautique riders who I haven’t seen at the last few events.

Fort Worth Texas Pro Tour Stop 2

Had an awesome time coming from Orlando to Fort Worth, Texas, travelling with the girlfriend and my Aussie friend sports photographer Twiggy.

About to shred on the Nautique 230

About 2 hours out from Texas, on the morning of the contest, Twiggy (photgrapher) was driving and ran out of gas while Jillian and I were sleeping in the back seat, and it caused me to miss my ride in Junior Mens, which is unfortunate because I started the season strong with a 2nd place spot in the first stop at Acworth Georgia.   In hindsight, it was one of the best mistakes that has happened to me because now I then had the opportunity to ride Pro Mens at the stop as a once off and go back to Junior Pro's if I wanted to. 

I made the decision that day to step up to Pro Mens and I'm stoked on it. My rookie event on the Pro Tour, I had a pretty tough heat, but still stood up a solid ride and was really stoked on it.  I'm so pumped for the rest of the summer now, it will be interesting to see what will unvale. I was stoked to get the chance to ride Corey Bradleys big ass wake that his Nautique 230 pushes out, one of the best wakes I've ridden in a while.

Dyla Prideaux riding CTRL at Hydrous

Boat wasn't the only thing i got to enjoy in my stay in Texas, I was also lucky enough to be able to ride at Hydrous Cable Park, free of charge thanks to the good people at CTRL Wake. Coincidently my homie Justin Teich, a friend I lived with last summer in Orlando, was there to join me for the week. I had a great time, got alot of stuff on film and got some dirty photos, check them out!

Back in Orlando

Have had an awesome week after Callaway Gardens, my riding has been going awesome lately, recently stomped a heel 9 wake to wake on Nick Galotifiore's Nautique 230. Have also had fun sets out with Tony Carrol and Austin on their boats on Clear Lake, also rode on the boat at OWC with Nick Kamper driving me, looking forward to a fun time in Texas this weekend with my Aussie friends.