First things first, if you read the title of this article and immediately started humming “Fat Lip” by Sum 41 then 100 bonus points for you. What? Too obscure? Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. It just seems fitting for what we here at Alliance Wake are going for. Steering away from the boring, the mundane, the overdone. Keeping things fun, legit, interesting, and stirring the pot at the same time. What more could you ask for? All killer, no filler. And if you don’t think we’re living up to this mentality that we’re striving for, drop me a line (jeff@alliancewake.com). Let’s chat. If every page in this magazine doesn’t get you stoked to go ride then I want to know and change it.

That being said, I feel like we’re living in a world of “filler” and it becomes more apparent every day. That doesn’t sit too well with me. It used to be that the only way to get the freshest news and stories was waiting all month for your favorite publication (Alliance, duh) to be delivered. Once it did, you would tear through those pages like a bat outta’ hell, rip out your favorite shots, plaster them all over your wall, and then play the waiting game again. While I have yet to grow past the “plaster them all over your wall” phase, I’ve been nothing but stoked to see wakeboarding get in front of more and more eyeballs thanks to social media. More people are seeing it, posting about it, and getting involved in the scene, and that’s nothing but good news for our industry. However, there’s another side to that coin. For every “killer” clip or photo that gets pushed out, there seems to be 10 more “filler” ones to take away from it. All too often, clips are captioned as “throwaway” or “lost” which leads me to believe that the rider putting it out there isn’t that worried about its contents. They view it more as a task on a “to do” list waiting to be checked off and then forgotten about. I don’t know about you but that bums me out. Take time to make something awesome. Get creative. Wake up early for calm water and good lighting. Be patient when you don’t get the result that you’re looking for. Keep shooting until you get it right. And then when you have what you’ve been working for, craft a plan to show it to the masses so people are stoked on it and it doesn’t just get lost in the clutter of your timeline. I could go on and on about this but I think I’ve gotten my point across. End rant.

Keeping to our “all killer” mindset, this issue is as current as they come. First, we have an interview with THE KIDD. Luca Kidd to be exact. If you recall, Luca had a rad cover with us last year from an epic trip to Ibiza and Mallorca. He’s come a long way since then. Not only has he signed with Liquid Force and Malibu Boats in that period of time, he’s managed to stack up quite a few accolades on the competition side of things. He also earned himself our 2018 Superlative Award for Rookie of the Year so yeah, you could say it’s pretty serious. Luca’s got a fresh take on boat riding that we love and is also doing what he can to keep up with all the cable rats. He’s not going anywhere any time soon and we’re strapped in to see how it all plays out. We’ve also got a full recap of probably the most fun “contest” of the year: The Valdosta Yardsale. What more can be said about this event? Well, a good bit actually. To say it’s the most progressive cable event in the US (a case could be made for the world) is not even close to overselling it. If you were lucky enough to be there, you know what I’m talking about. Quinn Silvernale and the crew at VWC somehow managed to top themselves yet again as far as the set up goes, and there’s some magic about that place that just gets the creative juices flowing. So for now, enjoy all the photos but make sure to be there next year. It’s only going to get better.

So as summer really kicks into gear, make sure you get out there and enjoy the moment. If you find yourself staring at your phone for half the day, you’re doing it wrong. That’s really all I can say about that. We’re here for a good time, not a long time. Get out there.

Stay weird,

Jeff