Boardstock – The Official Story
Now in its third year the Liquid Force Boardstock event, presented by Nautique Boats and powered by Monster Energy, really came of age in 2012 and reached its potential as the dominant wakeboarding event on the Australian calendar. Boasting a field of over 150 riders from countries all over the globe, including the USA, Korea, Thailand and Germany, the event offered something for all riders across its 4 different contest formats and invitational events. With the richest cash purse ever offered at an Australian wakeboarding event the standard of riding reached a level never before seen on these shores and few thought possible. King of Cable Tom Fooshee and young superstar Daniel Grant headed an international field that vied against Australias top pros for the I Ride Sideways Ultimate Rider Award.
Superlatives such as “…greatest event ever…”, “ most fun I’ve ever had at a contest” have been heard repeatedly in the aftermath of the event
Boardstock 2012 was the culmination of a series of wakeboarding events that began a week earlier and united all diverse elements of the wakeboarding world at Cables Wake Park Penrith. The Liquid Force Gromstock event began at Black Diamond earlier in the week and gathered together 30 of the nation’s youngest stars for an intense week of coaching by the sports top pros. The Australian Open Boat contest ran all day on Australia Day on the nearby Hawkesbury River where Australia’s top pro boat riders vied for a wildcard entry into the World Cup event later in the year. Friday afternoon the Trojan Wake Life Cup kicked off the activities at Cables Wake Park, where every major wakeboard brand entered a team of riders who competed against each other in a unique team style format for the title of the “best brand”. The Liquid Force International team took home the title from Liquid Force Australia and Team O’Brien.
After the completion of the Wake Life Cup we were all treated to the Sydney premier of the new Danny Harf movie DEFY. With inclement weather approaching the venue was switched at the last minute from the open air park to the Nautique Central shed nearby which proved to be a great move.
Early Saturday morning was taken up with private rail coaching clinics as part of the Gromstock experience and the events proper got underway as the weather gods smiled upon us and the skies cleared to provide beautiful weather that lasted all weekend. The Indy Industries 2 Tower Challenge was the first competition event with a record 85 riders competing on the newly revamped System 2 course featuring Australia’s first quarter pipe obstacle. 14 year old Thai rider Daniel Grant proceeded to set the tone for the weekend with victories in both the Pro Mens and the wakeskating sections. Mitch Langfield showed his skill for a 2nd place ahead of Harley Clifford in 3rd. Hayley Smith headed the Pro Women’s field from Courtney Angus and Sophie Hogben. Zac Neville announced his arrival to the podium in Under 13 Boys with a performance in the heats that had the crowd cheering. Zahra Kell dominated in the Under 13 girls and Blake Angus surprised many with his top spot finish in Under 17 Boys. Boat riders Thorey Heaney and Kuri Witcliffe underlined the diversity of riders that can compete in this type of format as they claimed the top podium spots ahead Chris Flaxman in Amateur Men.
Whilst the competition continued in the Indy 2 Tower Challenge on the back lake, the Jet Pilot King of the Kicker got underway on the 6 lake with another record number of over 90 entries. For most of Saturday both events continued to run concurrently as thousands of spectators wandered the shoreline with action aplenty from all angles. Invented only recently by Liquid Force Australia in an effort to encourage riders to throw down their biggest tricks in a contest format with little fear of falling this event scores riders on their single best trick landed from 3 attempts. The event has grown in popularity ever since and produced some of the most memorable moments of recent years. Saturday January 28 2012 at Cables Wake Park was no exception. Amoungst the hotly contested Pro Men’s Heats where riders were throwing down “hammer” after “hammer”, Matty Hasler made sure this date would forever be written in the record books by landing the first ever heelside 1260 in the entire world …. Not just in a contest but we believe first ever… full stop… Boat or cable.
Whilst this trick was the crowning moment of the contest there were many other highlights as well. Matty himself threw down another 4 separate 1080s in this event, while Daniel Grant showed us how to do both single and double Olay heel tens. Tom Fooshee took 2nd place with a clean Pete Rose 540 and Alex Klimowsow showed he could mix it with the best landing his Whirlydick in both rounds. Heel 900’s and backside 720’s were commonplace from riders in Under 13s all the way up through the ranks, with double flips being thrown and almost landed by kids as young as 12. Jet Pilot King of the Kicker was a massive highlight of Day One.
Whilst the water settled on the 6 lake system everyone headed back to the Siesetec lake to witness the Nautique Boats Invitational Quarter Pipe Challenge. This event created a lot of interest especially amongst the older more experienced pro riders who are always looking for a new ways to push the sport. Brenton Priestley eventually took the title from Mitch Langfield after a final head-to-head battle in a very entertaining contest that may well become a permanent part of the Boardstock programme.
As if we had not had enough action already on Day One, the attention then shifted to the Evans Theatre at Panthers Leagues Club where the first days event presentations were staged before the most important part of the evening – the industry RIDERS CHOICE AWARDS. Thanks to the efforts of Glenn Mathews we were privileged to have such a wonderful venue to present these prestigious awards, where the industry crowns its leading riders across all fields from the previous year of riding and contest involvement. It was a really successful evening that will be covered and reported in another forum but everyone enjoyed the night immensely.
Sunday dawned bright and clear for another round of Gromstock rail coaching before the main event of the weekend got underway…..the Liquid Force Rail Jam. With over 150 riders entered we started early and ran continuously all day as we reduced the numbers through heats and semi-finals down to the top 6 in each age group. No-one really thought we could repeat the highlights from Day One but they were mistaken. The final of the Pro Men’s Rail Jam produced an intense standard of riding never before seen in this country and redefined what rail contests are about as all 6 riders pushed themselves to the next level as the pressure increased lap after lap. But at the end of the day young 14 year old Daniel Grant showed what is possible with a very narrow victory from Tom Fooshee. A good distance behind them, Matty Hasler and Mitch Langfield tied for 3rd place in the points with Matty edging ahead on a count back. Jamie Neville was just 2 behind these 2 with James Windsor rounding out the top 6.
The Pro Women’s Division also saw a changing of the guard as Courtney Angus completed her transformation into a rail rider by taking the top podium spot. Angie Schriber was a narrow 2nd with Sophie Hogben in 3rd place. In Under 13s Zac Neville backed up his 2 Tower victory by repeating it again in the Rail Jam. Dylan Prideaux announced his return to the Rail Jam forum with a victory in Under 17’s. Yun Hee Hyun, winner of the Under 13 Girls was one of many Koreans who competed this weekend and achieved podium spots, Hoon Ji was another in the Open Men. The popularity and success of the Liquid Force Rail Series is based around this Rail Jam format where riders all hit the water together and compete against each other in the friendly yet competitive style of “mate against mate”. There is a division, age group and ability level for everyone that wants to have a go and it is this fun but intense atmosphere that keeps the huge numbers coming back for more.
The final competitive event of the weekend was the Flatwater Freaks show where riders throw down their most difficult flat water air tricks in a similar format to the King of Kicker idea of best hit is the winner. This is always a crowd favourite where everyone lets go and the cheering often reaches the highest level. Daniel Grant showed he is not only the best at rail riding and skating but also at flat water air tricks by taking out the pro division ahead of German rider Jonas Doebenecker with Tom Fooshee third.
All that remained to be done was the presentations and special awards. Thanks to “I Can’t Skate”, Matty Hasler won best trick and Darren Baker was awarded best stack for his face plant on the Quarter Pipe. Tom Mathews was given the Male Encouragement Award and Chloe-Amanda Bailey the Female equivalent. Tom Mathews also was a double winner with the FIIK electric skateboard raffle.
The I Ride Sideways Ultimate Rider Award was a close battle between USA’’s Tom Fooshee and Thailand’s Daniel Grant. The 2 were actually tied before the final Flatwater Freaks event where Daniel was victorious and took the final all round trophy. James Windsor was third in the points chase from Jamie Neville and Ethan Agius.
In a weekend full of international standard riders and intense rivalry 14 year old Daniel Grant entered 8 events all in the pro division, 4 riding a wakeboard and 4 riding a skate. In an amazing testament to his ability he won 7 of those 8 contests. We were all privileged to witness a new standard of riding that shows the future path of our sport.
In the final wash up Boardstock 2012 was an unqualified success and through its unique combination of events and formats offered something for everyone. The youngest riders in the Under 9s together with all their relations and families mixed with older more experienced riders and pros from all around the world. This ability to bring all the diversity of what is wakeboarding together for one huge event is the uniqueness of the Boardstock experience and lays the foundation for bigger and better events for the future. We can only look forward to 2013!!
