KC Watersports Recap

The final qualifying stop of the tour turned out to be our chilliest competition of the year, but we still saw a great turn out with 30+ riders over the course of the weekend.

If you’re looking for pictures from the event, they’re right here:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lDcdQVG6ZW7sX4HIK0JvQ1okpE3nNQvE

Teams started to show up Friday afternoon, and took some practice sets around the park before setting up their tents to camp for the weekend. A few riders noticed the tall pipe rail lying in waiting on the shore, which sparked the idea for a pretty fun feature hack. With a few cinder blocks, some rope, and a few screws, we took the pipe from a 5.5′ flat bar to a 4.5′ up rail. By the time we had finished both the sun and the temperature were too low to drop the feature in, but it was finally secured behind the incline on Saturday afternoon. Here’s Ryan Helus from Kansas State with a smooth hit on the hack.

Mind the gap

Board slide

50-50

The boat competition kicked off bright and early on Lake Miola, with coffee and donuts to heal some headaches. Beginners were first in the water as usual, and Kobie Engel from Kansas State took home the win. Katy Consoer from Arizona State earned a golden cowbell in the intermediate division after linking together a scarecrow and a switch toe 180. Cale Pliska from Wisconsin landed a series of smooth inverts and returned to the top of the podium in advanced.

The open division was tough to call, with each rider bringing something different to the table. Grant Duininck from Baylor showed off his smooth style, tweaking out a stalefish backside 180 and stomping a nose grab frontside 360. Grant ended up taking 3rd. Jack Schoepp from Wisconsin finished 2nd in open with a unique set of tricks, including a pair of wrapped back 3’s and a toeside roll to revert. Arizona State rider Cole Wojtak ended up on top of the podium after stomping an absolutely massive run, including a textbook indy tantrum to blind and a moby dick.

Staying warm at the boat comp wasn’t easy, but these guys had it figured out.

Cale grabbin’ tail.

Tyler Martinez (Arizona State) reaching for an indy front roll.

Jack Schoepp splashing into the treeline.

Find someone who loves you like Cole loves tantrums.

Cole Wojtak tweaking a 180.

A beauty of a towboat, the MasterCraft X23.

Katy Consoer spotting the landing for a half cab.

After the boat contest wrapped up, everyone grabbed some lunch and slowly made their way back to the cable park. Saturday night the temperatures dropped into the low 30’s, sending a lot of the riders into the pro shop for a friendly darts tournament. When the sun came up, there was a thin layer of frost covering the life jackets and wetsuits that had been hung up to dry. Fortunately, we had hot coffee, pancakes and sausage to fight off the cold.

We didn’t think any beginners would try to hit the pipe hack we had created Friday night, but we were so wrong. A few of them, including Jamie Hoffman of Kansas State and Dylan Hummel of Missouri, charged at it in their first run. Dylan also landed his second tantrum ever during his run and took home first place in the beginner division. Cale Pliska from Wisconsin took home first in intermediate with a difficult step up rail tap on the kink rail. In advanced, Grant Duininck made full use of the nearly 100′ long flat bar on the back side, coming off early just to ollie on again. He also linked a stalefish frontside 180 with a safety gap on the kink rail to seal the victory.

The open division had 4 competitors, and they made sure to make the judge’s choice difficult. Tristan Weber of Wisconsin La Crosse landed a big, clean toeside stalefish to blind off the outside kicker, but didn’t quite make the podium after falling on a toe back 5. Jack Schoepp took third with a clean toe front 5 off the outside kicker, and a massive gap onto the kink rail. Matt Gagnon, the winner from our last stop, took second this weekend after landing both a heelside and a toeside front 540. Cole Wojtak or Arizona State became the second person this year to take home gold in both open boat and open cable. His run included a huge crail grab tantrum right off the dock, a transfer to back lip on the kink rail, and a nose grab moby dick.

Mitch McLellan, local hero and seriously good rider.

Jack Schoepp getting way over the nose on the Alliance rail.

This was after Matt Gagnon’s comp run, just for fun. All I did was point at the outside kicker and this is what he sent.

Ryan Helus nosed his way into 3rd in advanced.

What did I say? The sunrises are just perfect at KCW.

Grant Duininck grabbed the first place spot in advanced.

Jonny Stever trying not to swallow his GoPro.

Brrrrrrrr.

Matt Gagnon eyeing up a back lip transfer.

Here are the full podium results, with team results at the very bottom! Thanks to everyone that came out, and everyone that made this event happen. Definitely a great end to a great season.

Boat Results