Red Bull hosted the first annual college wakeboarding weekend this year in Georgia. Basically, Red Bull sends out their athletes to hang out with and teach college students how to wakeboard. For the past two years the event was hosted at OWC in Orlando, but since the event was so well received and number of students kept increasing, they decided to host two for 2009. This year was unique because we went to a town called Dawsonville, GA to a private lake where we were teaching college students to slide rails. Unless college students live near a cable park, there aren’t too many opportunities to learn how to ride rails so this was a truly unique experience for them.

To join in on this wakeboarding extravaganza, 14 schools came from as far as South Carolina to as close as Georgia Tech. Excitement buzzed in the air as the students realized that the legendary Parks Bonifay and up and comer Adam Errington would be driving them on the jet ski. Other riders included Dallas Friday, Corey Bradley, Jack Blodgett, and Shelby Kantar. Each school had a certain time where their team would receive a free ride instruction session. While waiting for their ride, there were many other things to keep the students occupied. Red Bull brought out about six mini bikes to ride on a dirt race track. There were also off-roading jeeps to drive through the forest terrain surrounding the lake.

For some of these students, this weekend was the first time ever riding on a rail. Surprisingly, there were only a few minor bumps and bruises as everybody rode pretty well. The lake had four rails; one flat bar, one a-frame, one c-rail and one wall ride. This lake was amazing because it was completely surround by hills and trees. Even if the wind picked up, the water was perfect the entire weekend. You can’t really ask for more than butter water and PB as your boat driver.

Overall, I think the students enjoyed their time riding with the pros. Red Bull continues to cover all their bases; pushing not only professional wakeboarding but pushing the collegiate scene as well. Thank you Red Bull for an amazing weekend down in Hotlanta. I hope to someday return to this awesome lake.