The Wake9 Experience

Well, so sorry for a month of no word from me. Had a death in the family and some major issues that needed to be attended to in my “day job” as a software developer. Since I have been so occupied, I asked my lovely 17 year old daughter Whitney to help me get my thoughts together to do a write up on the event. She did a pretty good job. My kids are in an independent learning center charter school and Whitney is actually being graded on her work she has done with me for the podcasting and such, so I made this her final. I love the fact that wake9 allows me the opportunity to use my kids and work together to do something that we all love, and share it with others. Before I paste in Whitney’s write up, some thoughts….

Special thanks to all the riders, especially Frank Wolter for being the catalyst and throwing down the challenge. We surely enjoy the company that hosting wakesurfing events has afforded us. Dennis Horton, Frank Wolter, Roger Stratford, Clay Sellers, and James (slim jim) Albertoni were an incredible group of guys. I am sure the friendships will grow, thanks guys, it was a LOT of fun.

Special thanks to the board manufacturers:

• Dennis Walker and The Walker Project
• Clay Sellers and Props Wakesurfers
• Mark from Lakewakes Wakesurf boards
• Mitch from California Marine Sports in Suison City, CA for supplying the demo Red Woody board.

Special thanks to Lake Oroville Marina for being such a great help and discounting the “Party Barge” for us to use for staging.

Special thanks to PB’s Props in Oroville. We bent up a prop the day before the event, and these guys went the extra mile to get a prop repaired for us, thanks a ton. The don’t have a website, but if you are ever in the Oroville area, look up PB’s Props, they will set you straight, literally.

Special thanks to Jeff Walker for advice and helping arrange some of the board shipments.

Over the next couple of days I will be posting video and a full podcast of the event, which will be released on Sunday evening.

The 1st Annual Polar Bear Wakesurf Event Blog
By Whitney Garcia

It’s easy to assume that on any given cold, November day, people would be all snuggled up by a fire with some hot cocoa, a book, and perhaps some warm chicken noodle soup to comfort the soul. It’s also easy to assume that given the choice, people would choose to do the above, rather than subject themselves to torture in cold water. However, everyone knows that you should never assume.

The first annual Polar Bear Wakesurf event was for the bigger sized guys in wakesurfing. The bigger guys, in Ragboy’s opinion, are a key segment of the market since they are the boat owners, they are the dudes with the cash. Five men came to the event and rode: Dennis Horton, Frank Wolter, SlimJim (who was actually slim- we all thought it was just another big guy in denial), Clay Sellers, and Roger Stratford. We all met up at Lake Oroville, which, luckily, had beautiful water conditions. There were 3 boats: 2 were setup goofy, and 1 was set up regular. (So where are all these regular people, anyway? Every time Wake9 hosts something, we have more goofy than regular. I guess they all live in Washington.) There was also a 44’ party barge that was graciously discounted to us from Lake Oroville Marina.

During the event, there would be about 3 people to a boat, with 5-6 boards that each man was going to try. After about an hour, everyone would meet up at the party barge for a quick break and a swapping of the boards. Considering the low 60’s air temp, and the low 60’s water temp, everyone was a trooper about going into the water. Haha, just kidding: everyone wussed out and wore wetsuits. Well except for Frank, he barebacked it.

When there is an event to compare boards, what usually happens is that there are comparisons of boards against others from the same company. What was so special about this wakesurf event was that there were comparisons of different boards from different manufacturers. Wake9 received boards from multiple board manufacturers and one board shop (CMS in Suison City, CA) that shipped up boards for the event, and Dennis Horton brought up some of his own. All the boards we used during the event were specifically designed to hold up our big men with style.

With an industry that makes boards for the physique of dudes like James Walker and Chase Hazen (a nice physique I might add ), the men who are heavier will be hard pressed to find a board that will hold them. Each board at the event had different weight requirements, and the guys were of various sizes. The following write up is meant to show the other big men out there just how these boards held up, no pun intended. It is not meant to be a comprehensive review, maybe next time the event will be structured that way.

-The boards listed are ones that either everyone or almost everyone got to ride-

“The Big Guy Board” (5’4”x24”): Made by Lakewakes, it was lovingly dubbed “the Door,” due to it being huge, wide, and looked like it needed a door knob on one side. Ragboy said that it was more of a derogatory name in the morning, but by the end of the day, “The Door” became an affectionate moniker. It seemed to be a “favorite” of the real big guys (250+). The Door was definitely not a cruiser, but also not a rocket ship. Not the best performing big guy board, but since all of us are super cheap, it was well liked due to its fun riding abilities and its low price (MSRP $375). It was arguably the best value, and Lakewakes knew what they were doing when they wrote the price on the board. The only negative thing said about it was by Dennis, who complained that it was a little stiff during lipslides. Whatever, Dennis. Go do your unstiff lipslides somewhere else.

Inland Surfer Red Woody (5’6”x22”): This was concluded by everyone to be a fun, cruising board for the big men, but a little hard to manipulate. However, it was a cruiser. If you wanted to rip it up, you would need a different board. The only negative thing said about it was by Dennis, who complained that he couldn’t do his 360 on it. Whatever, Dennis. Go do your 360 somewhere else.

Props Ez1 Original (5’8”x??): This was another well liked board, but it suffered a little compared to the Door. This was an example of a board that may have done pretty well in a demo, but not when comparing to the Door, or the TWP Bazooka. Actually, they all didn’t concur, since the Jolly Green Giant (Jim) and Clay didn’t get to ride it. Other than that, they all liked it. Frank tried both the EZ1 5’8” version and the 5’11” and definitely liked the 5’8” version better. The only negative thing said about it was by Dennis…naw, just kidding. He couldn’t remember which Props board he rode. (A side note from Ragboy: It was nice to see Clay, from Props, taking notes. Props made it very clear that they are committed to getting this right. If there where a few tweaks, this board could sing. I can’t wait to see what Props is going to do after the R&D this event provided.)

The Walker Project: Now this was a total concurrence: everyone loved the Walker project boards. They were fun, light, easy to ride, and really allowed the rider to shred at will. Made for beginners to advanced, you could tell that these boards were just awesome for the skill level intended. The TWP boards definitely set the performance standard of the day. However, since they are more expensive, some were looking more towards the Door to add to their boat. There was the JWSM (5’3”), the Bullet “Goofy” (Dennis’s board) (5’3”), and a Comp X (5’0”). And last but not least… the super secret TWP board! This was the “secret prototype” board that Dennis brought up. Since it was “secret” there wasn’t even a name for it, it was just the big guy version of the Bullet (so it’s the Bazooka…get it?!). The Bazooka (5’3”) won the challenge set by Frank- this ended up being the board he bought.

After the event, we all went to a pizza joint in Chico, called Woodstocks, for a fun little after party. We had about 50 buffalo wings, and got Frank his own non-spicy wings so he could taste how scrumptious they were. Each man was even given a memorial Woodstock mug to commemorate the event. Speaking of which, Frank and Clay “forgot” theirs… We all had an absolute blast with the event, and we seriously want to do it again next year. There were some great laughs, like when Jim wanted to steal Jessica (he didn’t because she said she needed a car seat and he didn’t have one), or when each man slid down the party barge slide (we have video!), and even Dennis’s “snuggies” being stolen by my mom.

That’s about it. Please give me good reviews on this blog, because I am being graded on it from my dad. It apparently is 80% of my grade (I honestly have no idea on how he got that. “Finals” are usually 20%), so any good words you have are much appreciated.

Men’s Stats:
SlimJim: 6’6”, 240lbs
Dennis Horton: 6’2”, 280lbs
Frank Wolter: 6’1”, 324lbs
Clay Sellers: 250lbs.
Roger Stratford: 5’8”, 260lbs

People Involved:
Robert (ragboy) Garcia: Wake9 founder, and boat driver.
Amy Garcia: Wake9 funsucker, and party barge driver.
Ashley Garcia: Camera Girl. And a sucky one at that.
Bree Horton: Dennis’s daughter, though I’m not quite sure what she did that day.
Lee Garcia: Robert’s lil’ bro, and Waverunner driver.
Maddie Garcia: Camera girl.
Thomas Garcia: The handsomest boy there.
Whitney Garcia: Blogger and the camera on the Waverunner.
RJ Garcia: No clue. I think he just ate all the cheese and crackers.
Jessica Garcia (The Chocolate Leprechaun): Dennis’s best friend.
SlimJim: Despite his name, he did not bring any SlimJims.
Dennis Horton: Jessica’s best friend.
Clay Sellers: Props Representative, thanks to him, we had boards to try.
Frank Wolter: Big guy with a big heart, we all missed his kids.
Roger Stratford: Gotta love Roger!

Stay Tuned for podcast and video!