*FlyZone Wakeboard Club: 1st Edition*
First of all we would like to thank all the Fly-guys and Fly-girls who took part in the 1st edition of the monthly FlyZone Wakeboard Club.
It was cloudy in the beginning, but shortly after the sun was finally shining on the beautiful bay of Puerto San Luis. For this 1st edition, we teamed up with boating club Adena and it did not take long before the bay was filled up with powerboats and jet-skies and watersports-enthusiasts. Everybody was ready to have some fun on the water and there was a very good vibe amongst all participants.
Friday in the afternoon all the riders were able to get some time behind our Ski Nautique to get used to its big and beautiful wake. Our instructors helped them with tips to get their tricks down for the competition.
Saturday was the big day, riders were lining up to enter the competition and the tension was building up. We had to divide the group up in two categories; ‘Beginners’ and ‘Advanced’ to keep the battle for ‘King of Lago Arenal’ as fair as possible.
We must say, there are a lot of great wakeboarders in Costa Rica! The beginners group showed their moves to the judges Sander and Lars in the early afternoon. All ten riders left a great impression, but one rider stood out: Wake-to-wake jumps, 180’s, power-slides and dedication were witnessed by the judges and they were sure that the advanced group had to do their ultimate to keep this rider away from the podium.
The crowd was going crazy as the Juan Carlos Sanchez made his first pass. Riding switch, grabbing the wake-to-wake jumps, blind 180’s, half cabs were seen and it was an all-over clean ride. Second rider needed some time to get his confidence and was not riding as good as we have seen him riding. We came down for the second and last run and saw Juan José sticking his first back-roll ever! The echo of the applause can still be heard in Puerto San Luis because everybody went crazy, including Juan José… He finished with a toe-side wake-to-wake, throwing the handle in the air of happiness. Time for the last rider in the competition. Carlos Sanchez is known for a clean ride, lots of tricks and the famous Tantrum. The first jump without a warm-up was this Tantrum and that showed balls! Unfortunately he was not able to prevent his toe-side edge catching the water and fell. He got up again and showed us his repertoire finishing his Tantrum at exactly the same spot where Juan José landed his Back-roll. Jet again the crowd went crazy and this got Carlos pumped up for the desert: the Double-up. He had never hit it before but just went for it. The result was huge air and a scary way down… The crash was big and instantly gave him the title: ‘King of Crash’. We picked up Carlos and made sure all was OK and parked the boat at the shore to grab a beer with all riders and congratulate them with their efforts.
The party time was there and everybody enjoyed the cold beers and live music at Puerto San Luis. Dinner was great and the judges had to go through all the rider’s tricks and the skills they’ve shown. After a short meeting we came to the final results:
King of Crash:
Carlos Sanchez and his double-up. Prize: Liquid Force calendar and a free ½ hour clinic with FlyZone.
King of Lago Arenal:
3rd place: “Choco”(Esteban). Prize: Liquid Force 2009 calendar
2nd place: Juan José Forero. Prize: Liquid Force 2009 calendar
1st place and King of Lago Arenal: Juan Carlos Sanchez. Prize: Liquid Force 2009 calendar and ½ hour free clinic with FlyZone
We enjoyed some more cold beers to celebrate the ‘King of Lago arenal’ and ‘King of Crash’.
We hope everybody had a great time and will return with all their friends and have a blast at FlyZone Wakeboard Club. It would be great if we see some female riders so we’ll be able crown a ‘Queen of Lago Arenal’!
Thanks again for being part of the Wakeboard Club and hope to see you all on the 4th of April…!
Check the pictures of the event and al competitors in the gallery!