We won in France!
I need to first say thank you very much to Blowsion, Jet Ski Unlimited, Hydro-Turf, GoFast Sports, Yamaha, UMI Racing, Skat-Trak, and Fullgaz.com. I am very fortunate to now have the very best Freeride ski in the world!
4-20-08
Today was a great day! Good to great surf all day long...sun was out all day. Big crowd of people came to watch the event. And we won!
Surf was great for me today, sets were a few feet over head and the ski and I were just dialed in. Without question, my boat is THE setup for freeride. The ski made my job much easier. I on the other hand was a little harder on the ski than I wanted to be...(sorry John). Power wise, I can't say enough about the package. It really comes alive right where I need it to and pulls right on through the top, and it never missed a beat, except when I drank a little water and fouled a plug. But that happens. The whole rest of the weekend, I knew exactly what was going to happen every time I pulled the throttle and it never failed me! Jet Ski Unlimited did an unreal job of building this ski.
In addition, this 08 handles so well in the surf with the Blowsion tubbies and D Cut plate! I'm still getting used to it a little, but I am finally able to push the boat through a real bottom turn like on a surfboard. And that is something I have been trying to do since I started riding.
The event it's self was amazing, there is some incredible riding going on these days and I am very happy and luck to have won. The top 6 were very close today. My strategy was pretty simple, go bigger, do more variation than my opponent, do my best to do his tricks bigger than he does, and be sure to surf lots.
Grahm Reid (sp) from the UK was my first round today. This guy is the embodiment of freeride. He rides out of Whales normally in horrible conditions, and absolutely loves the surf. Grahm did some amazing back flips and I think probably had more fun than any one else here today. But being that he is more a flat water rider than a surfer, I had an advantage.
The next heat was against the Roman Stampers from France! Roman is an amazing rider, great friend, and a true innovator in freeride. I was truly very happy to be able to ride with Roman. We have spent many hours talking about tricks and riding, but this was our first time competing against each other. Roman is as capable of winning as anyone else, so now it was time to start really pushing. I threw almost everything I had against Roman, because I knew he was going to do the same. In the end, I was fortunate to win and move on.
After my heat, Pierre had to ride against Federico Buffachi. They had an incredible heat, but I don't think they saw each other once. At the contest site, the tide goes out about 150 feet from high to low tide, and the waves change drastically with the tide. During their heat, the outside was bigger, but weak and the inside was smaller but very powerful. Buffachi went outside, and Pierre chose to stay inside. Short story is that decision by Pierre to stay on the inside cost him the win. So Buffachi moved on and Pierre was stopped.
Gill Bearnier and I went back and forth all last year, we met in the final in Portugal, and two other contests. He is a rider that I have tremendous respect for. Gill is perfect when he rides, almost no mistakes. Everything is very smooth and controlled. His weakness (if he has any) is a bit of a lack of barrel roll variations. I knew to beat him, I would have to do a double roll, and be as impressive as I could be with his signature no hand back flip. I would also have to concentrate on surfing, as Gill is a great surfer and would more than likely beat me there.
We had a very close heat that I was able to win, but not with out some problems. My double was pretty big but came up a little short and I did a little damage to he hood so that it would not close. This was in the middle of the heat. So for the rest of the time I had to be very careful because there was about an inch gap between the hood and the hull that would let in lots of water. Thank you Blowsion for the hood straps, because with out them my day would have been over and I would have sunk. The latch was broken and the hooks were bent so the straps were the only thing holding the hood on, and I was still able to push through and win.
The final was with one of my very best friends on tour, Marc Sickerling! He beat Buffachi by pulling a beautiful double barrel roll and just killing it with flip and roll variations, as well as surfing incredibly well. It is an amazing pleasure to be able to ride with these legends of the jet ski world. We had a great and fun heat, I fought with my hood a little, but the straps saved me again. I think it is time to order some billet hood hooks from Blowsion so this does not happen any more. I went in to the final knowing that if I was going to do a double roll it had to be at the end of the heat because the hood would not take another impact on the side and stay on. The hood latch and hooks were both fucked, Pierre had a spare hood latch for me to use, but it was stock and with out the Blowsion latch, they don't tend to take hard impacts too well. So my game plan was to surf a lot, and do every flip, roll, flair, and re-entry variation that I could. And to hold the throttle on just another split second than I would like to. And it worked...Marc was also pushing very hard and wound up with three broken motor mounts after a double roll attempt at the end of the heat.
The podium celebration in France is second to none. We had a great crowd treated all of us like stars, we all signed a hundred or so posters and then got our awards.
The 10th anniversary of Jet Jump Extreme was a great success, the promoters do a great job with this event every year, and I would encourage anyone to come and ride or just see what goes on. You will not find a nicer group of people to ride with.
hood hooks from Blowsion so this does not happen any more. I went in to the final knowing that if I was going to do a double roll it had to be at the end of the heat because the hood would not take another impact on the side and stay on. The hood latch and hooks were both fucked, Pierre had a spare hood latch for me to use, but it was stock and with out the Blowsion latch, they don't tend to take hard impacts too well. So my game plan was to surf a lot, and do every flip, roll, flair, and re-entry variation that I could. And to hold the throttle on just another split second than I would like to. And it worked...Marc was also pushing very hard and wound up with three broken motor mounts after a double roll attempt at the end of the heat.
The podium celebration in France is second to none. We had a great crowd treated all of us like stars, we all signed a hundred or so posters and then got our awards.
The 10th anniversary of Jet Jump Extreme was a great success, the promoters do a great job with this event every year, and I would encourage anyone to come and ride or just see what goes on. You will not find a nicer group of people to ride with.
