The Wakeboard Blog

Weekend in Colorado!

As I was flying into Denver, Colorado, I had no idea what to expect from a state that’s know for its world-class winter resorts and snow.  Unfortunately, for my first visit, I was not visiting Denver in the winter, but in the middle of summer for the PWT stop 4.  Upon landing, everything reminded me of a ski town, which was a cool change from the normal stops of the PWT. We had flown into Denver a day early to shoot with Sam Saslow, a old friend who lives in Denver, for an online video about our travels and riding in Colorado.  Denver definitely does not have the plethora of lakes like Orlando, so our riding spots were definitely limited. We ended up at Sloan lake, a small circular lake located almost directly in dt Denver.  The Hagoods were nice enough to take us out on their Super Air for a ride, which definitely was an experience.  The first thing, was that Denver is pretty nice, its clean, everything looks new, and has a fresh feel. But, on top of all that, there are a lot of bums…everywhere. And Sloan Lake was no expectation. On benches around the shoreline the bums would sit, watching and even cheering, as we went by.  They were definitely a different type of bum that the ones in Orlando, which are constantly nagging everyone for money and are really dirty. Also, the laws of the lake were that every boat had to go around the lake in a counter clockwise direction.  So, at one point we had 7 boats circling the lake with us, which as you can imagine, created some crazy waves in the middle and just about everywhere else.  We made the best of it, and had a great day.  The local wake crew also built a rail off to the side of the lake in a little canal that we had a chance to winch a couple times to get some shots for the vid.  It was apparent that the crew of riders in Denver were all cool people with a love for wakeboarding, and love for sharing it, which was the best part of the day! That night Sam and I hit up the downtown bar scene, which kept with the ski town theme, and was definitely too good of a time.  On Friday and Saturday we went up to Colorado Springs for the PWT stop and to check out God’s Garden, which had some of the craziest red rock formations, similar to Sedona Az.  The location was perfect, and the riding stepped up a notch with the perfect conditions. For a full story on the stop check out http://bit.ly/9p53IW.  Once the fun of Saturday night was over, we went out to a gravel pit to ride with air chair’r Darrin Dinkel behind his 2010 Malibu VLX.  The gravel pit wasn’t fully dug out, which allowed for only a 3 trick pass.  If you’ve never been to Denver, because of the altitude, almost anything gets you out of breath, and turning every 3 tricks exhausted us very quickly. Still, the boat was sick, with a 450 HP engine, and the lake was completely flat so each one of us had pretty good rides, and were able to get some alright footage. The highlight of the day had to be when Kirby Liesman stomped a moby dick 5! We all went crazy, and he was all smiles for the rest of the day! Now we’re back at Sam’s place, relaxing, waiting for our flight out to Lake Shasta for the iwake.com photo shoot!

Wakestock UK

The 3rd stop of wakeboarding World Series took place in Abersoch Wales, which was the host of Wakestock.  Before going, i’d heard a lot about Wakestock, mainly, how crazy the weather was, and how much crazier the people were.  Upon arrival, the weather definitely lived up to its reputation. Coming from Orlando, I had definitely climatized to hot weather, so when it was about 60 degrees, rainy, and windy upon arrival, we all became pretty bummed. The competition took place on the ocean, so not only did we have to battle winds, rain, and a small wake, but also the ever-changing tide on the course.  It became interesting as the tide would go out and the rails would become larger and larger for each rider.  Needless to say, the riding adapted to the conditions, and no one threw any crazy tricks, with the exception of Phil Soven. After seeing the video of him doing a whirly 5 behind a jet ski (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuA6dWTO5NE), I knew he could ride in any conditions behind anything.  He wowed the crowd with a whirly 5, toe 7 (the only 7 of the whole comp), crow mobe, and tantrum to blind, to take the win!  It was impressive to see those tricks while the wind was blowing 30 mph and the wake was incredible small. Check out the video of finals at my website, NickJonesWake.com, under the travel tab and Wakestock UK!!

Wakestock UK was about much more than just the wakeboarding, as it has become one of Europe’s biggest music festivals with over 20,000 crazy English in attendance! I didn’t recognize any of the band names other than DJ Goldy Rocks, whos dating my friend, and the Ting Tings.  But, none the less, all the bands got the crowds going crazy, and everyone into the festival spirit. One thing I took particular interest in, was the fashionable Wellies that everyone seemed to be wearing.  Maybe it hasn’t caught on stateside yet, but just about every female in attendance had her own pair of custom Wellies , with high socks to match and jean short shorts! At first, the look was odd, but by the end of the weekend I’d become a fan of the Wellies look, and hope it migrates to the US soon!  The boat comp was at a different site than the music festival, which was somewhat of a bummer, but they did put up the legendary Wakestock pool gap right in the middle of all the festivities.  If you can remember from Wakestock Abu Dhabi, everyone was stoked on the rails and overall setup of the pool gap! The UK boys brought the same set up out to Wales, and dropped it in the middle of the most crowded area of the festival, making for some crazy crowds and good times.  Aaron Rathy came away with the win, after faltering in Abu Dhabi to a third place, with second going to Englands own CK!

Overall the whole event was different than any wakeboard competition I’d ever been to. The water conditions were worse than I thought possible, and the party’s were of epic proportion. After some bad weather days, we were fortunate to have beautiful weather for the last couple days of the contest and for our day checking out London. For more pics and video on the event, check out NickJonesWake.com.

Belo Horizonte, World Series Stop 2

The second stop of the Wakeboard World Series took place in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, last week.  It was a pretty important event because only the top 10 riders from the first two stops qualified on to the rest of the World Tour.  At the first stop in Abu Dhabi, I got 11^th place, so the pressure was definitely on to perform and get in the top 10. Belo Horizonte is located in the mountains in the southern part of Brazil, meaning that their winter is just starting. It was definitely evident the second we got off our 9 hr flight.  After traveling to Manaus, Brazil earlier in the month, Belo seemed like a completely different country. The water was chilly and the air was thin.  But, it was still an amazing place.  The one similarity it had with Manaus was that the people liked to party, and party hard.  We got two days to practice behind the Masterboat Wakestar to check out the wake and shoot with the media. To me, the World Series really stands apart from the US tour because of this one difference.  All the riders got to take two boats out and spend the afternoon on the lake just riding and having fun, which is what its all about.  Once the competition got underway, the partying stopped and I had to focus to ensure a spot on the tour.  After making it through my heat on the first day, I went into a heat with Rusty and Phil in my heat, two of the heaviest hitters in the sport. When it was all said and done, I ended up winning the heat, with Phil advancing in second behind me!! It was definitely one of my better moments in my competition career. When Sunday came around, I once again had Phil in my heat, but also Harley. Unfortunately couldn’t pull it out, and ended up tying with Dean for 6^th, securing a spot on tour! I was stoked to make a little money and experience Belo. They threw an unbelievable party, and the females in Belo Horizonte are the most amazing I’ve ever seen! Every one is gorgeous, its almost to much…..almost! Unfortunately, with all the partying and riding, I didn’t have much time to take pics or vid, but luckily enough other people did to get some pictures and a video coming soon!

Wakegames Day 1 Results

Yesterday was the first day of Wakegames.  It was the qualifier round, so fortunately the team captains didn’t have to ride. Unfortunately, that was not the case for me.  Each year it seems wakeboarding steps up to new levels of riding, and this year was definitely proof of that once again.  For me, qualifying was a bit nerve racking because not making it out of the first day is definitely one of the worst feelings in the sport.  On top of that, two of my roommates were in my same heat! So, there was definitely some household bragging rights on the line, and we all knew it.  Going into the heat, I was third off the dock, Kirby Liesman was 4th, and Austin Hair was 5th, so I had the opportunity to ride good and put the pressure on, or fail and let them walk into the next round.  During my ride I was confident, but fell twice on easy tricks for me, really frustrating me and, in my mind, destroying my chances of making it.  Kirby and Austin pretty much stood up their passes, almost sealing the deal.  I definitely thought I was out and was bumming, but when the results came out I found I won the Heat! Instantly I was stoked! Austin got second also, so we both advanced to saturday. It was awesome to make it after two bad falls, and definitely let me know I have a little work to do.  Some of my buddies that also made it were Danny Thollander, Rob Carter, Kyle Alberts, Anthony Hollick and Bryan Hutton. Should be fun riding with everyone on Saturday. Updated from that day will be on my twitter NickJonesWake.

Out of the Amazon, back to reality!

Wow, I’ve finally recovered from the craziness of the Maresia King of Wake in Manaus, Brazil.  Never in my life have I partied harder, rode harder, and meet so many rad people as this last weekend in Manaus. The first thing you must know, is the clubs in Manaus don’t close until early in the morning, like 8 Am, and, somehow I found myself there until 8 every night/morning. The next thing is that the local riders, the Black River wake crew, can party all night, and ride their faces off all day.  At the ripe age of 23, I am definitely not able to do all that they do, but I managed for the last two days I was in town.  Manaus was probably the closest to wakeboarding perfection possible. Everyone there had massive wakes, so much so that when I went back to Orlando the wakes felt small.  Also, the Amazon is always calm, and the scenery is amazing! All that, plus the most stoked crew I’ve been with, made my week the best trip I’ve been on.  There were some gnarly times, like when a local shot mortars at our boat because we sunk his canoe, but luckily no ones hand/foot got blown off. Although, one of the mortars did hit our bimini and bounced off to explode in the water about 5 feet from the boat! After that, the crazy local wasn’t as funny anymore.  Even crazier than the local shooting the mortar was the driving! In Manaus, lanes are simply a suggestion.  Andre, the guy who brought us in, would periodically cut between two cars going about 50 mph, in middle of two lanes!! Seriously, it was like Fast and Furious driving! I think the picture of the flipped car explains it all. Another point that stood out in the trip was the crazy freshwater dolphins that swam in the river.  I have no idea what they were, but they looked just like dolphins and played around in the water in the same way.  Overall, I am stoked on Manaus, and am looking at an excuse to go back. Thanks to Andre, Hugo, Felipe, Angelina,Diana and everyone else that helped us out on our trip. Also, thanks to Austin Hair for getting me involved, you’re the man bro! Look for the vids to be popping up soon on NickJonesWake.com

Board Up Miami Day 2

Saturday was the final day of Board Up Miami. It was a lot more crowded than the previous day, and offered many more activities.  They had everything from a full skatepark with Mike Spinner doing demos, a rock band playing live,  to an all women’s roller derby team.  The roller derby team was interesting to watch, to say the least. Coming into the day I was #1 seed, so was pretty stoked to get the competition going. Unfortunately the winds had changed directions, and were blowing across the inner coastal, directly at the course.  This threw everyone off their game a bit, and definitely myself a lot more than the others. When it was all said and done, I finished off in 6^th place. Bob Soven came away with the win, with Harley in 2nd. It was pretty disappointing after starting off so good, but was motivating and will push me to work hard until the next competition.  That night, my roommates Austin Hair, Kirby Liesman, and myself went out on South Beach with the crew from the event.  In Orlando, all the bars close at 2 Am, but in South Beach, they’re typically open until at least 5 or 6 Am!  From the long weekend of working hard, the guys from the event were ready to let loose, and the bottles quickly started flowing. Needless to say, we took advantage of the extra couple hours and stayed out almost all night.  Thanks to Alan and Joey for showing us how to really party in Miami. Sunday was brutal, not only did we have to drive back to Orlando, but had to pack up for a 7am flight to Brazil on Monday morning.  Now, I’m sitting on the flight, with back-to-back nights of 3 hours of sleep, and feel like a zombie. An airplane seat has never looked so good as it does right now.  Off to Manaus Brazil for the week, hopefully will have some good times to keep you updated on.

Board Up Miami, Day 1

Today has been such a long day, starting at 7 AM in Orlando, and will end late in the night in South Beach. Its the weekend of Board UP Miami, the first major Pro wakeboard contest of the year. A lot of the riders have been riding hard all winter getting ready for the upcoming season, and definitely showed it today in the qualifying rounds. My day started with an abrupt wakeup call at 7am. After some coffee and breakfast, my roommate Austin Hair and I went to ride on the lake with my coach Chad Brown. Check out his website at Time-onthewater.com. Hes been amazing this year, and anyone looking to push their riding should definitely contact him. Our rides were pretty sub par, and it was easy to see that it was way to early for both of us. We quickly wrapped it up and pulled my boat out of the water to get on the road for Miami. In our typical sense, we left about an hour late, and the whole drive down we were super stressed we wouldn’t make it in time for our rides. Luckily the even was running behind schedule when we got there, like every other wakeboard competition, so we were able to relax and get set for the qualifiers. It was unbearably hot, with the temperature in the mid 90’s and the sun scorching down on us. When the riding order came out, I was super bummed to see I had lastyears tour champ, Harley Clifford, last years Rookie of the Year, Jimmy Lariche, and last months Wakeboarding Magazine cover boy, Bob Soven, in my heat. It was definitely as hard a heat as any has ever been. I’d been working hard all winter, and knew I just had to go out and put my run together, and luckily did. With 3 sevens, and acouple mobes, i was able to take the top spot in the heat, and of the day!! So Stoked! Finally it seems all the hard work is paying off! Tomorrows finals, and i’m excited to go out and see what I got against the best in the world. This will be the first time i’ve been ranked 1st in and gone last off the dock in a major pro even, definitely something I will remember for a long time, and hope to see more of this year as the season continues!

Abu Dhabi Wakestock Final Day

Wow, wakestock is finally over. This has been the longest, craziest, contest i’ve ever been to. Felt more like a wakeboarding camp where we could ride cable, hit the pool gap, and ride boat almost all that we wanted to.  On friday we were supposed to have qualifiers for the wake contest, but due to the 18 mph winds, it was postponed until Saturday. In its place, they threw together a cable best trick contest out in the Persian Gulf.  I was able to land a S-Bend to blind, a frontflip to blind and a poked stalefich role to blind, so was pretty stoked on my run. Also, all the locals had never seen cable riding before, which made it even more fun to introduce it to them. On Saturday we had to run the boat competition.  It was terrible conditions but we had to go ahead with it. Unfortunately I didn’t ride how I wanted to, but still finished up with 11th place.  Harley won, with two mobe 5’s in his run, and a backmobe 5 coming back to the dock, definitely will be the one to watch out for in any contest he rides in for the next couple years.  After we had the pool jam finals, which they crowd was stoked on because the pools were built right in the middle of the walkway to the beach so everyone could get right in front of the action.  I ended up getting 10th overall.  With wake stock finishing up, we all went over to the main stage for the awards and De La Sol concert.  They were sick to watch, and definitely put us all in the mood to party. The after party was located on the Crown Plaza roof, over looking all of downtown Abu Dhabi! Partying with all our friends while overlooking miles of high-rises was pretty incredible, and definitely summed up Wake stock perfectly.  On Sunday morning most of the riders flew back to their respected countries, but Austin Hair, Danny Thollander and I had planned to spend the next two days touring Abu Dhabi and Dubai! More to come on that.

Abu Dhabi day 1

Day 1 at Wakestock was supposed to be pretty chill, basically just a practice day and relaxing while gettin used to the time change.  It started for us early, real early.  Danny couldn’t stay asleep, so he woke up at 4am, with austin and myself soon to follow at 6.  We quickly took advantage of the breakfast buffet, and spent acouple hours enjoying Abu Dhabi’s action channel featuring Nash Bridges.  We then headed down to the competition site to check it all out.  Its definitely the sickest place i’ve ever seen a wake contest put on and is supposed to have 36,000 spectators this weekend.  Right behind where we ride is the worlds tallest flag pole, and on all other sides are endless skyscrapers. So crazy to see all the incredible buildings and cranes everywhere putting more and more up.  After taking a good practice set and getting some vid and pics, we relaxed around the site for a bit untill the pool gap was finished.  We were then able to session that untill the sun went down.  Pretty fun because they put it under a system 2 cable instead of the traditional winch setup.  On our way back to the hotel after I started to really feel the travel and day catch up to me. I’m absolutely beat, already feel asleep midway through writing this.  Now its off to the hotel bar to meet up with the guys and back to the room for some much needed rest. As a result of having to use hotel computers for the internet, we havn’t been able to upload any of the pics of the event, but hopefully will be getting some up soon!

Just Landed in Abu Dhabi

Greetings from Abu Dhabi! After leaving monday afternoon at 3pm, Austin Hair,Danny Tholander and I just got into our hotel room in Abu Dhabi, at 1 Am on Wednesday morning! I’ve never spent so much time on a plain or sitting still in my life.  Fortunately for myself, there are benifits to that, which I will explain.  The first, is the wide variety of movies offered on international flights, and countless hours to enjoy them all! Austin and i started with Year One, an excellend comedy featuring Jack Black.  After that I watched a documentary on Lebron James’s highschool basketball career, and came to the conclusion that i’m going to start balling it up when i get back state side! Also, i’m pretty sure that I have one of the healthiest hearts in Abu Dhabi right now, courtesty of the comlemenary red wine on British airways. Did i mention the free food? It was like a Golden Coral buffet instead they brought the food to our seats!  The only downside of it all is that my body has no idea of what time it is, what day it is, and when to fall asleep. I’ve pretty much been up since monday now.  Throughout our journey Austin Hair and I have been and will continue to film our experiences to bring to you on my site and iwake.com.  Fortunately for us, we’ll have 24hrs to sit in a plane and edit on the way home.  As far as the World Cup, we have practice tomorrow for the boat competition which runs thursday through saturday. Also, every night will feature a railjam and live concert from various bigtime bands that i’ve never heard of. Tomorrow should be a fun day, and hopefully i’ll get some pics to post of it all. Now, i’m going to try and get some much needed rest.