As our sport continues to grow and is given the time needed to mature; new brands and new teams begin to show their faces and influence the activity. As of today, very few legitimate teams in wakeboarding exist that haven’t been around for the past seven years or more. Teams like Liquid Force, Billabong, Hyperlite, O’Neill, Oakley and CWB to name a few have all been together for some time now and emanate the concept of a team.

At some point a new team’s identity begins to take form. This identity is a combination of who is on the team and the different roles that each member fills. Many times these roles are not solidified until the crew gets together to take their first real team trip. Which is just what the Quiksilver team did a few weeks ago, and timing was everything. Conveniently planned during the same timeframe Liquid Force’s BROstock was going to be in full swing at Lake Powell, a solid road trip plan with Collin Harrington, Jacob Valdez, Randall Harris, Jeff House and Ben Greenwood was put into action.

What transpired on the “Road to Powell” was one that tested some of the highest-ranking road veterans; pre-dawn wakeup calls, 18-hour shooting schedules, dinnerless nights, 110-degree temperatures and one land gap attempt with an X-Star put the young team to the test. Ultimately what came out of the challenges was some of the better footage we’ve shot this year, a road trip success by any definition. Beyond the success of the images acquired, each of the Quik team members now has a full understanding of where they fit into the family; who’s coming through at crunch time, who’s late for the bus, who’s going to pee on you in your sleep, who brought only hammers to the boat party and who’s going to hit the ATM when it really counts. All this and we never lost young Jacob Valdez. I’d say the Quiksilver team is off to an amazing start, full of life with endless stories at the dinner table.

Look for the full story in Alliance Wakeboard Magazine in a future issue and video short on AllianceWake.com.