old wakeskating article from 1999-thomas horrell,,launch mag

electricsnow · cassette Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 10751 City: Jefferton

i'm looking through some old mags and decided this should be posted! Plus, i feel like on some level, history is something unique this site can offer. It's from a launch wakeboard magazine (probably one of the last issues). Anyway, i think it's cool to take a look at this, just to see one point and perspective from where all of this started. Thomas has been a guiding light of sirts and i think he's always been on point...simultaneously navigating the shared waters of wake while recognizing that wakeskating could be its own thing, always pushing it in that direction.

Anyway, read it and say what you think (if anything at all). I realize the image is huge, and i usually hate that, but it's so the words are visible!

the other luke · Pop Shuvit Joined: 13 Sep 2011 Posts: 140 City: Cincinnati

i always enjoy seeing old articles and stuff resurface again. it brings back a perspective thats sometimes well over looked.

electricsnow · cassette Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 10751 City: Jefferton

I think a lot of people are completely unaware of it. And not everyone cares...but it's nice when they do!

the other luke · Pop Shuvit Joined: 13 Sep 2011 Posts: 140 City: Cincinnati

and sometimes you have to look back ten years to remind yourself that they do. i think the opinions Thomas expressed about the progression and growth of wakeskating when it first started taking it's legs still hold true today, and will continue to. they're the fundamental beliefs that all wakeskaters should abide by, because without his motivation to start this, where would we be today?
wakeskating solely owes more to Thomas Horrell than we could ever imagine.

Travis B · Frontside 180 Joined: 29 Mar 2009 Posts: 321 City: townie

Name of the article is pretty funny... but it was cool to read that, and see what he said back then about where he thinks it will go and what people will be doing in the future and that he was pretty much fully right. Sequence was sweet also.

And Drew · Posted: Dec 09, 2012 7:28 pm Post subject:

Thanks for sharing! Thomas is the man, and I thought it was cool he mentioned Jason Messer.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I feel like Jason was riding a wakeboard binding-less and hitting rails for a while before anyone was...?

And Drew · Posted: Dec 09, 2012 7:30 pm Post subject:

or should I say sliderz. Very Happy

electricsnow · cassette Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 10751 City: Jefferton

The other luke, i agree with your last comment! I'm more excited than ever with the work people are doing in wakeskating, from brand representation and product lines (they're making it for US!), the wakeskate tour, the wakeskate mags, hopefully two stellar team vids from remote and wm, etc. But thomas, along with the people he surrounded himself with, did a ton to get wakeskating where it is. Other people are running with it now, but thomas and cassette were so on point and we owe a lot to that influence.

Travis B, ...i'm sure the article title seemed like a good idea "at the time."

(please imagine at least 20 laughing emoticons after this one.

And Drew, i'm glad you're psyched on it! Thomas was always really good about recognizing jason and his riding. Even in older interviews when he was still wakeboarding, he mentioned jason and how psyched he was on what jason was doing.

Jason is the first guy that really pushed wakeskating hard and committed to it. To me, this is undeniable but i think this can be a touchy subject. I guess the standerd i've ever measured anything against is jason was pure wakeskate--never in between with a binding or other means of attachment (a number of wakeboarders experimented with this). All of his custom boards were designed to be ridden without bindings. (EDIT: for clarification, he also rode wakeboards with his fresh water traction pads). The one thing he knew was that nobody would pay 400.00 for a really nice board, and traction was an easy way to get people into trying wakeskating. And that's the other thing--he was a doer and started a brand committed entirely to wakeskating. It was't just an idea that was discussed and abandoned or put off to the side. He's an inventor and i have a huge amount of respect for him!

But anyway, jason also had the first published image of a wakeskater hitting a rail in a 1998 wakeboarding magazine. So he's the first documented guy to have done that, and i haven't seen or heard anything to show otherwise.

Here's a prized possession. I got this photo from jason when i interviewed him a long time ago. He's riding a hand shaped board and i believe the imageis from june of 95.

And finally, for anyone who is interested, jason took on the big "dawgz" a few years ago regarding his patent in wakeskating, and was able to defend a few of his claims:

http://or.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20071022_0000470.DOR.htm/qx

the other luke · Pop Shuvit Joined: 13 Sep 2011 Posts: 140 City: Cincinnati

electricsnow, and i agree with you! haha i never said i'm not satisfied with where we are now. as a matter of fact, i couldn't be more thrilled with the progression we've made in the last year alone!

there's a reason article from alliance that's like 2 or 3 years old, written by Danny Hampson, that i read every now and then. he talks about how Thomas pioneered wakeskating into an animal all its own, but how its essential that everyone that everyone works together for the growth of the sport. he goes on to talk about remote and obscura working together, but how it's not enough.
Danny, along with many other writters that have contributed to the reason, all wanted to see something monumental happen, bringing every wakeskater together for "peace and harmoney", and it did! so grab yer skate and hit the water Very Happy

electricsnow · cassette Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 10751 City: Jefferton

the other luke, i definitely didn't mean to imply you weren't psyched. Sometimes i add that little aside just to let some people know i appreciate what they're doing or what's going on. I don't want people to think i'm not recognizing what's going on, for however connected i feel to previous efforts and the people involved.

Anyway, here's something in the complete opposite direction...something to show people that our current course of progression was NOT a given, and people had a vision and surely had to guide it this way!

The wakeskate: Just another water toy? this ad was also from 99--just three issues before thomas' article from above.

Edit: This is good too. This ad was featured in the same issue as that ridiculous, safety focused sponge ad.

LATX · Pop Shuvit Joined: 16 Aug 2012 Posts: 197 City: Austin

all i can say is wow.. and thank you.

electricsnow · cassette Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 10751 City: Jefferton

Oh, what? Here's more to read if you want. Just on the whole thomas and jason thing, here's jason's recollection of hearing about thomas and finally meeting him for the first time. If anyone has any interest in learning about jason, there's a six section interview on here (just search "jason messer"). I think I need to go in and just clean it up a bit...get rid of the extra wording and such. at the time I wanted it to be exactly as i heard it, but I also know it's a whole lot of material to read.

Anyway, in the words of jason messer:

And yeah, I didn’t get a chance to meet Thomas at that Surf Expo. But I think at that point Jobe was really good friends with Thomas, and I think Jobe was talking to Thomas about me and about wakeskating. It definitely wasn’t until '97 that I met Thomas. But when I met Thomas I knew that he was the future of the sport. It wasn’t until I actually saw him ride that I really was convinced.

But, actually right when Schmaltz came out with a teaser, a Wake and Bake teaser a year or two before Decline came out, and he had some footage of Thomas and Cobe. I was looking at Thomas’ style and I was like, “Who is this kid? This kid’s got mad style.” And Schmaltz was like, “Yeah, totally, Thomas.” And I’m like, “Man I need to meet this guy because he was way right for the sport.”

And when I finally ended up meeting him he had already given me props in an interview, and he had the cover of Wakeboarding magazine, I think in '97, and he was talking about me in this interview, and he hadn’t even met me yet. So I kind of knew that he was stoked on the whole wakeskating thing. And by the time that I ended up meeting him, I think I ended up meeting him and staying at his house in Surf Expo '97 and spending the whole week with him, you know, riding and watching him. And within, like, a year’s time, that kid went from just starting riding to opening the door of the future to wakeskating. Within six months of stepping on a wakeskate, he was already pushing the sport in a whole other way that I hadn’t even really seen yet at all, you know? That was really cool, watching Thomas ride for the first time behind his Supra, and how he’d take the sport so far in such a little amount of time. I knew that this kid was really special, and that he was going to be really important to the sport. And he had a cool attitude, too, and he was a real boardsman. He was just a good guy.

But the VERY first time I met Thomas was the summer of '97, driving up the West Coast with Randy Harris and Sarah Cline in Randy’s bus, heading up to the Portland pro tour, and they stopped by Collin’s house. I was hanging out over at Collin’s house, and I got a call from Randy trying to get directions. And sure enough, before we knew it, Randy’s motor home was stopping and Thomas and Sarah showed up. I didn’t know Thomas at the time at all. I just read his interview and he was on the cover of Wakeboarding earlier that year. When he came in the door he had no idea who I was. I think he had only heard of me at that point, possibly from Jobe, watching a video at the trade show. But I'm not sure, I think he just heard of me. As soon as he came into Collin’s place, I just introduced myself and he was like, "Woah, Jason." He's like, "Man I’ve been wanting to meet you for awhile now." So that was really cool.

I think it was early evening and they wanted to go riding and stuff. So we did go out in Collin’s boat on the Willamette. Sarah, Collin, Randy and I piled down there to ride, and Thomas wasn’t going to ride that day—I guess he didn’t want to ride a day before a contest because he was going to be wakeboarding the next day on the pro tour. So I think we just went out and—I’m pretty sure Collin rode that day—and watching Collin and Randy ride was really cool because they were both really starting to get their game on. I think Thomas was driving. And then I ended up riding, too, and the water was rough that day. But I definitely wanted to show Thomas what I was up to. And he definitely wanted to watch, too, because we hadn’t had a chance to ride together. I think I basically did a dock start in, and we kind of started going up the Willamette and like I said, the water was rough and there was lots of rollers ahead, and I was just getting my ollies wake to wake. I remember at the end trying to hit up one of those elusive wake to wake shuvits and then I was pretty much done. It was pretty much a blow out situation there. Still, I got to ride for Thomas and that was really cool.

miller · Backside 180 Joined: 08 Aug 2004 Posts: 2394 City: Regina

Great matieral

-=AlexXx=- · Posted: Dec 10, 2012 3:23 pm Post subject:

great stuff esnow, thanks. that shifty is crazy. thomas is just so freakin stylish.

electricsnow · cassette Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 10751 City: Jefferton

I love his shifties. I wish i could do them re-entry like him.

It's just cool to see that stuff and be reminded. I'm just amazed at how on point he was. Part of what he describes sounds like cable/2.0/winch park type stuff. The artificial water transitions didnt happen, but it's all there...ollieing into pools that lead to rails, it's pretty cool.

And then you have that sponge ad and a wakeboard company's interpretation of a wakeskate, or how to market it. I guess really thinking about that part really blows me away. And i think it helps emphasize to me how cool wakeskating was this year, and it makes ben's quote from the wakeskate mag interview all the more powerful and relevant...basically all of the raddest shizzle going down for wakeskating because "if we don't do it, nobody will." (sorry if that's not exact, but that's the spirit of it.)

the other luke · Pop Shuvit Joined: 13 Sep 2011 Posts: 140 City: Cincinnati

electricsnow, day officially made

Lollar · 360 flip Joined: 19 Jun 2007 Posts: 8253

Upload Fire it up!

Raven · Posted: Dec 10, 2012 11:39 pm Post subject:

i.love.how.he,mentioned.....a.lot.more.people.in.skating.can.relate.because.we.use.
the.same.materials....

the....wood.concave...griptape....and.the.shoes....really.drew.me.in.

what.a.sic.article.....snow....way.to.go.

some.great.pictures.in.here

mad.props.to.jason.and.thomas.....\it.feels.so.good.......wakeskating=freedom Smash

SEAMAN · Frontside 180 Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 388 City: Atlanta

awww, fire it up...who wants it?

LATX · Pop Shuvit Joined: 16 Aug 2012 Posts: 197 City: Austin

Been trying to find this since esnow made this thread, and I finally did...

http://www.wakeskating.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1038