As we head into 2010, here are three of my favorite galleries/stories from 2009. It was another awesome year in the worlds of wakeboarding and wakeskating and it’s fun to look back at some of these things. But I’m already looking forward to bringing you guys the stories and images from everything next year.

A Trip to the Mine Key

The trip to Mine Key Lake with team CWB had to be one of the funnier weekends of the year for me (and pretty much everybody else involved). It was like we were trapped in a Dumber, Dumber and Dumberest movie script or something. U-turns, missed phone calls, mass confusion, and little riding were the norm; but once we got things sorted out the riding and conditions were epic. Read the whole story here.

\"Dawn patrol!!!\"
Up the up rail
McCormick\'s is cool... blue
Derek on the McCormick\'s dance floor
Andrew gliding through some Central Florida clouds
Will grabbing indy
\"Have you seen the mine key?\"
We found the mine key!
Say hello to the bottom of Derek\'s board
Zane\'s version of a method
Boating, mine style
Old cranes are fun
Stoked it all worked out
Vietnam? Nope, just Andrew on a swee, sweet private lake

NorCal Newness

I always have fun when I get to go back home and shoot on the waterways I grew up on. This particular trip I got to meet up with some old Nor-Cal friends (Schwenne and Cook), a Florida friend who was in town visiting (Adam Fields), and some new Nor-Cal friends (Josh Twelker and Trever Mauer). The conditions were perfect Indian Summer style, but after riding in the tube so much over four days it took me a while before I could walk right again. In the end, it was more than worth it. Read the full story here.

adam poke
cook wrap 3
schwenne method
north delta
old boats
trever tail poke
alyssa tail poke
maur method
on the boat
twelker tail poke
schwenne half cab tuckknee
trever back roll
twelker melan grab
two dudes one wake
boat sunset

The Death of Freeriding Roundtable Discussion Continued

The Alliance Roundtable Discussion on the death of freeriding is one of my favorite articles I’ve done for the magazine. The riders were so engaged and spirited in their discussions that we went way longer than expected, and subsequently had to run the “extras” from the roundtable on the website. If you haven’t had the chance I highly encourage you to find the September ’09 issue of Alliance and read the article and be sure to read the rest here.

Benny freeriding
\"For me it’s always been about video sections. I grew up watching Murray in Daily Dose and knowing that’s what I wanted, and I get more out of that than watching a contest or something.\"
Chris-O, definitely freeriding
Danny listens
\"A great freerider is backed by a strong company.\"
The knights of this particular round table...
Rusty and Jimmy hitting double ups.
\"Unless we start paying further down those guys who aren’t always in the top five are going to give up and the whole system goes down.\"
\"All of us here, we do it for a living, but that’s not why we do it.\"
Phil Bro\'ing down at Powell.
Ruck steeze
Bleacher creatures
\"I HOPE that my biggest achievement this year doesn’t come from a contest.\"
Shane shreds
Trevor loves Mayday and 12 Honkeys more than most other things.
\"Yeah, all these awards are awesome in and of themselves, but if you can’t leave that one thing behind, that staple, then what did you really accomplish?\"