South African Pro Wakeboard Tour – Stop 1

Stop 1- Ski World-Benoni-Gauteng

The 2010 wakeboard season got off to a formidable start. The weather report predicted rain for the entire weekend, but that seemed to be the least of our problems when Kevin Jenson from Blue Water Marine, and the Supreme Boat dealer, failed to deliver the V226 Supreme wakeboard boat that was agreed on in the contracted agreement. However with the help of Broderick Sports, the Durham’s Mastercraft X2 was towed from the Vaal River to the competition site on Saturday morning and the event got underway.

Benoni Ski World played host to the first stop of the South African Pro Wakeboard Tour seeing a total of 42 riders from all over the country pulling through as well as the Cable Wakeboard World Champion Nick Davies from the United Kingdom.

The atmosphere was electric as the nervous parents lined the bank waiting in anticipation for their children to take to the water in what was to be their first real test. This would give them an indication as to how much work they would still need to do to become competitive. It would also help them understand that the healthy competition was confined to the water and that they were about to be welcomed to a family. Before the heat is about to begin it is a joyous moment on the dock together; we share a few jokes and play around before our rides.  The competition only ever begins when we are on the water behind the boat!

Saturday riding was rain-delayed by two hours but the rain didn’t stop the guys throwing down hammers, cracking jokes and having fun! The qualifying runs ran smoothly and because of the delay all the riders went through to participate on Sunday.

Sunday morning riding got underway, with the novice division.  We regard this division as the future of the sport and such was the level of riding with these new entries, the judges were forced to bump two riders up –  one into the junior men’s division and one into the open men’s division.  The future looks bright with all the new faces and talent coming through.

The wake skate division saw the local boy Lance Peach applying some pressure on Dylan Mitchell and Matt Buys in the wake skate division. Unfortunately for Lance his skills let him down and he finished third behind Dylan and Matt.

The Junior Men then took to the water and again Dylan Mitchell who reigned supreme with Ryan Durham close on his heels followed by Ryde Jones. The boat crew was entertained with Ruben Holmes showing off his Vietnamese soldier move around the back turn (Power sliding) and ending up in about 4 meters of lake grass earning him the Chad Award (biggest fall) for the weekend.

In the ladies division there were four new entries seeing the girls push the limits. Base 3 Midrand local, Bryanna Motepe, grabbed third spot showing off her smooth style and comfort on the water with Jess Joseph in Second and Gina Faccio once again dominating the weekend in first.

The Open Men had an ace thrown in the game with the current world cable champion Nick Davies joining in on the fun! It was all the more reason for the Open Men to push their own personal level seeing some brilliant wakeboarding all weekend! Jono Joseph’s wrapped toe Indy off axis 5 showed off some of that Vaal River creativity tying him up with Devon Nassif in fourth. Clayton Krause from Benoni who borrowed his board to friend Craig Gutterige who incidentally snapped his board on his final run was forced to ride with a back up board. This would seriously handicap his final run and only allow him to place third. Shaun Faccio ended up in second with a flawless run and Nick Davies made wakeboarding look way to easy placing him in first. It was really cool watching the cable king bust it out behind the boat, going huge into the flats with every thing he does so effortlessly, not even Shaun Murray’s pro wakeboard game had anything on Nick!

It was a really fun weekend getting back together with the family and experiencing the whole wakeboard vibe! Thanks to all of you who made it happen and see you guys at the next tour stop 20-21 February Germiston Lake, Gauteng for some more fun in the sun!

Thank You

•    The Durham’s
•    Mastercraft
•    Liquid Force
•    Red Bull
•    Ski World
•    Carl Krause

Written by
Bryan Loggenberg