A few pictures from the TWC

[Timmy!]

Cool pics from everyone! I would love to have glass like that - just doesn't happen on the lakes I get to ride though.

[dtown]

Cool pics from everyone! I would love to have glass like that - just doesn't happen on the lakes I get to ride though.

Timmy you have got to make a trip to Powell! Gurnsey (WY) has water like that in the morning. Wolford, near Kremmling has water like that before 2pm (that is when the wind starts... like clock work), but take a wetsuit!

[Waterski-Rebel]

Cool pics from everyone! I would love to have glass like that - just doesn't happen on the lakes I get to ride though.

Timmy - I think you'll be happy with the water tomorrow. It's not Glass, but pretty decent. Just remember to take a shower when you get home. :-\

[Surfdad]

Hey dtown,

Empulse is a clothing line that sponsors James - young kid Tyle McGuire operates it.

James can do that backroll/flip thingee, but the rotation causes him to land in the flats and once he hits the board just stops dead so there isn't any real way to ride that trick out. He'd have to have a tremendous pocket length to generate the speed to get the rotation and land on the wake. He's obsessed with landing it though - so we'll see.

Mike has made James an offer to offer that board as a pro/signature model. Can you imagine at 16?! I think that he'll accept and then I'm sure that Mike will be offering something similar.

I had to laugh at the offer to feed that boy - he eats like a hungry horse! It would be cheaper to toss him a stack of twenty's

[da.bell]

Hey dtown,

Empulse is a clothing line that sponsors James - young kid Tyle McGuire operates it.

James can do that backroll/flip thingee, but the rotation causes him to land in the flats and once he hits the board just stops dead so there isn't any real way to ride that trick out. He'd have to have a tremendous pocket length to generate the speed to get the rotation and land on the wake. He's obsessed with landing it though - so we'll see.

Mike has made James an offer to offer that board as a pro/signature model. Can you imagine at 16?! I think that he'll accept and then I'm sure that Mike will be offering something similar.

I had to laugh at the offer to feed that boy - he eats like a hungry horse! It would be cheaper to toss him a stack of twenty's

I hear you. I have 5 hungry boys in my house so I can feel your pain.

16 and a signature board... Every year they just seem to get younger and younger... Ops, I am getting older and older...

[Surfdad]

I forgot the most important picture! James won, and took home a cool $500!

[da.bell]

The sad part is that the airline ticket was probably more expensive than what he won.

Great job and a huge win for James already. Was that Chase that won second?

[samw]

Nice pics-Surfdad..... James is a stud!

Matt-Also nice pics of that river....

[Surfdad]

Yes indeed, Chase. The finishing order was:

1rst - James Walker
2nd - Chase Hazen
3rd - Lance Connor

Johnny Stieg, who is a super nice kid, is now riding for Shred Stixx and was at the event. I thought he was going to make third.

Yeah, the tickets alone were 400-something. This event was great though, in that we got to ride several days. Practice, free-ride before and after the event and also had the chance to talk with a ton of folks involved in the sport. So I didn't mind the cost. Plus it was a legitimate contest - I don't agree with the scoring system and such (and it's easy to beat knowing how it works), but they genuinely made an effort to be fair.

[bolsonAA]

I think they need to start using surf contest style heats with these contests. They are way closer to surfing than to wake boarding or water skiing. You really can't put point values for maneuvers for this type of riding. It would be cool to have judging done from somewhere else than in the boat with 4 guys in the water, 20 minute heats and 1 rider at a time within the same area. You can have 2 boats set up for both frontside and backside surfing for all competitors in the heat. 2 riders advance out of each heat. Top 2 waves are taken on a 10 point scale. You can ride a maximum of 10 waves and ties go back to the 3rd wave.

I guess you would always have 1 boat on each end of the contest area and as a rider comes down to one end, after his ride is done the next rider is ready and he goes back to the other end while the other boat gets the next rider ready.

[bolsonAA]

Surfdad, you also mentioned that James is working on rolls and flips but there is no real way to land them and keep riding due to the pocket. How about an Air show incorporated into the event. 1 could be the biggest air while continuing to ride, another could be the biggest air or trick without continuation. Even a tow-at would work for this, using a jet ski tow guy's into the wave or "at" the wave and let them boost out the back with the only requirement being they land on the board and sink into the water. I know both of these formats work very well on the surf side of things.

[Surfdad]

When we run contests we pretty much follow ASP format and judging. I agree the whole pre-assigned trick values is very problematic and most sanctioning bodies have abandoned that other than INT League. Although this contest used it and I don't believe that there was any input from the riders in establishing the values - which is a huge problem. It wouldn't surprize me to see it pop up at the world's though - that scoring mechanism would heavily favor skim style riders that can do tons of minor tricks in a brief period. The worlds, has in the past, always combined surf and skim riders in the men's open and this format would fit into their agenda of favoring skim style folks. It heavily favors doing a ton of minor tricks rather than fewer but riskier more progressive tricks.

In James divsion he won, but only by a few points. Folks that watched felt his run was head and shoulders above the rest and he did a front side 3 - literally no one else in the world is doing it but a trick that no one else in the world can do can be beaten by two surface 360's where a 10 year old can do them. This problem with the mechanism is why most sanctioning bodies have dropped it.

Certainly not where I want the sport to go, but also you have to allow this format - some folks may want it or feel it's best.

bolsonAAA in terms of heats - they ran all day literally almost nonstop and just barely finished by sundown. If we were talking about a 15 second ride that would be one thing, but it's typically much longer. In this and most venues it's hard to see the riders from the shore - especially when they are on the far side of the wake...so that almost always requires the judges be on the boat. When that is the case, you have to run one side first - all the regular or port weighted riders and then switch the judges to the other boat and judge the goofy or darkside riders. Very time consuming, especially when you have 50 or so riders in various divisions.

[Surfdad]

Hey bolsonAAA - I love that best trick component, we also did it at the last contest we held in the delta, but I ran out of time. I'm thinking about holding a contest for just that sort of thing - toss your best trick you get 5 minutes and will be judged on your best trick that you land!

[skyski_tige]

Here is what we rode Sunday morning.

Nice! Did you put in at Tin Top road? That is where we hold our yearly Texas Hydrofoil fly in.

[dogbert]

Nice write-up and pics! My kids are getting better. I need to get them a better board. They love surfing!