O'Neill wakeskate vests 2008

Next summer, O'Neill will come up to the market with two new wakeskate vests. The most popular and reworked Gooru and the Checkmate with it´s waferlike design and side zipper with neopren cover. Here's a picture from Nick Taylor wearing the Checkmate vest from ws.com. The other picture is from http://www.oneill-w.ru/.

Integrity board tech info

Now that the new CNC has arrived at integrity’s new production facility the door to a bright variety of new projects is pushed open. Via wakeskating.com Erich has given a brief outlook on what’s to come and what’s to expect.
First of all they are working on the improvement of the 41 model or rather a new 41 version. It’ll gain a little more weight “Integrity's 08 line up will be a pound to 1.5lbs. or so heavier... Some where around 9-10 lbs.” get some steeper concave and some higher kicktails. Furthermore the center/weight combination was improved to make the new integrity boards even more subtle wapons for excessive spin- and flip-tricks.
The 39,5 will be replaced by a board, sized to fit the needs of integ team riders Nick Taylor and Ryan Lemons. It’s scheduled for march release.
Other projects are the “GREEN” deck with 100% recyclable materials (“(hemp) fibers substituting the fiberglass”) and boards with Bamboo/composite cores. The bamboo one will be heavier than the other boards and is thus suited for the guys that like a denser feel in their skates.
Besides new shapes and materials, Erich is also working on different production processes and techniques to improve the response and snap of the board.
For further info about what’s to come go ahead and check this thread on wakeskating.com.

NeverRide Winch

The first picture of the new small NeverRide winch has been released on wakeskating.ch. Patrick from ws.ch wrote the following about NeverRide and their new winches:
This year did not take place any in Europe without NeverRide. The Company from Switzerland, which builds Towing Devices as precisely and reliably as Swiss clocks, are always locally. After the ISPO in Munich, where in co-operation with Reef and New Schnitzel took place a exibition, during Interboot in Friedsrichshafen was NeverRide again on place, and shows in co-operation with the water cable park Pfullendorf, what is the future of winching. Wakeskating and Wakeboarding on the highest level, and the new “small” NeverRide Winch “Winchmaster DeLuxe” live in action ...

To see pictures click here or go directly to the neverride homepage or wakeskating.ch.

German Wakeskate Videos

First (above) is from Andy Kolb (Kolbinator) at Texas Ski Ranch - sick footage with gazelle, 540shuv with backside bodyvarial (backside biggerspin), varialflip, ...

The second one is a first short trailer about the Ripzone german wakeskate nationals from the Wakekillaz Crew out of Magdeboogie. Special thanks go to Andre Solle for shooting and video editing. Check this link for the video (attention video size is approx. 23MByte, but good quality).

Byerly Toe Jam finals footy

After waiting for quite a while someone finally put up the videos of the 4th and last byerly toe jam this year. All videos (cable, winch, rails, boat) have really nice editing and good quality.So turn on, sit back and enjoy!

New WakeSkates 08 released

New WakeSkates released pictures and informations on their 2008 skates on www.newwakeskates.com
The collection of all wooden skates are to be on sale, with quite inexpensive prices! All models are under 200 bucks.

New has a great reputation of making good crafted deks with a solid quality. The 08 decks are supposed to even top that:
"the prices are just a wake up call to the industry. the boards are even better than before! we will be comming out with more graphics soon. and pics. wakeskating isn't a cheap sport so we are trying to help you get on the water. im also stoked to say that andrew did his own graphics. " Mike Barret on wakeskating.com

New still has its custom boards with all kinds of styles and combinations possible. Check it out!

see you at the lake!

Gatorboards Wakeskates 2008 Preview

Here the first pics of the new wakeskate line from Gatorboards. On top you can see the channels of the Doylce skate. They do look kind of deep. The Doylce will also be a foam topped jobby, and it will not have attachable fins. It's just a molded fin on each end and then the channels. The Doyle's concave is very deep like the Byerly Legacy, but the transition through the kicktails is smoother. Here the picture from the button

Last but not least a picture from the new Deuce Pop with Matt Manzari. All pictures are from wakeskating.com. For more information check this threat.

Byerly Toe Jam Stop 4 Rail Jam, Winch Jam and Cable Finals

16 of the world’s best wakeskaters challenged each other September 20-21 2007 in the rail park at The Projects in Bithlo, Florida during the final event of the 2007 Toe Jam wakeskate series, The Byerly Toe Jam, presented by O’Neill. Final run of the winner Ben Horan included switch and regular boardslide big spins, as well as a kickflip, varial flip and a solid kickflip off the flat rail. Here the last two rounds:

Finals
1. Ben Horan
2. Nick Taylor

Round 3

1. Brian Grubb
2. Ben Horan

1. Nick Taylor
2. Brandon Thomas

Round 2

1. Nick Taylor
2. Brett Little

1. Ben Horan
2. Clint Tompkins

1. Brian Grubb
2. Reed Hansen

1. Brandon Thomas
2. Steven Campbell

Ben Horan said "Going against Clint Tompkins was the most difficult time I ever had wakeskating. He’s a very, very good wakeskater". But it was also a good time for Clint Tompkins he won the winch jam at byerly toe jam.

Here the result and a picture from the amazing setup (box with 6-7 feet drop, ledge each side):

Winch Jam (8-man, 1-hour jam format Final)
1. Clint Tompkins
2. Brett Little
3. Ben Horan
3. James Balzer
Steven Campbell
Aaron Reed
Nick Taylor
Danny Hampson

On September 22 was the cable final at Orlando Watersports Complex. Conditions were perfect, glassy water. The level overall was good and Reed Hansen was amazing. His final run included a kickflip, varial flip, frontside flip, 360 flip and a double kickflip. Reed Hansen said: "If you told me to go back out there and do that again, there's no way I could."

Here the result from cable final:

1. Reed Hansen
2. Brett Little
3. Brian Grubb
3. Ben Kaiser

Picture from Rodrigo Donoso or from TAD (ws.com). Check the links for more pictures and information:

wakeskating.com Boot Final article Toe Jam Cable Finals threat Toe Jam Picture threat Toe Jam Winch Final threat

WakeWorld.com Day One Day Two Day Three

Wakeskating Spain

Wakeskating rules Europe. After Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, France, and Italy, Spain now has a online community related to wakeskating too.

Check wakeskating.es for the latest news out of Spain.

Wakeskating in Vienna, Austria, Red Bull

Dennis Knasiak aka The Machine traveled through Vienna Austria with two wakeboarders, a winch and skateboard obstacles from September 16.-17. 2007. For all german readers check this article at the Red Bull homepage.

Picture is from Red Bull Austria homepage.