The Original – No Skis, No Tubes, No Bulls#!t
Fox Wake just dropped a gem of a video of the great ginger himself Bob Soven. Do yourself a favor and watch this video and soak in all that is Bob. “While wakeboarding is his passion and career, it has also been his gateway to living the life he wants just the way he wants: without limits or conventional structure.” -Fox Wake.
Shop–> Liquid Force
Shop–> Body Glove
Remember the ol’ Sfumato days when wakeskating was predominately done behind a boat? With the development of wakeskating and the increasing overall technicality of tricks being thrown everyday, it’s obvious why riders are choosing to take a different approach to riding. And, of course, we having to drain your pockets to pay for filling up your boat is another obvious reason. But, is riding behind a boat becoming a thing of the past for new, up-and-coming wakeskaters?
I do not necessarily think so, however, the influences of wakeskating are definitely taking more of a turn towards winch, cable, and PWC; and have ben doing so for quite some time. Who can deny it, though? You can learn so much behind the ski, and at a faster pace; you can hit spots that are considered unthinkable with a winch; and cables are popping up all over the place. Getting out there behind the boat, unfortunately, seems as though it may become a lost art.
Summer for us is always kicked off with the first stop of the Pro Wakeboard Tour at Dallas Landing in Acworth, Georgia. The Tour always brings out the best in Acworth every year. It introduces wakeboarding to people and families. We have so many people stop by the Ambush and BuyWake.com tent asking our team about ways to get involved in wakeboarding. The beach and shoreline is filled with all different kinds of people, whether it’s their 5th year in a row being out there to families stumbling across the contest by accident on a random Saturday. Not only is there a great turn out on the beach, but the city of Acworth puts on an amazing block party in the heart of downtown every year. They have so much going on into the night with live bands, food and booze stands along with all the restaurants putting on amazing specials. Each year the city of Acworth throws down a solid job of hosting the first stop of the tour.
I first heard of Spencer Norris back in 2007 when Robbie Carter slid his first full-length wake DVD into my Playstation II and said, “Watch this, it’s a video edited by my friend Spencer who’s going to do big things”. The movie was shot with a Sony VX-1000, it didn’t matter as Norris’s knack for editing was immediately apparent. He knew wakeboarding and knew how to make it look good. Riders took notice.
A year later I was granted the privilege of meeting Spencer at Derek Grasman’s old residence in Winter Haven, Florida, where we did some brief shooting. This kind of became his home base over the next two or three years as Norris infiltrated the wake scene. His talent opened up doors for shooting wakeboarding’s elite for various industry partners and publications.
Andy Kolb was recently down at Thai Wake Park alongside young Liquid Force phenom, Daniel Grant, who decided he wanted to focus on wakeskating for the day. What ensued was a candy and potato chip fueled wakeskating fit that ended up being one of the most intense skate edits that we’ve ever seen. I can only imagine what Daniel’s scheming on his wakeboard these days…
http://vimeo.com/95596906
More from Daniel’s 2014 Liquid Force Line
————————————————————————————————————————