RECALL | ERICH SCHMALTZ
In 1995, sliding docks and jibbing buoys was in its infancy, as proven by the contraption Erich is going over in this photo. There were no A-frames or flat rails floating around the lakes of Orlando back then. At the time it was either find a dock that worked or rig something together. No one had “built” a rail just yet. I remember thinking that just getting on that canoe was going to be sketchy, as the John boat it was strapped to was washing all over in the wakes of the tow boat. Apparently Erich wasn’t nearly as concerned. From what I can recall and from what I get from this image; Erich was wrapped going into this and oillied into it backside 180, then jibbed the back half of the canoe on his way over it. Note his bindings and ankle brace, quintessential Schmaltzy.
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Sketchy stuff like this was what made wakeboarding so attractive to me as a 13 year old kid. The Wake Tech ad with Byerly grinding the VW hung on my wall. Footage of those guys grinding rocks and exiting tidal pools at Powell were burned into my brain. I can remember "borrowing" the neighbor's canoe to do the same thing a couple years later, then working off the damage we caused to it with our massive fins. The good old days…Alliance should update the old school contest to allow current boards behind old, but high quality, boats and utilizing questionable obstacles like this. Pointless era riders sprinkled with some older and younger riders to round things out.
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Who shot this photo?
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Erich. where are you and how are you doing dude! we miss you and your incredible wakekates. nothing else comes close to Integ and mutiny. Please consider coming back into the business and making more skates