Newsletter Holiday '03

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Our top story...

Hey, what do you know! We’re getting a newsletter out on time. Hopefully we can keep this up and keep all of you on the mailing list updated with the happenings down in Florida.

First and foremost, congrats to our wakeskate professor and team rider Aaron Reed for achieving “Rider of the Year” status for 2003 by Alliance Wakeboard Magazine. Aaron has pushed the limits of wakeskating faster and further then most would of thought in a years time. Nice work Hurricane REED! You deserve it and keep pushing. Check out the December/January issue for some great sequences and the whole story.

The part where we try and talk you into coming to Florida to ride...

I'm gonna take a guess and say that most of you are "freezin your nuts off" right about now. The boat is winterized and the gear is staring at you from across the room saying “take me some where warm and ride me!” Not to rub it in or anything, but it's pretty darn nice in Florida right now!

If you’re itchin to lengthen your season our winter deals are pretty irresistible. Maybe you can't come for a whole week, no sweat. (yeah, we are still sweating down here!) Let us know what you can pull off and we will work something out for you. Like maybe a three day WEEK END package.

Let's just say for instance that you can only make it on the weekend and miss one day of work. Then come down and stay with us Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Saturday, Sunday, Monday! This three day package includes food, lodging, and lessons for a below sea level price of $575. If your interested please e-mail us or call for more info.

**No dinner on Saturday night, but there are plenty of restaurants a short walk from the camp!

If you still want to come for a whole week of riding pleasure, our off-peak prices are in effect until February 15th. The price for a weekly session is $1000 plus tax. That price includes lessons from Monday through Friday, food and lodging from Sunday night through Saturday morning, free demos of the complete line of Hyperlite boards, bindings, wakeskates, wakesurf boards, ropes and handles. Not to mention ice free conditions!

Also, don't forget about our awesome group discounts that can drop the price down to $700 per person, per week.

Coaches Section

The coaches and staff have been out and around again this off season, but this time they were around the world instead of just the states. Ben took a three week trip over to Hong Kong where he took part in a MTV sports festival. I went to Spain for conferences and clinics, London for an interview and St. Thomas for a little Thanksgiving vacation. Aaron went on a wakeskate trip to Lake Mead, Nevada. And Jess went on a family trip to England. Here's the low down on everybody's trips.

Switching over to a little Ben Greenwood narration for a second...

Hong Kong was not the first place I thought of when I imagined places to visit for wakeboarding. The way I ended up there was quite a coincidence. I met a brother and sister from Hong Kong here at the Wakeboard Camp in the Spring of ’03 and we talked about getting me over there to do some coaching. When I mentioned this opportunity to my board sponsor, Liquid Force, they mentioned that MTV Asia needed a US pro rider to perform during a Wakeboard/Music festival.

The people at MTV took great care of me and the event went off very well. The following two weeks of my stay were spent coaching in the village of Tai Tam with Kenny Jim and Joe Hung. I was able to meet the local wakeboarding community that was filled with Hong Kong pop singers, actors and actresses, and models. Everyone was extremely concerned with my nightlife experiences and were more than willing to take me to all the HK hot spots. My trip concluded with attending the Hong Kong Open and competing against some talent from Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. I came through with the victory as well as a great experience spent with amazing people.

Ben and his fan club over in Hong Kong.

I (KYLE) took a trip to Malaga, Spain. I’ve never tasted a better olive. As you fly into Malaga all you see is olive trees till the horizon ends. Once you pop one of those babies into your mouth you will never think the same about a regular, everyday, bottled olive again. It was a mountain bordered journey three hours out to the middle of farm country from the airport and a bumpy winding road to a damned up private lake set a couple hundred feet down into the hills of rock.

I have never seen a private lake this big. It fingered back and back in each direction so you could find a calm spot no matter what wind you were dealing with. I was there for some UK sales meetings explaining product, coaching and riding. It was a good time filled with long days and some late nights. It was actually colder then normal for Spain. Not as cold as the layover in London on the way over.

Well, after the conferences the Neil and Gordon at Ultra Sport flew me back to London to an interview/tour of London. This was the coolest part of the trip. The architecture in London is mind blowing. I took so many pictures and experienced so many cool things in London.

Here I am getting a little friendly with the guard horses.

I thought I would hang around London for a day. If you look closely the sign for the subway says underground. I thought it was fitting since all the closes on me were UnderGround Products clothing.

I also rook a little vacation trip with my girl friend and her family to St. Thomas and the Virgin Islands. We stayed at the Ritz Carlton Resort on St. Thomas. Man that was nice. I couldn't ask for a better getaway. My cousin-in-law Roman and I terrorized the the waters around the island on a small catamaran, flipping it once and almost endoing the thing a couple times. It was a blast needless to say. This trip was a much needed escape from the normal everyday happenings. Places like that force you to slow down and unwind. Its a big adjustment from the pace of the states and going full speed everyday. After just five days it was good to pick up our daughter and get back to reality.

Hurricane REED stormed the shores Lake Mead. OK this one was in the states. So the idea was this, Justin Stephens founder of Cadnium Films wanted to get the top wakeskaters in the world together to ride at a private reservoir down the street from lake Mead, Nevada and film the chaos. What's better than the top wakeskaters in the world in Las Vegas. Having all the best riders in one spot at the same time is sure to push the level of riding a bit.

Scott Byerly, Drew Mcguckin, Thomas Horrel, Brian Grubb, Steve Wahlman, team riders Danny Hampson, and Aaron Reed flew out to Lake Mead for a session to hang out, converse, party, and do whole lot of wakeskating. The freshman of the crew, Danny Hampson, showed up and shut everyone down. Danny is ripping these days and giving all the top guys a little scare. Overall, it was a good trip with lots of tasty beverages and a new team motto from Danny which I'd better not repeat.

A word from PJ...

A couple of weeks ago I was thinking that I should get to know team rider Danny Hampson a little better so I talked to Aaron and asked if he wanted to go down to Danny's house. He said cool and that Josh Letchworth needed to get some shots of him anyway. So we called Josh and Danny and set it up with Danny's parents. I gassed up the plane, loaded up and set the GPS for Marathon Florida and took off.

Danny lives with his parents Tim and Jackie in a really cool house on a canal in Islamorada in the keys. Tim has a killer catamaran with twin 200 four strokers. That boat hauls ass. We did a little fishin and took some snaps.

Aaron couldn't wait to catch something so the night before, he hops in the water in the canal and pulls out a lobster.