Northwest Riders Summer Clinic Tour - “Take 1″

Well, although it seems like we just ended last summer’s Tour a few days ago, we are right back in the swing of things again. The Northwest Riders Summer Tour kicked off on June 7th with a long and ambitious trek through the plains and farmland of Idaho and then on to conquer the bustling metropolis of the Tri Cities. Our eight day trip covered about 1,500 miles, 5 days of wakeboard clinics, Idaho’s best attempt at a hurricane, our best attempt at re-attaching a muffler to our truck with bungee cords, a little bit of sleep, and as usual a lot of fun.

In typical wakeboarder fashion, I spent the day before our trip in true procrastinator’s style. I was running around picking up t-shirts, last minute supplies, equipment, enough Red Bull to fill our gas tank with, and the usual thorough cleaning of our beautiful new Malibu Wakesetter LSV. After finishing packing at 3 am and cramming in an hour of sleep, myself and friend/copilot Ben Davis took off to meet Brent Starr at Bakes for our 6 am departure. This was a big moment for all of us, it was the first time in 3 years that we’ve ever left Seattle on time. We got on the road and within five minutes hit a bit of rain heading over Snoqualmie Pass. We could only hope it wasn’t a sign of weather to come. Brent bought a Dodge Ram Diesel about 2 years ago and was kind enough to tow the boat for yet another trip. We were passing people going up the pass doing about 80 mph and were still getting 15 or 16 miles to the gallon pulling the boat. The first day we drove almost 10 hours and made it to Boise by about 6 o’clock. Thanks to Brent for driving the whole way while Ben and I slept.

We are always fortunate to meet great people on our trips, and our luck didn’t run out when Chris, the pro shop manager from Idaho Watersports, offered to let us crash at his house. We had planned on camping for the trip, but there were forecasts for thundershowers and a dry sleeping bag sounded particularly nice after a long day on the road.

Clinic #1 got off to a blustery start. We got to Lake Lowell to set up, only to practically see livestock flying overhead. With sustained winds of about 45 mph and gusts up to what we figured was about 65 mph, wakeboarding seemed like kind of a funny idea. Where we were set up in the parking lot of the boat launch, we could hardly get out of the truck without the wind slamming the door in our face. We almost called and cancelled the event until we went down to the dock and realized that when you just walked down the hill, the wind was completely blocked and it was dead calm. There was a dam that spanned about a mile and as long as we stayed about 50 yards from shore, the water was actually glassy. A lot of people called to cancel and despite our promises of great conditions, most people took us Washingtonians as slightly delusional and decided not to show. Totally understandable, but hard to see great water go unused. A few people braved the wind and made for a fun afternoon.

Day #2 was considerably nicer, with actual sunshine and no wind. Idaho Watersports packed the clinic and we packed in a solid 11 hour day. People were stoked and we saw a lot of people learn new tricks for the first time, something we always love to see. Towards the end of the day, the dealership had one of their customers bring down a new Wakesetter VLX that they had recently customized. It was vapor blue and orange with matching tower and accessories, topped off with a huge Boise State Broncos logo on the side. We pulled a few people with that boat to finish the day, definitely turning the heads of the few fishermen stationed onshore.

We woke up at 4:30 the next morning in order to hit the road by 5 and make it to beautiful Burley, Idaho by 8:00 am. We rolled into town pretty exhausted and regrettably had to cancel our plans with Trent, one of the dealership’s trusted boat drivers. He had helped out with driving at the two stops in Boise and we had planned on spending the day with him and his family. Trent, if you’re reading this, we still feel horrible for bailing on you, but we went straight to a campground and caught up on about 5 hours of much needed sleep.

The clinic at Burley went great, with temperatures well into the 80’s, full sign-ups, and some really nice people. The highlight of the day was one of the riders sticking his second tantrum ever attempted, followed by nine more right in a row. We were probably more stoked than he was. Following the clinic we spent the evening at Carol’s, from Idaho Watersports, home, where everyone from the dealership came over to barbeque and spend the afternoon on the water. Ben, Brent, and I got to try out the new WakeKite which was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. It took a while to figure it out, but after ten minutes or so, Brent was doing wake jumps that were easily 25 ft. high and was landing about 40 ft out in the flats. You have so much time in the air that you start doing tricks two or three times, like his patented double raley with 3 shiftys all in one jump. We towed people until dark and then spent some time on shore enjoying the feast and everyone’s company.

Greg Young - WakeKite

Brent Starr - WakeKite

We woke up to homemade biscuits and gravy on the stove and a hot pot of coffee, something that we will never take for granted on the road. Brent’s exhaust had been making some noises on the drive over and he, Ben, and Carol’s husband Kent spent an hour or so trying to make sure it was hooked up right for the remainder of the trip. We had about an eight hour drive ahead of us to get to Tri Cities, and at a gas station two hours into it we realized that the muffler wasn’t fixed as well as we had hoped. It was barely hanging on, and was dangling no more than an inch from the concrete. Conveniently enough, we also realized this in the middle of a torrential downpour, so our best idea was to bunjee cord the whole muffler under the truck for the next 350 miles and hope that it would hold. I don’t know how, but it somehow did and we rolled into lovely Pasco unscathed.

Tri Cities is always a stop we look forward to. Matt from Sundown Marine always has a full roster of signups for us and although taking 12 people a day wakeboarding for 40 minutes per person can make for a long day, we always meet some great people who are stoked to ride. For some reason Tri Cities is the one Tour stop where we consistently see the worst crashes of the year. I’m not sure if it’s because riders are all trying harder tricks, or if they’re just anxious to get back into the 80 degree water, but people in that town fall hard. Really hard. Painful as it must be for them, it can be pretty entertaining for everyone in the boat. We should really start filming all of the riders and put a crash section together. Special thanks to Adam and Corine who graciously booked an extra spot and donated part of it to Brent and I to take a quick set on the surfboard and wakekite (for instructional purposes of course).

Eastern Washington seems to be the one place that we can count on good weather and again that theory proved true. We finished off the remainder of our trip with sunny skies and temperatures staying right in the mid eighties. By the end of our stay, our muffler fix was beginning to take a turn for the worse. The cords were starting to melt and were down to spider web sized wisps that didn’t look quite strong enough to challenge Snoqualmie Pass. Luckily for us, our good friend Jack Bunger arranged for a friend to fix the problem. We met up with him and followed him to his house while the muffler sounded like it was grumbling on its way to an unhappy demise. Spencer had a huge shop in his backyard and had the whole muffler welded in place in about 20 minutes, saving us and whoever may have been following us when the whole thing decided to jump ship on the freeway.

Our clinic ended right on time and we sprinted over the Cascades just as the sun set on both the countryside and the first leg of our busy Tour. We made it back to BAKES with the muffler still looking good and at 10:30 pm, beating our old early arrival time by more than an hour. 10:30 might not sound too bad, but considering we have to unload all of our gear and Brent had two hours longer to his house, 10:30 beats midnight by a lot.

We always have an awesome time on the road. The good news for you is that this was just our first trip of many. Our next stop is next Monday and Tuesday, June 25th and 26th at Lake Sammamish, WA. We still have a few spots open each day and would love it if you came down to ride with us. We provide the best boat on the water (our 2007 Malibu Wakesetter LSV), professional instruction from Brent Starr and Sean Kilgus (BFY Productions), demo gear, and a free lunch and t-shirt. This is a great chance to have a pro rider watch you ride and tell you what you can work on to get better this summer. You can be 5 years old or 75, beginner to expert, and we promise that you’ll learn enough to keep you busy for the rest of the season. Call Bakes Marine if you’re interested. See you there!

We would like to thank all of our sponsors who allow us to have the most fun jobs any of us could imagine. Thanks to Malibu Boats for our beautiful Wakesetter, Extreme Trailers for a great way to tow it, Titan Wake Accessories for some rocking Alpha 1 speakers and the super-handy swivel board racks, Westwinds Tower Accessories for our ultra bright aimable tower lights, Hyperlite for a truckload of demo gear, Bakes Marine, BFY Productions, DieCutStickers.com, Northwest Riders Clothing, and of course Wakeboardnorthwest.com for following the action.

Also thanks to our gracious hosts and all of the people that we met along the way. Your hospitality always amazes us and never goes unappreciated. Thanks to Idaho Watersports and their incredible staff: Carol, Kent, Chris, Jason (for taking a huge bullet for us), Trent, Justin, Kyle, Mike, Matt, and the owners of the Boise State boat. Thanks to Sundown Marine and their staff, Matt and Eric, as well as our friends Tanner and Jack for always having a couch we can crash on, and Spencer for a job “weld done.”

JUNE

25-26: NWR Summer Tour (Wake) - Issaquah, WA
(Call BAKES @ 425.392.8595, to sign up for this NWR Tour stop)

JULY

28: Bakes NWI (Wake) - Renton, WA
30-31: NWR Summer Tour (Wake) - Madras, OR

AUGUST

12: NWR Summer Tour (Wake) - Cour d’ Alene, ID
14-15: NWR Summer Tour (Wake) - Great Falls, MT
17: NWR Summer Tour (Wake) - Kalispell, MT

The Northwest Riders 2007 Summer Clinic Tour is Sponsored by : Malibu Boats, BAKES Board & Ski, Northwest Riders Clothing, Hyperlite, Westwinds, Titan, BFY Productions, DiecutStickers.com, Slingshot, WakeboardNorthwest.com

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