Check out what Aaron Rathy & Taylor Hanley have to say about their Real Wake 2017 segment!

Wrapped into a huge bank? No big deal for Rathy (photo: Hanley)

Rathy – This year was wild. We decided to drive across the country winching, just kind of winging it… the end goal was to make it to Vancouver Island (where Taylor and I are both from) and shoot boat there to end the part. Real Wake always seems like every shot is a battle. Even though it’s only a 90 second part, there’s pretty much zero room for fillers. Back in 2015, I spent 5 days on that tail cab 10, and this year spent a full day on a winch hit in Texas. Also the deadline really f*cks with your head, getting hurt at any time means you’d have to give up your spot…all of those things can be said about filming any video part, and I think that’s why we’re all drawn to it so much. In my opinion, releasing a part you’re proud of and knowing that you poured your heart and soul into it is the most rewarding thing in our sport. No other contest compares.  

Taylor – This was the first year that I was a part of Real Wake and it was insane! Aaron asked me if I would be interested in filming his section and I couldn’t say no since I had grown up watching all of his parts. In the beginning, it was a struggle for me because time management was a big issue, as I was halfway through filming my full length project Formats. We started a bit late into May and I began mapping spots that I knew or looked promising with the intent of heading back to Vancouver Island where we are both from. Most of the trip consisted of 3 people, including myself and Aaron. We had Mark Rugala for the first leg of winching, then Raph for the second, and when we made it back to Canada, we had Kaesen Suyderhoud. Setting up spots was difficult with three people, and I would setup tripods to get BTS footage while I was filming Aaron. We would be either filming all day in the ditches then sleep in a walmart parking lot or on the road heading north. Once we made it to Canada, the weather didn’t cooperate for most of the boat riding so on the down days I would work construction with my dad to make ends meet while we waited on the budget to come through after the project was completed. Myself and Aaron collectively put everything we had into this project, and ultimately we were stoked with what came out of it.

No rope, no hope! Lucky for Rathy, he’s got quick hands (photo: Hanley)

Check out the April 2018 mag here!