Check out what Brenton Priestley & Trevor Bashir have to say about Real Wake 2017!

BP isn’t scared to send it (photo: Soden)

BP – X Games….what can I say? It’s about as intense and stressful as it can be but it definitely pays off. A lot goes on the line and a lot more planning goes into it then a traditional video part because you have such a short time to make it happen. You basically live, eat, and breathe Real Wake for the time you have and the only rest days you get are when you physically can’t ride due to a gnarly slam or the weather not cooperating. As a whole, I loved doing it and would do it again but after you get done it’s the last thing you want to even think about *laughs*. This X Games was a whole new experience from my 2016 part because I had Trevor Bashir as my filmer/editor. He’s a great friend and we work well together too so it was a lot easier than expected.

Most of the spots we winched and shots we got were pretty cruisy because we had a good crew helping and got in and out which makes life so much easier! So thanks to those legends, you know who you are! Other than the fence ride, that spot was a battle! But basically the boat stuff was the hardest and then once I broke my hand on a double tantrum off the double up, that ended the film process pretty quickly. Luckily it was two days before the deadline and we had already stacked plenty of clips up to that point to work with.

We were stoked on the end result even though we didn’t get everything we wanted but that’s how X Games goes! I’m just stoked we got 3rd and I got another X Games medal to hang on the wall!

No start up? Build a pool! (photo: Rutledge)

Trevor – I didn’t really expect to be filming Brenton’s X-Games section after Spencer and him won the previous year. When BP found out that Spencer couldn’t make it down to Florida, he asked me if I wanted to work on the project with him. I was instantly down to help out and hopefully get him on the podium again. We wanted to keep it in Florida and take advantage of all the untapped winch spots and friends to ride boat with. BP already had a lot of winch spots mapped out around his place so we went to work checking them off the list. The first spot he hit was the close out flat bar under the bridge and he got it done in five tries which set the tone for the section. Filming with BP is really easy, if he has a trick in mind he’s going to try it till he gets it or gets broken off. On the gap to down rail, his plan was to back 270 it. He got that in two tries and everyone was hyped. BP came running up the hill and said he wants to back 450 it. He got it in four tries and we started to pack up when we noticed a 10 foot alligator swim right past the spot. That was the only security guard we ran into winching and somehow we never got hassled or kicked out at any of the spots. The down fence was behind a busy shopping center and we went back three different times to get the trick. Some truck drivers stopped by to watch BP hit the fence and were going crazy because they’ve never seen anything like it. That spot took fifty tries over three different days, it was a battle for sure.

Real Wake is such a great concept that showcases wakeboarding to so many people who have no idea what’s possible on a wakeboard. Creating a video section is a lot of work and having a limited time only puts even more pressure on the rider and none of it would have been possible without the crew of friends helping us through the whole process. Brenton really went for it again this year showing the world how gnarly wakeboarding can be.

Fence rides + dirty water = BP’s kind of spot (photo: Rutledge)

Walking the rope out isn’t always easy… (photo: Soden)

Check out the April 2018 mag here!