Spot: Harlos’s Backyard
Wasaga River, Ontario Canada.

Kraut, Fritz, Heinie..there are many great names for a German. I prefer just one…”Jerk!” Germans love making the rest of us look like idiots, with their precision engineering and natural skill. It’s so annoying.

Nikolas Harlos is a typical Schweinebraten-eating Kraut. Not only is he a gifted athlete (both pro wakeskater and snowboarder) he engineers things like his back yard rail set up in his spare time.

Up top, there are three evenly placed drop-in platforms to a 25-foot start pool. From left to right, Nick has constructed a 2-foot wide Hubba, a flat-bar, a kink-rail, and a step-down. There’s a hot-tub outside; bars are a five minute walk away, and the water of the Wasaga River (the old Wakestock Venue) is always relatively calm.

As Jeff Engen, who spent parts of the Summer filming there, points out, “Harlos's back yard is sick, it doesent get better then having a pool setup all in your back yard. There are four different lines to choose from, it never gets old.”

Knowing German’s are busy people, I only asked Nick three easy questions about his backyard. How long did it take to build? Did you make the plans yourself? Where did you get the funding? To which he gave three efficient answers: “About 10 days…i'm lazy.” “Winged it.” “Ripzone, Want Energy Drink and my dad.”

AHHH!!!!! So annoying. I don’t know about the rest of you, but that would have taken me an entire summer to build – with plans!

Anyways, Harlos is a great guy, and he will continue to push his wakeskating as far as he can. If you’re ever in Wasaga, Ontario, hunt him down because I am sure that he’ll let you session his backyard. Chances are he won’t even ask for gas money if you bring him some fresh Apfelstrudel, a case of Beck’s, and comment on his tricks with “Zat’s Gut!”