2010 Bylery Toe Jam Megapost

The 2010 Byerly Toe Jam Finals were certainly worth waiting for, and on Sept. 11, 2010, wakeskating finally got its biggest show ever. The field was truly global with riders from France, Canada, French Canada, South Africa, the US and Texas qualifying through to the finals. The riding was, as expected, amazing, and O’neill was on hand to live stream the event to its largest audience ever, over 35,ooo people over the course of the day. I’d drone on about progression and what not, but we all know no one reads anymore, so instead, here’s a ton of pictures!

The Boat

There were no easy heats in the wake finals, and even Reed Hansen suffered a few uncharacteristic falls (plus a serious run by Stu Shinn to go against.) In the end, it was Brian Grubb proved he is still one of the best boat riders in the world, taking out BT for the win.

The Cable

It was heavy heat after heavy heat, but it came down to a familiar match up on the cable: Nick Taylor vs Reed Hansen. Reed rode first, and had no trouble throwing down 3 flips, big spins and solid rail tricks, but Nick Taylor was on. Shuving on to the box, front lipping the wall ride and doing his frontside flips, switch, Nick finished his final of 3 laps as 2010 cable champion.

The Rails

The light finally got good, the crowd started to arrive and the rail set up was perfect for some of the best wakeskating Toe Jam has ever seen. A slightly larger field made for a 3-man final, and there was no holding back from Reed, Yan Lecomte or Andrew Pastura. But it was Reed, riding in his 3rd straight event, who was able to take the prize.

The Winch

Lightning loomed in the distance, and the fan crowded around the pool gap. Every rider was eligible to ride the winch set up, hand built by Byerly himself, so there was no rest for the weary. Things started off with solid front and back boards from Dieter, Yan and more. Nick Taylor, Andrew Fortenberry and Reed Hansen quickly started to try tricks down the middle into the darkness. 180s over the hubbas we’re thrown, and Grant Roberts came oh-so close to a back 3. The two French men dominated though, both Yan Lecomte and Leo Labadens were throwing back lips down the right hubba, and when Yan rode away clean, he also rode away with the prize.

So that’s it. 2010 Toe Jam in books! Special thanks to Scott Byerly for an amazing event and O’Neill for the very cool live webcast. Until next year…