Australian Cable Nationals

I have settled in really nicely at Mackay and am really enjoying the change of life up here.  The locals are great, and I have really enjoyed spending a bit of time on and off the water with Reuben Buchanan who is an awesome bloke.

My latest news is that I am thrilled to announce that I recently signed with Jobe.  They have been so supportive and I was really impressed with the extensive range they have.  In fact I almost rode for Jobe a few years ago.

My new ride from Jobe

I  have started riding the Conflict which is Julian Cohen's board, the board is amazing it has great flex while still being a super strong board with great pop off the water.  Since riding it I feel my riding has improved a lot and it helps being at such a great cable like Gowake Mackay.

Last week I traveled back to my old home cable on the Sunny Coast to ride in the Australian Nationals.  There has been a shortage of comps on the Australian calendar which is crazy given the way cable is growing around the country.

The event was great and I was super stoked to plan a solid ride then go off the dock and stick it all exactly the way I planned it.  Of course there is always room for improvement, but never the less I was ecstatic to take out second place against some sick riders.

I am going to quietly practice in the mean time and prepare for the Cable Worlds in Norway in August.

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.

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 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

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

WWA World Titles - Pleasant Prairie Wisconsin

After packing up all my stuff and saying goodbye to Orlando for the last time until next summer, Twiggy and I got on a plane and headed to the World Titles in Wisconsin. 

After two cancelled flights I was getting nervous that I was going to pull a Phil Soven at Nationals, (missed his ride due to cancelled flights) after finally landing in Chicago, Michigan, I got straight on my coach and mobbed it to Kenosha as fast as the bus driver said he could go. When I got to ‘Brat Stop Kenosha’, 2 miles from the site, I had to patiently wait for the cab that was supposed to be there waiting for me.

All just to be told i got there too late by 10 minutes, I was shattered and heartbroken. I was there a good 2 hours before my ride, but they said rules are rules.  I hope they treat all riders that way in the future because it sucked big time.  All i could do at the time was swallow my pride, and support the other riders who were lucky enough to ride in the contest.  It looked like a really fun contest, the lake was buttery all weekend, the wake didn't look bad and the boys were all shredding! 

At least I had something to look forward to, yes I was finally heading home after a long and fun summer with the people I love, I was looking forward to getting home, seeing my family and organising my house on the Gold Coast.

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.

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.

Just landed in downtown Orlando

Corey and I touched down from the overnight flight from Los Angeles into Orlando at 5.30am and was picked up by Daniel Watkins. It was so cool for DW to drag himself out of bed at that hour to pick us up.

Daniel arranged for us to go out for a ride on Jimmy LaRiche's boat and I had the most awesome set and felt super confident. I also had a second ride with Jimmy's room mate Jeff Langley.

Went to Cable with Dean Smith where I caught up with a bunch of Aussies including Harley Clifford, Mitch Langfield, Brenton Priestley, Parker Siegele and Ryleigh Pfitzner. Had so much fun and went back to chill at Harley's house for the rest of the afternoon.

Finally checked in to the Wakeboard Camp at Clermont and made our plans for tomorrow and then went for a midnight swim and saw my first alligators.. I hear they aren't as bad as our Aussie crocodiles, but I wont swing too close just in case..

Looking forward to waking up tomorrow and continuing my adventure.....

Bli Bli Cable

It's a perfect day today, not a breathe of wind and I am heading out the door with Nick Horatis and Damo Cox to go and shred Bli Bli.  Steve Dipple has put a 2.0 system on the second lake.  My mates who have ridden it say its awesome and I cant wait to try out my new Liquid Force Watson Hybrid on it.

Dad is working like crazy on my new website and says it should launch this weekend.  Can't wait to see the final version!

Courier Mail

What a thrill to be interviewed by the Courier Mail and take them out for a wakeboard.  It was really windy and we had white caps on the Coomera River but we got some great shots.

Can't believe I made page 9 with almost a full page of colour photos on a big news day.  Apparently we got a new Prime Minister yesterday or else I might have made page 3 lol.

Getting my feet wet again

I have spent the past 2 weeks on dry land and finally today I am getting my feet wet again.

I've been working hard on my fitness training and my mental preparation for the Worlds in Orlando.

I am spending the next couple of days with the ProWake Academy down on the Tweed with John Henson.  Rubber is an awesome coach and he is happy that I have enough tricks to take to Worlds, I just need to focus now on my consistency.

Heff from Billabong and Daniel Watkins from ProWake are working to hook me up for my 7 weeks in the USA - cant wait to hit the water at Projects.

I'm so lucky to be living in South East Queensand where you can ride all year around.

Hanging out with Jason from Wake Daily

Spent a couple of days with Jason McAlpine from Wake Daily.  He is been filming a video 'A day in the life of Dylan' which looks pretty cool.   Got some nice sequences on film so I am looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Jason is also making a clip for me for the Billabong Website for my Team Riders Page.  Yewww!

Off to Melbourne tonight for a week which will be the longest I have been off the water in over a year.  Going to chill with my big Brother and Mum & Dads families and go visit some wineries which we do every year for Queens Birthday weekend.

Back on the 14th and down to serious business - 6 weeks until I get to Orlando..  It's going to be big!

You can check out Wake Daily at www.wakedaily.com  The site is due for a major launch in August

Photoshoots and new ride gear

It's been a couple of big weeks for me getting out in my new ride gear.  Had a shoot with Daniel Watkins done by Adam Dodd.  Awesome photographer, but we just struggled with the weather.

Did a 6am start on the Tweed on Friday with Jaimi Brooks behind Rubber's Tige Boat.  We took ours as a chase boat and thought we had wasted our time.  Arrived at Fingal Head to white caps and black clouds.  Cruised upstream towards Tumbulgum and the sun broke through for about 90 minutes enabling me to get some great shots taken including some new sequence shots for a ProWake project!