We'd like to send a big congratulations to the one and only Danny Hampson, the 2008 recipient of our Rider Of The Year (ROTY) award. There were a lot of riders who were in contention for this year's honors, but in the end the choice became pretty darn clear. The year Danny had is unlike any year any of the past recipients had, but the one thing that stood out the most had little to do w

Windy and Cold. If I had to sum up the 2008 Southeast Collegiate Regional Qualifier, those would be the two words to do it. When we arrived at Lake Lanier on Friday evening, we were greeted with warm temperatures, calm winds, and a crew of wakeboard teams hailing from schools throughout Georgia and Florida ready to earn their respective spots in the National Collegiate Championships nex

The 2008 photo annual has arrived! It’s bigger brighter, bolder, and shinier than anything you’ve seen to date….Yellow and blue always we’re my favorite colors and what do you know? They just happen to be on the cover of this 132 page gold mine…What’s inside you ask? How about 30 of the most mind blowing one-of a ki

Several years ago (five, actually…) I wrote an article designed to help people learn a little bit about photography and hopefully apply some of that to shooting wakeboarding -- whether it be on a weekend trip with family and friends, at a tournament that has come to town, or maybe even some regional rippers looking for a little exposure. At the time the article received a tremendous resp

Well, I couldn't fit all the photos I wanted to into one article... so I made a second one to showcase some photos that help to explain the whole Depth of Field thing and how it is affected both by the aperture, the focal length of the lens, and the distance between the camera and the subject.In the series of photos below I kept my camera in the same position relative to the lineup o

We just received an email from the guys at Seaforth Boat Rentals in San Diego and apparently they have a new friend. This is what Jeton Prince had to say. "Check this out, you don't get this in fresh water. Last week on Thursday, in preparation for our Thursday morning ride, this baby sealion was insisting on coming along for a ride. He hung out on the dock as we loaded up and t

The 2008 Western Collegiate Wakeboard Regionals was the first event of its kind hosted by the Chico State Wake Team. A ton of work was put in by countless individuals for months leading up to the event hosted at Northern California's only private wakeboard lake, Villa Lagos. This event was the proving grounds for collegiate wake teams in the western region to show they had the skill needed to

If you like high fives, panda bears, cavemen, the Mile High Club, and Bill McCaffray circa 1995 (or as I like to call him, Hit It Bill) then read this article. If you don’t, then you’re lame...Everyone knows Halloween is one of the best holidays of the year. You can guiltlessly steal candy from people, dress up like whatever you want, learn to drink beer through various

Ocean Minded Partners with Zappos.com to Host Lake Mead Beach Clean-Up  SAN CLEMENTE, CA— November 5, 2008 — Ocean Minded recently reached a new landmark by hosting their first-ever beach clean-up at a lake location. On Tuesday October 28th, the company partnered with online footwear retailer, Zappos.com, and held a clean-up at Boulder Beach, which is part of Lake Mead

Guess what?!? You missed it!What? Missed what?I'll tell you what....but first what do you think?Oh I don't know maybe you should just tell me! Well maybe I just might! OK I will tell you!FINE!Fine...Then Go ahead already geez!!!It's the 2009 Gear guide party and you weren't invited...What a shame. Just the

So it's not technically a Halloween bash because it's one night early, but that doesn't stop the majority of the wakeboarding industry from coming out to the infamous Spy Bar in downtown Orlando and have a good time in costumes. Because if there's one thing that really gets a wakeboarder or wakeskater more motivated than anything else, it's a costume party. Seriously, these

Greenville, NC is a funny place. It's a place where boys become men, students become graduates, and lots of late evenings become blurry memories. It's also a place where the CWS always seems to find the rainiest and coldest conditions of the year.After a wet and chilly but very fun contest in 2007, the CWS returned to Greenville last weekend for their annual Halloween event. Wh

Yesterday we at Alliance invited some of our good friends to join us on a journey. This was no ordinary journey, though, it was a journey back in time to the roots of wakeboarding's now evergreen tree. That's right, we brought back the Old School contest and took the level of riding to '94.Sure, there were some things that weren't exactly true to 1994 form... bindings (ki

Liquid Force and Dragon team rider Shawn Watson dropped by the Mission Bay Aquatic Center last week for a demo and autograph signing. Class was in session for the UCSD and SDSU students, they were all stoked to see the legend throw it down in their water. The sun was out, conditions were solid, and everyone had a great time. Thanks to Liquid Force and the MBAC crew for making it happen!

It’s that time of year again where some lucky raffle entrant wins the jackpot of all wakeboard freebies, the annual Spy boat giveaway! This raffle has always been something of a mystery to me, never quite being convinced a company would simply give away such a grand prize… and maybe, just maybe, the “winner” is a friend of some Spy employee or unpaid intern simply posin

About a month ago, I heard of a new movie Oakley was getting ready to release featuring their top female athletes. I soon learned that the film, titled Uniquely, was to be premiered at Oakley headquarters in front of a packed house. I quickly e-mailed Oakley marketing guru and wakeboard team manager Matty Swanson to see if I could get more information on the movie. Matty responded by sending me an

With the wakeboard season starting to wind down, the boys at Wakesports decided to throw one last party at the Carlsbad Lagoon. Being that it is the middle of October and Halloween is fast approaching, a costume party seemed fitting. The good people at Liquid Force not only came out to support the event, but brought Keith Lyman out with them. Alliance also stepped up by giving anyone who rode i

Dear Keith, These days have been long and hard since you have left me for California. I know the sun shines brighter and the girls smiles are whiter, but I can’t help but shed a tear every time I see that door close behind you. It seems that each year the distance between us grows larger and larger as you continue to em

 October 9, 2008 - Correct Craft has always been a brand concerned not only with watersports, but also with giving back to the community. Yesterday Myself and a few others from the Correct Craft team (Brandon Thomas, Jimy LaRiche, Emily Copeland Durham) had the opportunity to head across town and team up with the good folks at Habitat for Humanity to help finish the construction of some ne

INT Makes It Rain I was sitting in class last week when I received a text from Jason Mendes telling me to get my butt to Bakersfield, CA immediately because the INT nationals were going off. As soon as I finished class, I got on the road for what should have been about a two hour drive from my house. L.A. traffic had other plans though. You know those guys on motorcycles

California is pretty cool…nobody really seems to work, they eat breakfast all day long and everyone has tattoo’s and surfboards. If things end up going haywire here in Orlando I think I’m just going to say F-it all and go live in a van right in the parking lot of the Body Glove offices and dive for lobster all day long. Imagine that&h

Oh, you wanted to get some shit done today Rusty? Sorry, you should have considered having your birthday some other time. Please feel free to clean this up while we paddle out.Thanks in advance,Staff

I'm probably going to sound like a total wuss when I say this, but it was cold this year at Wake the Lake. Usually, the arrival of Fall is pretty much a non-issue and it stays hot for another month or two before we really start to feel any big effects. Not the case in 2008; it got downright chilly in the days leading up to Wake the Lake and we were starting to wonder if it would affect the tur

This past weekend the fourth and final stop of the Byerly Toe Jam Tour took place in and around the greater Orlando area. As always, the big "P" word comes out when Toe Jams take place, but "progression" took a back seat to "history" this year.The weekend started off at the Projects with the rail park jam, which was much different than ever before because th