Cable wakeboarding & wakeskating are now not only interesting offshoots of their “parent” sports – but almost sports unto themselves (something to watch carefully and cautiously in the coming years).  In 2009 we saw event after event go down with thousands in attendance, such as Red Bull’s Wake Lab Featuring the Sesitec System 2.0 cable mechanism. Kevin Henshaw became the first rider to nail a slide across a c-rail. Daring riders are doing previously impossible things like boardsliding an entire obstacle using only the toeside edge. Tom Fooshee landed a Pete Rose 7 at TSR! One of the most legitimate cable 1080’s ever done was from a relatively unknown rider from Australia called Matty Hasler. And as we said earlier, JD Webb is on record saying that cable will be what gets wake back into the X-Games.  Last but certainly not least, the support for cable is internationally powerful too.  Camsur Watersports Complex (CWC) boasts one of the best cable systems in the world and Orlando Watersports Complex (OWC) makes similar claims, but they both have boat lakes, don’t forget.  And folks like Adam Errington have used cable as a training ground to go on and dominate behind the boat.  Cable is here.  2009 put cable at the adult’s table for good.

2. Harley Clifford Takes the Tour, as a Rookie

For only the second time in the tour’s history (Parks Bonifay) being the only other a rookie takes the MasterCraft PWT title edging Aaron Rathy out by 10 points.  When the PWT wrapped up in Reno, Clifford did not end his season at the top of the podium, but walked away with the tour title. By the way, another historic thing happened in Reno.  Rusty landed a 1080 in competition.  Malinoski – capable of several variants of the coveted 1080 stuck a switch toeside 1080 off the double up. It was the first 1080 ever landed in a wakeboarding contest. But this is about Harley Clifford – a young Australian ripper who Aaron Rathy has described as the most talented person to ever ride a wakeboard.  That’s quite high praise coming from someone who many see as one of the most talented people to ever ride a wakeboard.  Harley Clifford’s incredible rise has been enjoyable to watch.  He has a clean but explosive style and just seems capable of an astonishing future in the sport.

3. Aaron Rathy and Nautique Part Ways

Aaron Rathy was one of the most successful riders in every category imaginable in 2009.  He can boast fantastic video sections, a new gig with Byerly Boards, world championships & overall crowns, and he won both the “Move of the Year” and “Rider of the Year” at Wakeboarding Magazine’s Wake Awards.  But being one of Nautique’s most high-profile and successful athletes was not enough to keep him on their team. With situations like this it is nearly impossible to know what really happened.  Was it the fact that MasterCraft logos were seen in the last frames of some of his famous Web videos, those showing the wrapped 1080 or the wrapped-to ole-to handlepass 1080?  We may never know.  And at this point we don’t know who his boat sponsor is.  But the ending and subsequent non-renewal of his contract was enormously surprising and neither parties have spoken  much about it. As we said when we first reported on this story, somehow we think he’s not going to go from an aqua BMW to an aqua Mercedes-Benz. Rather we predict a more clever path for Aaron. Perhaps an aqua Tesla or aqua Lotus would be more appropriate. Or we could be completely wrong and he gets picked up by MasterCraft for 2010. That’s too obvious and boring. Stay tuned.  We’ll be quick to report on this in 2010 – or tomorrow if news breaks!

4. 24 Foot Boats Become The Sweet Spot

It seems that the consensus is that garages can now accommodate 23’and 24’ boats, and riders love them.  Answering what consumers were calling for, Nautique, Malibu and MasterCraft have all released to the world large, versatile boats like the 230, 247, and X-45, respectively. We believe that wake boats will never get smaller, and that the evolved wake boat is not a 19′-21′ craft, but rather a 23′-25′ one. Curiously, Nautique is the only manufacturer whose flagship is a 24’ boat, while MasterCraft’s and Malibu’s flagships are still in the 21’-22’ range. We expect that to change.  These large boats are no “pretender” wake boats, requiring 4000lbs of aftermarket ballast & plumbing lunacy to make a rider happy. We’re not saying you won’t add ballast beyond the stock offerings, but you won’t be needing the equivalent weight of another boat to be happy behind them. With rising fuel prices and the financial considerations, there is a sweet spot and it’s approximately 23′ 6″ without the platform. For a long time the magic number was 21′. Riders, owners and those that pay for gas, build garages and house these boats seem to have been able to accommodate 23′ lake boats into their lives, so that’s where we’ll be for awhile.

5. Byerly’s Custom Super Air Nautique 210 Becomes a Production Run Model

Last year, Nautique said in a press release “Team Nautique rider Scott Byerly, commonly referred to as “The Godfather of Wakeboarding and Wakeskating”, recently took delivery of his 2008 Super Air Nautique 210 – Icon Edition from Correct Craft. This is a one-of-a-kind boat in which Byerly was personally involved throughout each step of the design and development processes.”

Well it turned out to only be one-of-a-kind for about 7 months.  It doesn’t really matter as we’re a fan of how understated the whole composition of the boat is while still making a huge statement. That sounds familiar doesn’t it? Good because this is exactly the same reputation that Scott Byerly himself has earned and his likeness is quite well represented with the Icon Edition – Nautique has done a superb job of capturing the understated domination for which Byerly is known in this boat. It was pretty obvious to us upon first seeing the Icon edition that it would become some sort of short-run production model.  There was just too much incredible custom work on the boat to make one and call it a day. So in the end 73 Scott Byerly Icon Edition 210s were built, representing the year Byerly was born.

So that wraps up 2009.  What will we see in 2010? More 1260’s? More wake to wake 1080’s?  Larger boats?  We’ve already heard rumors of both!  What we at FUEL TV would like to see is for everyone to enjoy themselves in 2010, to not worry about about having the newest boat or equipment, the loudest sound system, or being the most dominant rider on your lake, pond, or cable system. We want you out there, wearing life jackets, and having fun.

Here’s to a great 2009 in wake and best wishes for an exciting 2010!

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