1998 to 2000
In 1998, following on
the heels of a successful festival style wakeboarding event in California
(Boardstock), SBC media set out to become the world’s largest wakeboard event
and the premier stop on the World Wakeboard Association Pro Tour. With the
media clout to promote it and the rider respect and influence to pull in top
tier talent, the 1998 Wakestock event became the most successful wakeboard event
in the history of the sport. The festival atmosphere caused gridlock on the
streets of Bala. The only thing more legendary than the Boards, Bands and
Bikinis (Wakestock’s tag line), was the ensuing parties every evening. If you
were there, you know what I am talking about and if you weren’t there you likely
wish you were. Even though Wakestock quickly outgrew the small town of Bala,
the precedent had now been set on what a top tier watersports event should be
modeled after.
By 2000 Ontario pro and semi-pro riders were being
recognized on the world stage for their abilities and skills. Dave Tsuyuki won
the Men’s 1 World Championship in 1998, local Muskoka riders were commonly being
included in the Pro Men’s Heats at Wakestock, with amateur victories, a top 10
finishes by Austin Ball of Kashe Lake, and Pride’s own Neil Brown finishing 8th
in the Pro Men’s final in 2001.
The influx of wakeboard talent to Muskoka
from 1998 to 2002, inspired Jake Thomas to combine his passion for wakeboarding
with his formal film school training. Jake filmed, edited produced and sold a
series of Canadian Wakeboard movies that featured almost exclusively Canadian
wakeboard talent to help expose them to a larger audience throughout North
America. For Ontario riders, having a feature section in the Sea Monkeys movie
series was a nod that you had made it to the elite level of Canadian
wakeboarding – now you were a Pro. Jake followed up the Sea Monkey’s trilogy
with a weekly television show called World of Wakeboarding that lasted for
several years in the early 2000’s. Known for its classic wipeout scenes at the
end of each episode, World of Wakeboarding became what must have been one of the
most syndicated and re-run show in the history of the OLN network. I think I
only ever appeared on two or three episodes, but for years after it was
cancelled somebody would message me every month to let me know “I just saw you
interviewed on a TV show last week”.
Between the exposure of Wakestock
bringing US pros into Muskoka and the skills that Ontario riders were showing in
movies and Florida winter sets, it was clear that the table was being set for
Canadian riders to be able to win on the world stage.
