Focus

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Cover: Nick Davies makes his return at LWP Pic: NorthThis Page: Summer lives on into October at Quayside Pic: Eddy

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Mr Davies on the new rainbow rail at Princes Pic: North

06 Focus The summer lives on

16 The Ron Looking back at the last of the year’s news

22 Decongestant Autumn Approach, dealing with the winter

24 Schizophrenic Sam Carne talks Olympics

26 Pond Trotting International travels and ramblings from Reed Watson

30 Symbol of Freedom Under Law Nick Davies returns to the water in style

38 Glass Butter Beach The all action festival kicks o� in style

46 Spot of the Year The results of the closest competition of the year

50 London Boat Show A preview of what we are to expect for the 2012 show

54 Voyeur When nobody else is looking, we are

60 Playgrounds Florida and The Philippines highlight in this month’s reviews

68 Freshers Jorge Gill takes time out of kick boxing and wakeboarding

70 Mantelpiece Full round up from the UK Pro Tour

74 The Scales Things to make your life better

78 Mugs & Jugs Faces and frolicking

in this issue

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decongestantAs we head into Autumn and with Winter just around the corner we see the leaves turn brown and cover the roads in the same way that we see less � esh and more fully clad limbs of neoprene on the waters and docks of our lakes around the country. This time of year it can be easy to laugh o� going riding and take the easy road and not bother getting wet. It is now that we can take full advantage of shorter queues and more water time than during the busy times of the Summer. Taking advantage of this time of year can be more advantageous than you might realize for your own riding, extending your season for another two months will not only help keep you � t before the Winter sets in but it can also be the most productive time of year for your own progression. Having spent probably the last seven or eight months on the water, your perception, agility and general awareness on the water will be at a maximum giving you the best chance of actually developing your own skills. Taking advantage of these facts combined with a shorter queue on the dock can really be advantageous if you choose to make use of it.

After all that keeps us going back for more in any sport is progression and improvement – the feeling of development is ultimately rewarding and there is noth-ing like that feeling of landing a new trick or just making an old trick feel and look di� erent with a better grab or poked out stall. It is not always about doing

the biggest and best trick in the book if you land it hanging on by one � nger and a massive butt check, what makes our sport exciting and attractive is those moves executed with style and control. There have been a lot of devel-opments in the UK scene over the last few years with the general standard of riding being elevated year on year, yet the riders who stand out past and present are those that ride with style and make their tricks look distinct and individual.

You might feel that landing your best trick with an extra 180 on it could be the best thing that you could do and that is not wrong, yet to make what you are doing already look better with a stronger grab or poke will make it feel better and will elevate your style and agility to new levels. Riders that have become legends within our sport and many other similar sports are not always those that are landing the most technical tricks – as for a start we are not all as talented as the Danny Harf’s and Harley Cli� ord’s of this world but there is plenty of room for the rest of us to make our mark in other ways. Riders like Randall Harris have not always been at the cutting edge of tricks in terms of landing 10’s and 12’s but has always been at the forefront of push-

aumtumn approachWords: Andrew Eddy Pic: Chris Garrison

ing original tricks in new directions. Things like wrapped spins, grabbed all the way around and stomped into the � ats make him stand out amongst a crowd of riders making their way in this water world of trickery.

What we are essentially looking at here is pushing yourself to be original, to be out there perfecting your art and not being happy with just landing your tricks but spending time improving them and making them yours. Putting your mark on a trick that 90% of riders can land is often more impressive than landing a trick that 90% of riders can’t. Our sport is pushed by riders driving the levels of competition through the roof with new tricks constantly being landed that have never been landed in front of the judges, is some-thing that will continue long into the future as that is the nature of progres-sion. However we are not all competing at the top level (in fact there are relatively very few that do) and those you will � nd often have some of the sickest styles around, so let’s spend some Autumn time staying on the water, staying � t and tuning our riding to make it more rewarding and putting our own personal mark on our � ne sports.

Harley Cli� ord making this roll to blind his own

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Our favourite place to ride is something that we all hold dear to our hearts, we know the place, we know the people and we know the obstacles or wake as well as the best. It is something that we can all relate to and have great memories to look back at and enjoy di� erent memories of landing new tricks or seeing you buddy eat a massive front edge. Going away to other places and riding with di� erent crew is always good but returning to what you know best has that own bed feel to it, knowing that you can hit your preferred obstacle how you want to hit it and have that certain con� dence in knowing the score in all aspects of the lake is something we can all relate to.

It is with that in mind and having the season drawing to a close Syndicate decided to see what you thought was your favourite spot in the UK. With hundreds of votes over the last month it was a close run battle with Port Haverigg and Box End Park taking early leads in the online comp. It was however quick to become a three horse race with Loch Lomond having a huge amount of votes towards the end of the competition but eventually it was between Quayside and Liquid Wake Park. Despite a last push from Quayside supporters it wasn’t quite enough to tip the balance of power away from the cable in Datchet and LWP took the title in what was a ridicu-lously close battle with only a handful of votes separating the top two.

In the far north of the English coast you will � nd Port Haverigg, a place that has a very strong following and is home to an unusually high concentra-tion of talent, having seen many a shuv go down on it’s waters Haverigg is certainly the star in the eyes of many of the Northern contingent and the support it received it note worthy. Just ahead of Haverigg was Box End

Park, a centre that entails a both a full cable and boat lake with X-Star a� oat and plenty of obstacles in the cable to keep people occupied during their time on the water. BEP are continually adding to their impressive line up of water toys, with the addition of a new and long rooftop rail being the most recent.

Loch Lomond are a relatively new club on the wake map and in not very long at all have made themselves a spot to contend with. A huge and stun-ning lake coupled with a lot of very enthusiastic people involved in the club, they not only have the presence on the water but have a tremendous appeal to those looking to enjoy their evenings in this stunning part of the world with the Scottish crew. They have also been heavily involved in cre-ating and running the Scottish tour which has seen a lot of riders from all parts of the country travel and make a huge e� ort to be a part of. Some-thing that can only pay tribute to the tremendous amount of commitment and hard work that goes on north of the wall.

Second place Quayside has been the long standing coaching centre of the London area having helped produce some of the strongest talents we have today on the boat, there have been many walk through their doors from the likes of Dan Nott and Jonty Green doing their time there to the more recent riders such as Sam Carne and Jules Haley who are both making heir presence felt on the wake scene at the moment.

It was however LWP that took the top honours and as a cable park has seen a lot of attention recently in many ways. LWP has been around for a long time in the form of Liquid Leisure as a mainly ski orientated setup but just a

SPOT OF THE YEAR

LWP TAKES THE TOP SPOT JUST AHEAD OF QUAYSIDE AND LOCH LOMOND IN THE FIRST SYNDICATEWAKE.COM COMPETITION

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Liquid Leisure, home to LWP

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few short years ago LWP was born – a � ve point cable and a smaller training two point system along side it. The site has seen a large in� ux of members in recent times and has been a hit with a variety of obstacles and some qual-ity coaching to be had from the dockside from the full time sta� and guest coaches alike. Feedback from the voters cited the atmosphere and general attitude of the sta� and other members as being among the best attributes of the site along with having a specialist gym and rehab on site that is fre-quented by some of our names in cable riding, Ben Hitch and Nick Davies being two.

You will � nd LWP honouring our cover with Nick Davies on the fun box along with one or two others you will recognize on and o� the obstacles, like Ben’s monster method. Rossi’s nose press that we saw in Voyeur a few months back. There is plenty for the skaters too with Nick Hine and Taylor Dell regulars at LWP, there is obviously a draw here for the skaters as well as the wakeboarders.

Our � rst year has been awarded with some irony as sadly LWP has recently faced troubles with some uncooperative neighbours which has led them to have a wildlife survey and prevents them from running the cable until it has been published. There is a petition online to show support for the club, a link can be found on the Syndicate Wake website (www.SyndicateWake.com). Please show your support for a fellow club if you are a member or not, it is some people’s local spot and clearly a lot of people’s favourite. I know I would want help to keep my favourite spot open and I’m sure you would too.

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Eddy

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Lewis Cornwall on the funbox at LWP

Method Man - Ben Hitch