Orlando

Spending the summer here has been the best decision ever. Not only because of the frozen yoghurt place down the road or the sweet pool in our backyard but because of all the amazing wakeboarding that is everywhere. Besides progressing my own riding, both behind the boat and thanks to Hyperlite at OWC, being surrounded by the best in the business has helped me so much to understand this industry. The more I understand, the more I like it 🙂

One person has helped me more than anyone out here and you might have guessed but that person is Nicola. I am so grateful for everything she’s taught me this year, from new tricks and how to approach sponsors to how to cook some banging tofu. Here’s a mini edit she made for me, thanks a million, best room-mate and friend ever!!

Beijing

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China!! We made it! After a L O N G flight from Detroit we finally landed in Beijing and after getting accustomed to the chinese way of traveling by train we made it with our board bags to the hotel.  Nicola, myself, Melissa, Brad and Daniel decided to fly here two nights early to get accustomed to the time difference and check out what China has to offer.

We started off by heading to the forbidden city which was so incredible! I was blown away by the size off it and even though I’ve actually visited Beijing once before when I was really young, it still felt like the first time. My fellow friends had all brought skateboards and to not get left behind I spend $5 on renting a bike and biked around Beijing with the rest of them. We did get about as many stares as Aliens being 4 Americans and one Swede out and about in the big city.

After a quick noodle lunch we started our mission to try and get to the Great Wall. With several Taxis turning us down, no-one to speak english with and trying to get 5 people in one cab we finally got one guy who told us he would take us there! After a cheerful 30 minutes in the cab he stopped at what was definitely not the wall and said “we’re here!”. After all of us trying to speak English, Swedish, Mandarin and sign language to get him to take us to the wall he answered by taking our money and driving off.

By now it was way after lunch-time and we we’re starting to get a bit stressed since the last entry of the wall was meant to close at 4pm. Stranded in the middle of no-where with no idea where to go we started to get desperate and out of luck we find the one guy who could translate for us! Piling into another cab and again getting cheerful we went off only to get stuck in what we called “The Great Trafficjam of China”. The trip which was meant to take about one hour and a half turned out to be close to three hours and we were all sweating since our cab didn’t have any AC. After getting deliriously high of the fumes from the passing trucks and going from hysterically laughing to yelling at each other we F I N A L L Y made it to the wall and it was all worth it!!! The wall was one of the most amazing sites I’ve seen in my 23 years on this planet, I can’t believe what humans are capable of building!

Anyways, this morning we flew into Linyi and just had our test rides. The comp starts tomorrow and we ride our semi’s around 11 I believe. I’ll keep you posted 🙂

Brad wins trick of the year

Wake Awards, an event where the best riders, photographers, tricks  and more from this year gets celebrated. This was my first time attending the event so I didn’t quite know what to expect. A lot of my friends were nominated for the different prizes and I am so proud of each and every one of them. Especially a big congrats Megan Ethell for winning female rider of the year, you killed it this season!

There was only one prize though, that made me stand up in my seat and whistle/scream along with the rest of the crowd. Brad winning trick of the year with his Double Indy tantrum to blind, the same trick that later made him break his back, was incredible. Brad was with us in skype form from the hospital and I hope that he enjoyed seeing all the love and appreciation he got from everyone. I could barely breathe when his brother accepted the award for him with his computer in hand on stage.

Brad, such a well deserved award, you pushed the sport to new limits this year and I am so impressed with what you’ve accomplished.

Watch the nominees in the video above and choose for yourselves, Brad is the last one to be shown.