EastCoastWakePark02

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Photo By: Jason Hudson

On the edges of Greenville, North Carolina down a long dirt trail, nestled along acres of soybean fields there is a natural spring that has produced more than expected; it has spouted a modest rail garden.  The East Coast Wake Park, brainchild of Chris Hopf with the laboring help of friend Cam Shumay has become a haven for slider searching east coast riders.  The original intent to build a spot for buddies to come and ride has evolved into a full scale wake park attracting big name riders and local pros alike.  The growing interest in this spot has influenced the designing minds to express their inner construction techniques and create rails that both evoke intrigue and fear.  There has been a recent addition of two challenging rails, the ‘NRZ-roller rail’ a  72′ flat-up-flat-down-flat, and the ‘relentless rail,’ mimicking its namesake, the towering 84′ flat-up-flat-down.  There are also some other favorites, a 48′ roof top rail, a 2 foot high 54” flat bar and a 40′ fun box for good measure.  With piles of wood and PVC ply in a neat pile around the side of the pond there is much promise of continued creativity.  A neighboring sister pond appropriately dubbed the ‘skate pond’ still in transitional development has enough consequence that it already has claimed two cracked ribs of local ripper Tim Boyer.  Rumors that this wake park will soon be operating with a two point cable system, don’t hinder the rising suspicion and guarantee that this soon may be the mid-Atlantic’s top spot for wake enthusiasts.

Last week I managed to make time to drive out to the East Coast Wake Park and take some photos of some local riders doing their thing at this well built facility.  Adam Fields, cousin Fields Johnson, Chris Hopf, Cam Shumay and the boys from Teleprompted Anthems http://telepromptedanthems.wordpress.com/ faired well over the features each emptying their respective bags of tricks in attempts to outdo each other in the name of a good film and photo shot.

After a long day and many gas cans later the indian summer sunlight settled in the loblolly pines and took its last winks over the park.  The exhausted riders began making their final rounds behind Chris’ bright red PWC capturing the best light they could.  As summer now comes to a close, I can’t help but think these guys will definitely make the most of their nicely built playground and soon be donning full wetsuits and chipping ice with sledgehammers just to get a clean pull.  I can definitely say I am impressed and will not make it long before I venture back to G-Vegas to check out my pals at East Coast Wake Park.

By Jason Hudson