Simplywakeboarding.com

Third Blog Entry

Hey guys!! So I haven’t wakeboarded much since the last time that I sent you an update but we’ve had quite a lot of fun, so I thought I’d rub it in!! We went to Wal-mart on Thursday so that Stew could buy a bike. While Stew was deliberating between cost and quality I found a rip-stik (a sort of snake board thing) obviously I had to pick it up and ride it around the shop!! When someone eventually told us off for doing it, Stew emerges from another aisle on his choice of bike doing wheelies down the length of the store as he shouts “It‘s ok, I‘m buying it!!” Then we went for a bike ride around the lake on Friday morning, which is a lot bigger than I thought it was!! We were pretty tired afterwards. It wasn’t as eventful as buying the bike although Sam did get stung by a hornet while riding with no hands and nearly ate pavement!!
On Saturday we went to a double up contest in a town not far away called Winter Haven. All the big names were there, Rusty, Danny Harf, Soven (both), Rathy, JD Webb and Daniel Watkins, all big hitters!! We watched the qualifying and saw Rusty sticking a 1080!! It was awesome. We went back the next day to see the semi’s and finals and it was going off!!! In the semi’s Rusty stuck another 1080, clean as a whistle, Bob Soven landed his new trick which he called the Trifecta (???) it’s a double front roll with a 180 on the end, check it out on www.chadsharpe.blogspot.com. Watkins was doing double backrolls and Rathy was landing switch heel 900’s really clean and consistent, Adam Fields did a slim chance 540 and attempted a slim chance 720. The finals was less successful for the guys but there were still heel and toe 900s and backside 720s flying everywhere. It was cool to be standing watching a bit of wakeboarding history in the making.
After the contest we headed to Clermont to see Hayley Smith on her birthday which coincided with the 125th anniversary of Clermont so there was a huge fireworks display at the lakeside, it was a good show. We stayed at Amber Wing’s house that night and we rode with Amber, Hayley and Ben Greenwood the next morning, it felt really strange to have those guys drive the boat for me!!
Thanks for reading guys,
PJ

The Second Blog Entry

Hey guys!! So it has been a few days, just settling in getting my body clock set and getting back on the water. Its been really good fun with the guys over from England, they’re a good laugh. Most of them are off home now which is giving me the time to write this!!

We went to Wet and Wild (the waterpark) the other day which was hilarious. We had Stew’s waterproof video camera on the slides and Ben Hagen managed to split his head open jumping out of an inflatable ring!! A trip to first aid and he was patched up and ready to roll again.

Back to the wakeboarding……..MY MUSCLES REALLY HURT!!! Its been a while so I’m just getting up to speed still. I’ve hit a few good tricks though, just adding grabs to things and going big. Here’s some more photos that I got,

PJ

The First Blog Entry

So here I am at the start of my wonderful and exciting journey sitting at Orlando International waiting for a ride to the house, and I have been waiting for quite some time. Stew’s not answering his phone, Sam’s isn’t ringing at all. I’m trying to put off phoning mum because she’ll just get herself worked up into a state, but at last I have no option. “Hi mum, there’s a bit of a problem…….” Two and a half hours later, Stew calls, “PJ!! Where are you??”, the situation was resolved and I picked up by Sam a little while later, first stop, Dominoes Pizza!! When I got to the house I met the guys who are here wakeboarding for the week, we watched some wakeboard dvds to get amped for the morning.

I was awoken this morning to, “PJ we got you an Americano and some porridge from star bucks”, it was awesome!! That woke me up quite nicely then Sam and I, while the four guys rode, went to get gas for the boat. It’s a pretty hot day maybe that’s because I’m not used to it. Not a cloud in the sky, grab the sun screen and glasses and I’m set. The lake is sick, glass flat and the only other boat was Brian Grubb’s Malibu!! The wake behind the X-Star is awesome, really big but not lippy. Only had one set today, just easing myself in gently, but it was a good set. I landed all the tricks I had been doing before I left which I didn’t expect!! Maybe I’ll start learning stuff tomorrow!! Stew took all the guys in a stretching session after riding which was awesome, I felt as though I’d had a massage.

That’s all for today folks, I’ll update you soon!!

PJ

Simplywakeboard Questionnaire

Paul when do you land in Orlando whats your first port of call?

Dude I landed yesterday (13th October) and my first port of call was Dominoes Pizza!! The house is only 10 minutes from the airport, just came straight here. It’s on lake Jessamine, it’s got 2 volley ball courts and an X-Star at the bottom of the garden. It’s so sick!! There are a few guys from England here already and they’re all sound, we just sat up and watched a few wakeboard movies to get in the mood.

Are you going to be wakeboarding much the first week?

Yeah we are all heading to Tampa Cable today for a shred, I’m looking forward to it because apparently there are some good obstacles and it’s a left foot forward cable.

How long are you out there for?

I’m stayng for a solid 6 months

Where are you staying for your duration?

In the house on lake J, with Sam Carne and Stew Mackie

What boat will you be riding behind out there?

We got a sick X-Star which is weighted perfectly

Who will you be riding with?

Well Stew and Sam will be here for the duration but there are lots of others that are coming to stay and ride.

McCormicks cable looks awesome do you think you will check it out?

Yeah we’re all going today looks sick gonna shred some left foot forward cable

What setup are you riding at the minute?

I’m riding the Hyperlite Marek 136 with Hyperlite Atlas bindings

Any tricks you hope to get dialed in the first month?

Yeah for sure I’m going to be trying 720s but after that it’s whatever springs to mind