All hail Robert “Bob” Soven, the Ginger King of the wake world! Yes, Bob constantly found his way into the center of attention with outlandish jokes and a personality he’d probably label as “comedically advanced”. Yes, Bob grew his hair into a semi-obnoxious “fire-fro” that only added to his “comedically advanced” personality. Yes, there were more guys doing crazier tricks and winning more contests than Bob this year. But hair-for-hair did anybody have the year Bob Soven had? Nope. Bob pushed his wakeboarding in so many new directions it almost took away from his guise as a wannabe comedian. Almost.

Who else this year pushed the limits with rails/obstalces, triple up whips, double inverts, technical riding, contest riding, and style? Bob conquered the Fox Spine & Swine with an insane roll to blind over the spine; he continued to try new tricks in new ways with triple up whips, re-entry triple ups, and inside out triple ups; he has landed double inverts and 1080s; he brought style back to contests by grabbing legitimately hard tricks like an on-axis backside 7 off the wake; and he has added a signature style to his riding that only makes him stand out from the crowd even more (as if he needed to). Throughout the year Bob’s extensive editorial coverage has more than shown how much he progressed his own riding and in turn helped progress the sport. Looking back it’s easy to see why the goofy ginger kid takes top honors as Alliance’s 2012 Wakeboarder of the Year.

Behind the Scenes at 2012 Body Glove Shoot.