Last year, while battling ungodly overhead conditions at the Pensacola Beach round of Pro Watercross racing, all were entreated to freestyle rider Daniel Martin’s daring double backflip from off the face of an oncoming wave. Although surf-going freeriders have dared the maneuver before, such had never been seen in a typically flatwater competition. And that’s often the delineation between freeriders and freestyle: the waves in which they have to work with.
Freerider’s tricks are almost always significantly more impressive (particularly in still photographs), as the waves they operate in are natural launch ramps to execute their impressive moves. Freestyle, on the other hand, are relegated to flatwater, or moderate lake chop to pull off what air they can. So as Martin – a freestyle rider – illustrated what he can do in larger surf, the question arises, what can a freerider do in the short stuff?
The video below of Alaskan freerider Tanner Thomas should be all you need to see. “Filmed in Lake Havasu City AZ,” Thomas begins, “I was with Taylor Curtis his wife Dana and kids, Jericho Kaiser, his wife Danielle and kids.” Within 24 hours of posting on Facebook, TC Freeride’s Taylor Curtis had himself a viral phenomenon. Team rider Tanner Thomas’ double backflip had gone supernova. Only within these short hours did Thomas manage to talk with The Watercraft Journal:
“They threw me a double boat wake like we have done in the past. I have tried this trick 21 times last year, and 3 this time. This is by far the hardest trick I’ve tried but always off a not so perfect double boat wake. We don’t have wake board boats all sacked down to make it easy. So I just have to hit it HARD, As you can see in the video the wake isn’t very big.”
Riding his full carbon fiber, lightweight ’15 Rickter XFS Competition Ninja, Thomas whips through the air at a dizzying pace. The Rickter’s torquey Dasa 900cc engine was built by his Ninja mechanic from Japan, Hiroyuki Ogino and TC Freeride; the 155mm pump built by Skat-Trak. Admittedly, Thomas, a talented freerider, is no stranger to freestyle, and the 900cc ski will be his freestyle competition ski for the season.
Sponsored by Rickter, BAM, Tyler Rental, Dasa Racing, TC Freeride, Ninja, Alaska Diesel Power, Skat-Trak, Alaska Marine Lines, JetLift, Sign Pro, JetPilot, Liquid Militia, KMG Racing, Mystik Lubricants and Sourdough Tactical; you can expect to see a lot more from Thomas in the coming weeks and months.
wheres the video?
It’s embedded in the post. Do you not see it? What search engine are you using?