Our Family's Progress 2009

So, I thought I would start a thread on here to stay up with the one I have going on wb.com. I'll go from here forward on pictures and stuff. You can see past info and pictures if you click this link: http://forums.wakeboarder.com/viewtopic.php?t=81239

I'll post a bunch of pictures after this weekend. We are going to Southern Plains Festival at Eufaula Lake here in OK. Our 9 year old son is going to compete for the first time. He seems excited and a little nervous. If you go to the wb.com thread you can check out some pictures and videos of him and the rest of us. I think he'll do well. We put together a 5-6 trick run he should be able to do fluidly, so we'll see.

I'll keep this thread going through the rest of the year so y'all can watch our progress.

I'm tellin ya you guys both are so ready for half cabs. They are super fun tricks and they are easier than hs frontsides 180s. Try 'em one wake. :)

Just a quick update...

My son did his qualifier yesterday. He took 2nd place and is in the finals for Sunday.

Sweet, pics please.

Right on!!! I hope he does well tommorrow. Good luck!

Well, he ended up 3rd place overall out of 8 kids. Pretty good for his first competition. We're very proud. He had a tough run for his final run. He started the first pass with a W2W and crashed, so it didn't count. The competition only allows two falls so the pressure was on to do a stand up run the rest of the way. He got right back into his routine and did all his smaller tricks and finished the pass with a W2W. He started the second pass with a W2W, did the other tricks in between and finished with a W2W. He was pretty excited to make the podium on his first event and is fired up about doing more competitions. We'll probably let him compete in several next year. He'll have some work to do if he wants first place. The kid that made first is able to do HS and TS W2W jumps with grabs and 180's.

I'll post some pictures and video clip links as soon as I can.

Here's the videos of the qualifier run and the final run. I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of him for how he competed and handled himself!

http://www.vimeo.com/5919653

http://www.vimeo.com/5921779

Okie
That's what its all about. Tell your son congratulations from all of us.

Will do, thanks!

Pretty cool. I wish I could ride behind that boat! Did they use ballast?

I know it's a broken record but it's time for 1w half cabs.

Nope, no ballast...just about 5 people and the boat weight. It was a SANTE 230.

Yeah, I'm going to have him start working on 180's. We may actually start him with getting up switch, then learn to surface 180, then ollie 180, then half cabs then 1-wake 180's and finaqlly 2-wake 180's. He seems like he wants to learn those and I'm sure he can get them down.

That is pretty much the way I learned, start trying to get up fakie. The way I teach it now is to have them get up regular, then slow boat way down and have them surface180. Practice this just outside the regular toeside wake.

Once you are riding fakie the tendancy is to want to bend at the waist and let your arm out straight. You have to correct the body form which usually means try to stand up straight and pull the handle into your hips.

Once they can ride straight for a bit it is a quick transition to slowly edge heelside at the wake, pop, let go with your front hand and ride away regular.

Well this last weekend was pretty good. My wife was away with some girlfriends. One of our friends brought her two boys with me and my two boys. She isn't anywhere near the co-captain my wife is...made it much more work. But, it was a good time. She got up on her slalom ski, her boys wakeboarded, she got up on the wakeboard, and my boys had a couple good runs. They left early so I had some Daddy and the boys time. I have to say it was a really good day, from that standpoint. My oldest played around with going switch with me going slow and he is getting it. He seems to be able to go switch and regular and carve around a bit. He's going to work on it more this weekend and hopefully we can get some good pictures or video. I'm planning to do some doubles riding this weekend too, with he and I.

okie we need to meet up sometime.
There used to be two old school supra's running around the city but I have only seen one this summer at eufaula.

Where are you located?

I'm in edmond (just north of okc). My normal lake is arcadia but go out to eufaula and keystone regularly.

Cool. I live up around Tulsa and typically go to Skiatook. We'll be moving to the OKC area and will probably end up in North Edmond, so Arcadia may be in the mix for next year.

Next time you're thinking of Keystone, why don't you drive a little further and come to Skiatook. We can meet up and I can point out a few good spots to go for boarding.

North edmond? Like the waterloo rd area?
My mom has 10 acres north of waterloo and I live in downtown edmond and looking for property out near my moms.
We're prob done with keystone for the year. May go out of town for labor day but not sure where or anything yet.

Yeah, around that area where we can get on a couple acres or so and have a shop, etc. If you decide to come up this way for Labor Day, let me know. We have some friends coming out with us on Saturday and Monday and we're doing a big BBQ on Sunday.

Well, what a great Saturday. We went out with some friends and had a great day. The temp was in the mid 80's, wind stayed less than 10 mph all day and the water was nice. There wasn't a whole lot of people out there so it was a good day. Our friend did some slalom, his son got up on the wakeboard and is learning to stay up, and we did some doubles riding. Here's some pics.

More pics...

Last pic...

Don't let the safety police see that hahaha! Always a fun and scary jump from the tower.

Haha I like the one where you're both on the outside of the turn going as fast as you can lol! How about a water fight?

Don't let the safety police see what?

Yeah, there was some water fights but he had an advantage since I had him on his heel side. It was easier for him to spray me.

Some people think climbing on or jumping from the tower is too unsafe and many towers have language in the manual to try and limit their liability. Not sure if they think it will collapse or what, but just sharing. I personally don't see a problem although I don't let a lot of people do it. I'd hate to have a claim because of a fall from wet feet on slippery tower. Thanks for sharing the pics again. I have a few I will try and get up today myself. :)

Oh I see. Yeah, I guess I could see that being an issue.

Here's some more pics from my friend Brent that was there with his boat that day.