With the contest at Wakestock starting today, we wanted to let you know what you can look forward to in terms of talent over the weekend. You can expect to see some of the worlds best riders in action as they head over and all of the UK’s big names will be coming to compete including past winners Dan Nott and Jonty Green and many others like Sam Carne, Ben Hitch, James Young and up and coming riders too. Wakeboard legend Shawn Watson is making the trip to North Wales to ride in the Wakestock boat comp and the WWA Rail Europeans. Watson is one of the most stylish riders on the planet and has been at the forefront of the sport for well over a decade. A past winner of the prestigious Carnival rail event and runner up at Wake The Line earlier this month you can be sure that Watson will be destroying the pool gap setup. Fellow USA rider Aaron Rathy is coming back to try and repeat his win on the pool gap last year and will be joined by yanks Brian Reeder, Quinn Silverdale and Danny Thollander. Other foreign riders include Scotty Broom (Aus), Mitch Langfield (Aus) Sjors Van De Kerkhof (Holland) Ricky Lukassen (Holland) Padiwat Jaemajan (Thailand) You can expect some high standards in all areas this year.

In past years the pool gap has always been invite only but this year the Wakestock crew decided there is too much hot talent in the UK and we needed to give everyone a chance to ride the unique 200,000 gallon pool gap so there will be a few wild cards in the mix!

There are 3 venues for the wakeboarding and 3 days of action in total. The main contest takes place in Pwllhelli Marina, just under 2 miles from the festival site. 2 epic rails are built and in each run a rider can fit in over 10 wake tricks and hit each rail.

Wakeboarding Schedule – Wakestock 2011

Friday 8th July

12.20pm – 4.20pm Pro Qualifying – (Pwllheli Marina)

Saturday 9th July

1.30pm – 5.30pm Pro Finals – (Pwllheli Marina)

Sunday 10th July

11.00am – 1.00pm Mystic Big Air Competition – (Abersoch Main Beach)

3.00pm – 6.00pm Pool Gap Finals (Festival Site)

The wake from the Mastercraft boat will be kicking up the perfect platform for riders to get booted into the air.

Friday is the pro qualifier and it’s hot competition this year. With more entries than ever before the standard of riding has never been so hot! 20 pros will be fighting out for places in the final and the chance to hit the jackpot on Saturday. The highlight happens on Saturday with the pro men final! 20 of the world’s finest wakeboarders will battle out for thousands of pounds and the honour of being a Wakestock Champion. Last year saw all 3 spots on the podium being taken by US riders so you can expect the British contingent to be fighting for revenge and their honour.

The second venue for the wakeboarding is the Mystic Big Air competition on Abersoch Beach on Sunday morning. Starting at 11am it is a 2 hour jam and the winner is the guy or girl who goes biggest! Two Yamaha WaveRunners will tow the riders around the course. They use a floating kicker to perform a trick of their choice. Biggest trick gets £500 for their troubles.

The third venue is the Pool Gap on the festival site and this allows the wake action to continue well into the night. With wakeskating jams and the Rococo Rail Jam all taking place there is money to be won! The festival site will be from 2pm on Sunday so you can catch all the action in the Pool Gap finals which will take place between 3pm and 6pm. All the wakeboard venues are linked together by shuttle buses so getting about couldn’t be easier. Make sure you check the timings and don’t miss out on the action.