So some how in the middle of getting ready for the 2009 Utah Wakeboard Season we manged to create a new look and feel for the site.  We will be adding all the old features back in over the next week or so, and making a number of differant improvements that will help make your visit a lot more enjoyable.  Please leave your feedback or suggestion in the comments.  Get ready for a great wakeboard season cause things are heating up!!!

Last Friday was the First Day of Spring, which marks the official end of winter. The only way to properly celebrate this day is to strap on a wakeboard and have a session. Most lakes around Northern Utah are still under the ice, but with a bit of work, they are ridable.

Our idea was simple; break a few sections out of the ice to act as pools, then use the frozen ice slabs in between as huge slider boxes. Why, because no matter how many times you may hear it, it is not a true ‘freeze ride’, unless something is frozen. It takes a certain breed of people to accomplish a task such as this. I knew just who to call. An old buddy of mine who is always in for anything, and never has a shortage of ideas, Stubbs. You can’t tackle the ice without the Winch Master himself, OMJ. Last but not least, my off-season riding buddies, the Down For The Ride crew, Josh and David.

We were greeted by the Sheriff when we arrived. Although he voiced his opinion on how stupid he thought we were, he wished us the best of luck and went on his way. We fired up the Pulldozer Winch and it was time for awesome. Stubbs took care of the first set to make sure everything was legit. He even had a speedo run to prove how nice the weather was. Josh followed up with a 180 on 180 out on the first ’slider’ finishing with a back side 180 on the second hit. He later threw down some sick tail press action. I jumped in next with no awesome, but after switching to Josh’s Roam it was on with the back lip steez on the first slider to 540 on the second ice box.

This was apparently about the time when someone took it upon themselves to call the ranger. It must have looked like we were having too much fun. Needless to say, we were politely shut down and booted out of Jordanelle. The reason; we were not participating in the “normal usage of the state facility”.

I thought wakeboarding was normal.

Note: WakeUtah does not advise any sort of activity on any body of frozen water. It is dangerous. You may die. Also, please be courteous to any ranger, state park official, or sheriffs you may encounter in your wakeboarding, wakeskating, or winching activities. If they ask you to leave, please do so. Do not argue, you will not win, you will only give all of us wakeboarders a bad reputation. We must join together and go about our fights the proper way. I will personally, along with all of us must, always jump through any hoops in the proper order and submit the correct paper work to ensure everyone may enjoy and participate in our sport in years to come.

Thanks to DownForTheRide.com for the pics. Also make sure to check out a small video done by DFTR Josh on my.wakeutah.com.

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Supra boats and Liquid Force Wakeboards are giving away Free Booty this summer! This is the Supra and Liquid Force get ready for the season give-a-way.

So here’s what you have to do to get Free Booty: Go to www.supraboats.com and register between March 13th, 2009 to April 12th, 2009 until 11:59 pm to enter.

This month’s give-a-way is loaded with everything you need to start the season off right:

1. Ben Greenwood’s 2009 Witness Wakeboard by Liquid Force
2. Liquid Force 2009 Transit Bindings
3. Straight Line Benny G Rope
4. Straight Line Benny G Handle

So head over to www.supraboats.com and enter today. Just click on the Free Booty logo to get started. No purchase necessary, limited to (1) entry per person; however, you can send as many family members to register as you like. And pass it on, everyone likes Free Booty!

I was doing some research yesterday on google trends, which shows search statistics based on keywords and location, and was excited to see that Salt Lake City is the number 1 city when it comes to the terms wakeboarding and wakeboard.  Maybe that is because we all spend the off season searching google for our wakeboard fix, either way kind of a cool statistic.

Team Wake Utah recently had the opportunity to ride with Park City TV for a segment about ‘Wakeboard Tips’. With the help of local riders; Ward White, Phil Chadwick, Marc Glover, and WakeUtah’s own James Kleinschnitz, we were able to film three separate pieces. During this session we worked on the heel side wake jump, backside 180’s, and the heel side front flip (View videos below).

Backside 180’s

Heel side wake to wake jump

Heelside front flip

If you have a suggestion of a tip you would like to see, or would like to help, please drop us a line for a chance to see it in an upcoming episode. Stay tuned to Utah’s own ‘High Altitude Entertainment’ station, Park City TV, for more ‘Wakeboard Tips’ with WakeUtah, coming soon. Make sure to show the love and support to Park City TV through emails and comments on these videos so we can keep this feature a regular event.

Huge thanks to Ori, and all the crew at PCTV who were involved with this project. Appreciation goes out to Taylor at Utah Water Sports for the use of one of their MasterCraft X-Stars. We would also like to recognize the riders for showing us all how it’s done.