Author: Wakeskating.com Staff
Video footage provided by: Brett Leadley

This past February, some wakeskaters were given the unique opportunity to hit an indoor, down-flat rail set up, with help from two inflatable pools and a winch. What makes this really unique is that it all took place indoors at the Utah Boat Show, which was held at the South Towne Expo Center.

The entire concept started at square one with Jason Coop from Marine Products and Josh Greenband from the Utah boat show. Those two worked together to bring in a respectable list of riders (Ryan Doyle, Brandon Thomas, Aaron Reed, Reed Watson, and two unknowns from Utah), along with rail builder/winch operator Pat Panakos from The Projects.

In fact, all trust was placed in Pat's hands when it came to the design and construction of the rail for the event. Pat said, "They didn't even ask me what it was going to be until I was half way done building it."

In addition to Pat's rail building prowess, Ryan Schuppert from Pulldozer Winches was enlisted to provide the towing device for the event.

Originally, this event was promoted as a contest for both wakeboarders and wakeskaters. But it would eventually become a wakeskating demo/show where the riders could have some fun and test their creativity. This would go down all while playing to the crowd, who were lined up right along one entire side of the stunt, sitting in the grandstands. Both of these factors gave the event a completely different feeling. Pat recalled, "The riders were throwing down when the crowd got into it. It was cool to see the crowd chanting Doyle's name, and people screaming 'I love you, Reed!' It was good times."

The rail set up was a bit tricky due to the ollie required to make it up and onto the rail. One observer stated, "Pretty much everyone got their a$$es handed to them." But the crashes were funny anyway. A stand out spill for Pat Panakos involved Brandon Thomas kneesliding on some carpet that was laid out along each side of the landing pool. Pat went on to say, "BT came off the rail early and missed the bottom pool. When he hit the carpet he got to his knees and slid 40 feet like Michael Jackson. He had serious rug burn on his knees."

But along with falls comes the sweet, sweet taste of success from landing a trick, especially in front of an enthusiastic crowd. Two stand out tricks from a couple of the riders included Ryan Doyle's frontside boardslide on the down slope to a shuv to 50-50 on the flat. Then Aaron Reed stepped it up with a frontside boardslide, backside bigspin out.

Everything and everyone involved helped make this demo successful, from the organizers/contributors, to the rail set-up, the tricks that were thrown down, and the crowd's enthusiasm for such an event. These demos shed a positive light on how multi-faceted wakeskating can be. Promoting the accessibility and diversity of wakeskating with a winch and some talented riders to help represent is a great way to introduce people to what fun and gratification wakeskating can offer.

In the future, you can watch for footage from the event in various publications, as Josh Letchworth and Matt Hickman were both taking photos. Pat Panakos was filming the event, with the footage being put to good use in Volume Wakeskate Video's Issue Number 3.

For now, Brett Leadley was able to provide us with some footage of Ryan Doyle testing out the rail set-up. Enjoy!

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