Day 2 at Surf Expo is starting off a little slowly thanks to some off campus activities last night after the Wake Awards. How is one supposed to pass up an awesome deal like a bucket of 5 Bud Lights for $6? They might as well having been giving these things away. I had a great conversation with some drunk idiot sitting beside me who was trying to tell me that nothing good ever came from Canada. Apparently this genius hadn’t of either penicillin or basketball.

The show itself seemed to be busier today with lots of action in the wakeboard area. There was always a large crowd gathered around the pool jam anytime it was firing, but I never strayed to watch the show. I was kind of surprised to see a pool jam at the show this year; is it 2006 or something?

I managed to wander out of the wake zone for a while to check out a few other parts of the show. The skatepark was busy with demos going a couple time a day with a few big names ripping around like Corey Duffel, Ronnie Creager and Justin Brock. The apparel/clothing area was busy as well, but their booths are by appointment only.  I had a good chat with Oakley team manager Matt Swanson; he was pretty pumped about his boy Rathy cleaning house at the Wake Awards from the night before. He’s also got a billion ideas about what he wants to do with Oakley and their wakeboard team; you guys are going to be pumped about what’s coming down the pipeline.

Jimmer and I left the show early so we could grab a bite to eat before the Parks Documentary that started at 8. I wanted to get something close to the hotel, but Jimmer wanted to go to Universal where the movie playing. Despite my better judgment, we went joined the thousands of tourists at Universal. We ended up at the Hard Rock Café for dinner. The Hard Rock is usually pretty cool, but this one was over the top tacky. I’d describe it as a post-apocalyptic rock and roll dinning experience. Their hiring policy must be to find the freakiest-looking people as possible. I nicknamed our server Rick Flare for all of the accessories attached to various parts of his outfit. The food was good, but we got out of there as quick as possible because we didn’t want to be late for the movie.

Everybody in the wake industry, both young and old showed up for the movie. I’d talked to Shane [Bonifay] about a month ago and he was hyping up the film pretty hard. I was hoping it lived up to expectation, but it went way beyond that. If anyone ever had any doubt how much influence Parks has had, and continues to have, on this industry, they need to see this movie. Hell, everybody needs to see this movie anyways; it might be the most important wake film ever made; yeah I said it! There’s so much to say about this film, but I feel like I need some time to fully digest it so I’ll come back with a full Parks documentary blog tomorrow.

Day #1 at Surf Expo is in the books and let me tell what a day it was. Everything starred out smooth with an early wake-up call and a fantastic breakfast buffet at Café Matisse at the Rosen Plaza hotel. After breakfast, myself and partner in crime Jamie “Jimmer” Reekie head off to the show. Jumping in my sweet Kia Spectra rental car, we headed off to the Orlando Convention Center. For some reason the show has now moved across International Drive to the West Wing of the Convention Center which definitely breaks up the routine of the past years, which for me isn’t a great thing. I’m a creature of habit: I stay at the same hotel, eat at the same restaurants, rent a car from the same place every year. It’s kind of a ritual. So this venue change gets the day off to an unusual start, but I’m not going to let it ruin things.

We get to the show early to check in and pick up our passes and immediately run into Jeff Heer and get the first handshake of the show out of the way. My first snub off the day comes from George Daniels. C’mon George I thought we we’re friends; remember the time I drove you to the airport last year? He would later tell me he was running to work at the Byerly booth and Scott would have his ass served if he showed up late. A semi legit excuse, I guess.

I said I wasn’t going to go into in depth product reviews and I’m still sticking to my guns, but I do have to say that there’s a ton of cool new stuff here. It seems every manufacturer was cooking up something new this year. From new boot and board designs, to cool in-dash displays in boats there’s enough gear to keep even the most techest of tech heads happy.

Of course, I’d be not telling the truth if the economy wasn’t the major topic of conversation throughout the show, but overall the mood is upbeat. Everybody I talked to seems to think the worst is behind us and they’re starting to climb the hill again. Despite a smaller show than in years past everybody is talking positively about the year ahead.

The highlight of the day (and possibly the weekend) was the WBM Wake Awards. With the new location in the West Convention Center comes another new venue. The show was in the Chapin Theater, complete with full stage and movie-style seating. I somehow managed to weasel a couple of VIP passes for myself and Jimmer and we were treated to front row seats. A personal highlight of the night was the furious Twitter battle that ensued between myself and Jeff McKee from Alliance trying to be the first to get the results posted: it was the nerd-off to end all nerd-offs.

As usual the show was amazing with Aaron Rathy taking down the 2 big awards of the night: Wakeboarder of the Year and Wakeboard Trick of the Year. Rathy had been in contention for this award for a while with the W2W Wrapped Backside 9 he landed about a month ago. Just like Danny Harf last year, Rathy managed to keep his hammer trick, a Wrapped Backside 10, a secret until the tape rolled for the awards. Rathy’s had a killer year and I’m super stoked for his double win. You’ll be seeing more of this kid in SBC Wakeboard in the very near future. Check the photos below for highlights of the night.

DJ Drop Top on the 1's & 2's. Levitt photo

On Point Award: Bob Soven. Levitt photo

Wake Rider of the Year: Danny Harf. Levitt photo

Photographer of the Year and Photo of the Year winner, Bryan Soderlind. Levitt photo

Wakeskate Video Part: Brian Grubb/Out of the Pond. Levitt photo

Movie of the Year: Out of the Pond. Levitt photo

Legend Award: Erik "Gator" Lutgert. Levitt photo

Reed Hansen, Wakeskater of the Year. Levitt photo

Wakeskate Trick of the Year: Matt Manzari

Presenters Pat Panakos and Parks Bonifay. Levitt photo

Wakeboarder of the Year and Wakeboard Trick of the Year Winner: Aaron Rathy. Levitt photo

That’s a wrap for today; tomorrow looks to be another busy one at the show and then at the Parks Bonifay documentary after the show. And who knows, maybe another nerd Twitter battle to the death with someone else tonight.

I’m sitting here at gate C33 in the Houston airport, which interestingly enough has been renamed the George Bush Intercontinental Airport. We’re talking George Bush version 1.0; you know, the guy who only lasted 4 years in office back in the early 90’s. I can’t imagine anyone in their right mind would name anything after George Dubya Bush. Ok, maybe a garbage transfer station, ouch! The reason I’m in travel limbo at the moment is I’m on my way to Orlando to take in Surf Expo. For those of you not in the know, Surf Expo is the annual trade show for all things wake, kite, wind, surf and skate.

They've encased good ole George in Carbonite, just like Han Solo

In years past the SBC crew has rolled in a pretty big posse with the editors from SBC Kiteboard and Windsport in tow along with a pretty pimped out booth. This year we decided to kick those guys to the curb cause they’re not cool enough to hang with the wake crew (kidding, Pete and John, you guys are the dopes). So this year it’s only going to be yours truly and SBC super-salesman Jamie “Jimmer” Reekie. We’re going to be keeping a low profile around the show; more of a covert ops mission if you will, but still going to be living large at every buffet in the Orlando Conference Centre/International Drive area.

Surf Expo is the time of year when all the manufacturers roll out all of their new product, but most of that stuff has been leaked out on the Internet for a month, so I’m going to bring you the straight dirt. You know the really important stuff like which rider is the most hung-over, who’s career is totally washed up, the wakeskater with the weakest handshake, the number of high-fives I manage to accrue throughout the show, which wakeboarder wants to beat up another wakeboarder for stealing their girlfriend and Andrew Adkison’s yearly dominance of ping pong, sorry TABLE TENNIS.

Besides a busy daytime schedule, the nighttime activities look to be even more entertaining. There’s something big going on every night of the show. Thursday night starts off with the annual WBM Wake Awards. It’s basically the gala night of the entire wakeboarding industry with every pro rider in attendance. Once again a lot of hype seems to floating around the Wakeboard Trick of the Year category. After Danny Harf managed to keep his 1260 under wraps last year, everyone gunning for the title this year is using cloaking technology to keep their trick top secret. Rumor has it that Aaron Rathy stomped a triple grab 1440 wake to wake, so I’m pretty sure he’s a lock.* There’s also the Parks Bonifay documentary and the Nike 6.0 films making their world premieres; busy times, indeed.

My flights just been called so I can finally get the hell out of Texas, thank God. Check in everyday for more updates. And if you’re a big a nerd as I am, I’ll be doing the Twitter updates throughout the whole show.

* This fact may or may not be 100% true and/or false: only time will tell

I grew up in Ontario and spent many summer days at friends’ cottages on the Trent-Severn waterways watching lots of boats go by, particularly houseboats. I always thought it would be cool to go house boating; cruising around the lakes in your own little shack. Fast forward many years (and I mean MANY) and I found myself introduced to house boating, British Columbia-style. When I was invited on a houseboat trip on Shuswap Lake in the BC interior I didn’t really know what to expect, but I remembered the little shacks on pontoons that used to cruise by in my younger years. What I didn’t realize was that BC house boating consisted of partying on floating condos day and night with almost every creature comfort you could imagine. So when I got the invite for a Monster Energy houseboat trip a few months back, I cleared my schedule to make sure nothing would stop me from going on this trip.

Just your average floating shack. Levitt photo

One thing you need to know about the guys at Monster Canada is they only do things at a 1000%: half-assed isn’t even in their vocabulary. Not only did they rent possibly the biggest houseboat in Canada, measuring in at a whopping 96 feet long with 10 bedrooms, they flew in the entire Monster pro team including Shawn Watson, Shane Bonifay, Daniel Watkins, Kevin Henshaw, Jimmy Lariche, Aaron Reed, Melissa Marquardt, James Balzer, Bob Soven and Harley Clifford. And since the biggest houseboat in Canada wasn’t quite enough there was also another 60 footer in tow along with a Malibu VLX, a Tige RZ2 and a Tige RZ4 for us to play with. Because we were going to be so busy wakeboarding and partying, Monster also hired 2 dedicated houseboat drivers, a chef to cook gourmet meals, 2 DJ’s complete with a bangin’ sound system, and a handful of other staff to make sure we didn’t have to lift a finger. I should also mention they had a transfer box built specifically for this trip.

Circular staircase on a boat, what!?! Levitt photo

The trip is going to be a feature article in the 2010 Buyers’ Guide issue of SBC Wakeboard Magazine so I don’t want to give too much away, but I have to give you a few highlights from the trip.

1. House boating with Aaron Reed is both awesome and slightly terrifying at the same time. The first words Reed muttered to me when I got on board the boat were “Levitt, if I don’t see you with a beer in your hands for every minute of this trip, I’m going to fucking kill you.” And by the tone of his voice, I knew he was deadly serious. But on the lighter side, Reed provided us with “story time” twice a day. “Story time” consisted of Reed reciting from a well-worn copy of a piece of literature akin to a Penthouse Forum. Reed actually lost the novel towards the end of the trip, but took matters into his own hands and wrote a story of his own: Aaron Reed, a man of many talents.
2. Professional wakeboarders are also professional house boaters. All of the riders had been at Brostock on Lake Powell a few weeks previous to this trip so it took them no time to get into the swing of things. Especially when the boats we were on had ten times more space than the boats from Brostock. I heard the term “best houseboat trip ever” being tossed around a few times.
3. Shane Bonifay is a rock star in more ways than you can count. Obviously growing up with Parks has helped Shane become a living legend on the water, but it’s a little known fact that he’s also is working hard at pursuing a side-career headlining a heavy metal air band. Every evening during the trip Shane could be found busting some serious moves to all the great 80’s metal tunes. I think the working title of his new projects is the Dirty Virgins, but don’t quote me on that one.
4. The Monster Energy team is going to be around for a long time. Take a quick look at the team roster and you’re going to see a stacked team with veterans like Watson, Watkins, Bonifay and Henshaw, but the surprising thing for me was how much better this team is going to get a few years down the road. I’d never seen Bob Soven or Harley Clifford ride in person, but I was blown away. There’s obviously a reason these guys are cleaning house on the pro tour this year. Add Jimmy Lariche into the mix and the Monster Energy team will continue to be a force to be reckoned with.
5. Never challenge James Balzer to a dance-off. Maybe it was because it was the last night of the trip or because he thought he could take down the king on his home turf on Canada Day, but for some reason Bob Soven threw down the gauntlet. Poor kid didn’t even know what lay in wait for him. The only detail you need to know: Pants-Off-Dance-Off, enuff said.

My brain is still a little fuzzy from all the festivities, but as I mentioned this is going to be a full feature story in the next issue of SBC Wake. In the meantime, check the photos and video and be sure to be in the Shuswap area Canada Day 2010 when it all goes down again.

Story Time with Aaron Reed and Theresa Longo. Levitt photo

Jimmy Lariche. Levitt photo

Daniel Watkins, feet on fire. Levitt photo

Bob Soven's tribute to MJ. Levitt photo

Shane Bonifay, Back Lip transfer. Levitt photo

DJ Mike Grimes spinning the beats on Canada Day. Levitt photo

I don't think this even needs a caption. Levitt photo

If you’ve been living under a rock for the past 6 months and never heard of The Berrics , it happens to be the #1 skateboard website in the world. It’s also the private skatepark owned by Steve Berra and Eric Koston – Berra + Eric = Berrics, get it? It’s usually one of my first stops on my daily web journey to see what’s going in the world of action sports. If you find it funny that the editor of a wakeboard magazine is spending time of a skateboard site, you may be surprised to hear that I was a skateboarder first. I was on a skateboard before wakeboarding even existed, but through my old age and propensity to getting injured I’ve had to leave me first sideways experience behind me.

The thing that makes The Berrics so great is the daily original content they put up; you can check in every few hours and there’s new stuff. One of their weekly features is Emails of the Week and this week I came across an email comparing a photo of pro skater Brandon Biebel to Rusty Malinoski. While there may be some resemblance physically (not even really close in my view), I would hinder a guess Biebel and Malinoski are nothing alike. Berra took time to respond to the email and while it’s sounds like he wanted to throw wakeboarding under the bus, he chose to take the high road; I commend you, Steve. We know we're not as cool as skateboarders, no need to rub it in our faces.