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.

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.

The Aussie Season is almost over

Coming back from Grafton feeling pretty pumped about my riding and my switch to O’Brien from Liquid Force, I knew I had a couple of huge weeks ahead of me.

Danny Harf, Shane Bonifay, Shawn Watson, Kevin Henshaw and Daniel Watkins had asked if they could take my Billabong Edition Nautique 230 out to film some sequences for Danny’s new movie Defy.  All up they did 3 solid days in the boat and I was stoked to have a chance to ride and get some video down for them too.

Dylan Prideaux - Qld State Titles

The Qld State Titles were on, and I had to ride alone.  No point claiming a victory as I was the only rider in Open Mens but had to ride that category to for Nationals and needed to qualify.

Once that was wrapped up, it was back to training for Nationals and helping out a couple of cable riders make the transition to boat.  Jaimi Oxlade from Singapore and James Windsor from the Sunny Coast.  Both shredded behind the boat and got themselves ready for a huge comp ahead.

I snuck back down to Grafton for a Free Ride Friday and had an awesome time.  The Clarence River must be one of the best rivers in Australia, compared to the Gold Coast I don’t know whether they realise how lucky they are to have so much good water.

Wrapped up our final Free Ride on the Nerang River in perfect conditions.  Broke my perfect record though with one rider who just couldn’t progress.  Prior to that I had coached all 25 riders to a new trick.  From backrolls, to scarecrows and just good clean wake jumps, every Free Ride Friday winner went home feeling pretty pumped.

Free Ride Friday time - In the drivers seat

My good buddy Damo Cox filmed a few sets and made a little video for me to upload before I head to the States.  Feeling pretty good about my riding seeing i spent almost 4 months off the water over Summer.

I was really stoked when Adam Dodd called to say he wanted me to film some sequences for Wake Trick Guru and I got contacted by a very cool company associated with Surfing in Europe that wants to sponsor me.   It’s going to be a hectic week ahead.

My first US Pro Tour Event

Had a nice flight to Knoxville and went and checked out the site. It’s a great location for people and crowds but it looked like the water traffic and roll back might be a problem. But hey, we all ride the same water so we are all affected the same.

For my first US Pro Event I was in Heat 2 against Julian Cohen, John Jeffries and Kyle Evans. I was first off the dock. I had a pretty solid ride, stand up pass which included a Toe 7, Back 5 and a Whirly 5. Didn’t need to throw down too much to get through and I was pleased to get through to the Semi Finals. I was stoked at the number of people who thought I was a podium chance. I just came here for the experience and to see what I need to do in the next 12 months to be a serious competitor in the Jr Pro Tour.

In the Semis I unfortunately crashed out on my opening trick (Whirly 5) which I never fall on and I crashed out on my opening trick of the 2nd pass (a tail glide) so I struggled to get enough tricks in my pass to get through to the final. It was a great event though and a really good one for Liquid Force and Australia with super nice people like Amber and Harley winning the event.

It was also good to have a talk with some of my Billabong Team Riders like Shawn Watson, Danny Harf and The Bomb. I met the Bomb at my first ever Pro Event on the Tour in Sydney 2 years ago, he is a cool guy. Shawn and Danny have both offered to take me riding.

Back to Clermont and riding with Danny Burnstein, I landed a toeside 9 and all of my other tricks. I thought to myself that this will be a good week getting ready for worlds.

Today I went out on Bennett’s boat with Aaron Brown and stuck more Toe 9’s, all of my 7’s and my 3 Mobe 5’s. Tricks come and go and sometimes when you learn something new, you lose something. I guess I am going through a solid phase at the moment where I have most of my tricks very consistent.

I have stopped free riding for the moment and I am just running my pass over and over.

Tonight I am heading to Aaron Browns to crash for the night. Tomorrow is the last day before worlds and I will get 3 or 4 sets in with Aaron and Nick Galotifiore am felling pretty pumped about it. Nick won the Overall Jr Mens Pro Tour, so he is the benchmark of what I need to be next year for my chance at a US Tour Title.

Worlds start on Thursday and finish on Sunday. It’s all about riding on Sunday, I hope I get the chance.

Team Billabong - Here I come

I just signed a multi season contract with Billabong as the first ever Australian Rider on their Pro Wake Team.  Awesome to on the same team as Shawn Watson - I ride a Watson Board & Boots and use a Watson handle...   To have team mates like Danny Harf, Chad Sharpe, Brian Grubb, Kevin Henshaw and Erick Ruck is awesome.   

Have some incredible photo shoot concepts we are working on now as well as my Billabong Team Rider Web Page...

So pumped, I just want to go out and ride again!