Australian Nationals and Wakeboard World Cup

Still on a high after winning back to back Moomba Masters, it was straight to the airport for a flight to Perth for the Australian Wakeboard Nationals.

Aussie Nats at Bonneys

The Venue was the famous Bonney's Ski Park at Baldivis south of Perth where they have 5 lakes which are mainly used for waterskiing.  The location was great and so was the weather.

I took my Moomba form into the comp and qualified straight through to the final.  I pulled up with a slightly sore wrist which is something that I just can't seem to get right.  Last year at Nationals I damaged it in the Semi and had an emergency MRI before the final.  I was scheduled to fly to the US the next week to start my first full Pro Tour and that meant more to me than a Nationals Title.  I rode with a heavily strapped wrist and managed to pull of the win then.

12 months later I ripped it again riding in the final.  It caused me to fall on a Whirly 5 which is a basic trick for me but one that has a lot of wrist rotation.  Adrenaline took over and I got up and landed it straight away, bit just couldn't ride my best and two falls saw me out.  My goal of winning back to back Nationals as well was now over and I have to settle for 2nd place.

Dylan Prideaux in Action

The next thing that happened was a bitter sweet victory when I was finally given a spot on the Wakeboard World Cup which is the Holy Grail of wakeboarding.  Fully funded air and travel costs and guaranteed prize money for every rider.   I was torn between my dream of riding the event and the risk of further injury that would impact on my US Tour. 

I sought some advice from Dad, and a couple of people who I really respect and then I spoke to John Wickcliffe the President of Wakeboard Australia to advise him that I would not be taking up the invitation and would travel home for emergency treatment.  John called me to the stage at Nationals presentations to tell the audience.  I thought I was doing the right thing, but for many more people it seemed much bigger.

The end result of that decision was that Mitch Daniel got my place.  I was so happy for Mitch and his family.  He has always been a great competitor and I know how much time, effort and money a family invests to allow their kids to compete in this sport.

Once my wrist feels secure my next goal is to win Junior Men's at the Australian Cable Nationals in Penrith, and then it is off to Orlando at the start of May to kick off my US Tour.

Moomba Masters Champion - back to back!

I had an great weekend at Boardstock at Penrith finishing 1st in the Rail Jam, 2nd in the King of Kicker and 3rd in the 1/4 Pipe Challenge.   However I was really disappointed at my ride at the 2nd stop of the Australian Open.

My good mate Carro from Sweden came up to the Gold Coast to chill at ours for a while and I made the most of every moment since Penrith to focus on Moomba, Nationals and the start of the US Tour.

I decided it was time to get serious and just focus on the 15 or so key tricks I need to be able to adapt to throw into a comp pass.  It was great to get a variety of Mobe 5's, Glides and consistent 9's back into my regular rides.

Dylan Prideaux - 2012 Moomba Master

Moomba was a fantastic event.  Better time slots and more quality riders.  To have Steel Lafferty, Daniel Powers, Sam Carne, Marcello Giardi, Brenton Priestley etc in the event put huge pressure on me as the defending champion.  All the boys rode solidly and they was some pretty serious tricks being thrown down.  I had some great rides, but had the worst ride in the Semi's.  Just like last year, I just scraped in to the final.  Fortunately I was able to stick a solid pass and walk away with my biggest cheque yet!

Riding in front of over 200,000 fans on a warm Mebourne night was awesome.  Having so many family and friends in the crowd was even better!

I'm currently in Perth at Bonney's Ski Park to hopefully defend my Australian Open Mens Title as well.

Moomba Masters - Melbourne 2012

As for the US Tour, I have decided to not go over and ride Wake Games at OWC (which is tough because it's my sponsors event) but to stay and ride in the Australian Cable Nationals at Penrith in April.  I love riding Cable, and it's good to be versatile in the sport.  My new sponsor CTRL make great cable boards and I want to do my best to get them on the podium.

I will head to the US at the start of May and do the whole US Pro Tour, US Nationals, US Masters and the World Championships.  Looking forward to it a lot.

My Amazing Aussie Summer

It’s been great to have some recovery time away from wakeboarding.  Time to focus on my goals, focus on my family and friends and get my body in peak shape for the US Tour.  Last year I achieved most of my goals.   I won the Monster Energy Title in Jr Men’s, and got a Podium at my first Pro Event, I won Moomba Masters Pro Men’s,  I won the Australian Pro Men’s Title and I was selected to represent Australia at the World Titles in Italy.   The only goal I missed was going in to the last stop of the Australian Rail/Cable Series equal leader with my great friend James Windsor.   James won, I finished 2nd.   Cable was never my focus but Dad always told me I need to be versatile in the sport as the sport blends through the years.   At least I lost to an awesome rider and one of my best mates.  James went on to win the World Title in Junior Men’s later in the year.   I guess the end of the story was I left for the US Tour with a damaged tendon in my wrist, recurring back issues and a suspect knee.  Not an ideal start to a long 5 month campaign against the best in the world.   This year I have limited my Australian Schedule, and am currently working on a ‘pre season’ training schedule so I arrive in the USA in April in peak condition.

My Australian commitments behind a boat this year will be State Titles, National Titles, Moomba Masters and maybe a World Cup Stop if I qualify.

CTRL Supreme & Dylan Prideaux

It has been very pleasing to me to renew my long term commitments with Billabong and Von Zipper.  It's awesome to have such a close and strong relationship with these awesome Australian companies that also have interest in the US Tour.  Quicksilver are launching their Moskova Brand in Australia and the USA at the moment and I am really happy to be the Wakeboard Brand Ambassador in a tea with so many world class legends including Tony Hawk.

Coming out of the US Tour I knew I needed to find a solid, reputable and reliable Board Company who can support me in Australia and in the USA.   It was really pleasing to me to have the choice of 4 major US Brands providing me with test boards and boots.   It’s a huge job comparing product, because every day there are different conditions that affect the performance of a board or yourself.  I was overwhelmed with the approach from CTRL in the USA.  As a company they have established themselves around the world in Cable.  I am thrilled to be spearheading their Boat Campaign for the USA in 2012.

The greatest ever - Danny Harf 

I have chosen the 'Supreme' board from CTRL because it blew me away, the first time I got on the board I could do virtually every trick I wanted and was so comfortable on the board. I was blown away by how awesome the board is, so much pop yet so forgiving.  They have a flex version called the Blueprint which I will use for cable.  CTRL is an awesome company and I look forward to working with them on product development and help take the company to new levels.

The Boardstock event in Penrith was fantastic.  It was great to see international riders such as Daniel Grant, Tom Fooshee, Aaron Reed, Danny Harf, Erik Ruck, Windy Park and many more. Watching some of these guys on the cable was insane and it was a lot different to watching them in videos.  It has actually changed the way I think about cable.  As part of the CTRL Team I was thrilled to catch up with my mates Matty Hasler and Angie Schriber, they have been living down at Cables Wake Park which is where the event was held, and you can tell they have been riding a lot because they are both killing it at the moment!  A lot of riders were over from Korea as well including Windy Park, he is such a good rider and has brought a lot of his Korean students over for this contest and put a lot of CTRL riders on the podium, almost every division to be exact, which is insane!

Another nice thing about being in Penrith was to check out the new Nautique Dealership.  Nautique Central has recently opened up in the old go kart facility.  They built an awesome Quarter Pipe (first in Australia) and hosted a winner takes all Quarter Pipe Challenge on the System 2.0.  I place 3rd behind Brenton Priestley and Mitch Langfield respectively and I have to say, hitting a quarter pipe for the first time was the most intimidating thing ever, but at the same time had more fun than I could of ever imagined I didn’t want to let go, I just wanted to hit it all day and night.  I was so happy to finish in front of so many awesome riders from all over the world.

The Awesome Nautique 1/4 Pipe

Nautique hosted a Premiere Screening of DEFY The Danny Harf Project.  I had the nicest greeting from Danny and it was great to catch up.  DEFY is the sickest wakeboard DVD ever and I am so happy that I could contribute to it, ad that I was honored with a brief cameo riding spot on the DVD.

Being in Penrith put me back in contact with Carro Djupsjo who lived with me in the USA last year for a while.  Carro has decided to have a Gold Coast leg to her Aussie Tour and is staying with me at the moment to shred my 230 everyday and prepare for the US Pro tour this US summer.  We are going to house share again this year and I can’t wait to see how the tour pans out this year.