When late summer 2008 rolls around, you may finally see some CWB wakeskates in your board racks.  

After years of focusing on the wakeboard market, the guys at CWB sat down and decided to create a wakeskate side to the brand.  “We have always had skates but designed them for the entry level skater.  We wanted a higher end deck that could be ridden by the most progressive of skaters” says Marketing Director Jay Quam.  With this decision it was known that a skater would have to be behind the ideas, the testing, and the feedback.  After spending a few months sitting back and keeping an eye on who’s riding was inspiring, as well as getting feedback from some media outlets, team manager Steve Bates made a phone call to Florida’s Stuart Shinn to see if there was interest in being the face and rider behind the new skate side of the brand.  Bates explains “Being busy creating a brand and team with which to move forward, we had not focused attention on the wakeskate market at all.  We then sat through the Wake Awards at Surf Expo and were blown away at the footage for wakeskate best trick.”  “It would make anyone inspired to grab a skate, and start getting skinned up on some grip tape.”
 
Stuart has been working on creating a new skate with CWB’s R&D master shaper Doug Cannon.  Doug says “It is a new design, unlike anything else on the water, and keeps the price tag in an area that makes it accessible for all”.  Doug continues “I’ve always had some skate ideas and wanted to work with a skater to get their input.  It’s been awesome working with Stu and we looking forward to the next creation we can design.”  

Shooting last week with acclaimed wake photographer and stunningly good dresser Big Spence Smith, Stu was officially released to the public on a CWB deck.

Be sure to keep your eye on CWB_TV to catch Stu do a wake back big and bowl a 78.

Game on…