Cable and Pottery Anyone???

The only cable in Japan just happens to be at the marina that Yuki rides at regularly. So yesterday we decided to forgo the boat and shred the cable. With this being Yuki's backyard, he was pretty much showing everyone up at the cable. I just did my best to keep up and had a great time trying (although my abs are suffering right now). After riding for about 2 hours, we made our way to dinner, sumo style. Basically we had a large pot of boiling broth on our table and we just threw a bunch of different food into it. I have yet to be let down by the food (on second thought those rotten beans were pretty bad).

To finish off the night, Yuki had the idea to go up to the top of this hill that overlooks all of Osaka. The view was incredible and unfortunately my photo will not do it justice (and sorry for the watermark on it, I didn't feel like spending the time or money to do the panorama properly). This was the best view possible to see how large and bright the city actually is.

It rained all day today so we had to figure out an indoor activity that didn't involve working on a computer. We went with pottery. I'm not really sure how that came about, but it did and we had some fun. Yuki has never done any pottery before, but I'm pretty sure he has a new back-up plan for when he's done with wakeboarding. It was interesting having an entire pottery lesson (something that I really don't know anything about) in a language that I don't understand. Luckily Yuki was there to explain what I was doing wrong. I guess it is going to take about a month for us to receive the fruits of our labor. Hopefully they will turn out to be nice gifts for anyone that would appreciate my minimal creative abilities.... my mom.

Gotta run and grab some food. Later.

Chill Day in Japan

Not much to report over here. I had the day off, so Yuki and I hung out for a bit and then went out riding. He killed it. It was really fun to watch. When we came back to the dock, we found an eel in a bucket so of course I wanted to pick it up. After that, we all got together and had a nice BBQ and small tasting of rotten beans (see below).

Big Dawg Final Webcast

The Big Dawg finals was a huge success this weekend at the Isle of Lake Hancock. But not without a snag however. As O'Brien was has been the title sponsor of the event for the last two seasons, we have been running a commercial advertisement during the webcast. We screwed up this year and ran last years commercial in which we showed our team members from last year. As most of you will know our team has changed since last year and some members were left off. Also Chris Parrish has left our team to join Dave Goode. While it was an over sight on our part we want to be sure everyone knows Chris is still with Team Goode and below is a letter sent to Chris and Dave with our apologies for the error.


Chris and Dave,

Please accept my apology on behalf of O'Brien for the old video advertisement that was run this past week during the Big Dawg ski final webcast. It was an over sight on our part that the ad was not updated showing our current team members. We have always wished Chris nothing but the best since joining the Goode team in 2009 and we continue to do so. We know Chris is a valued member of your team and we wish to clear up any misunderstanding our commercial may have caused. 

Best Regards,

Pete Surrette

VP Sales and Marketing 

O'Brien

Day 2 of clinics in Japan

Yuki and I wake up at 6am to hop in the car and head to our next clinic, which starts at 8am. It was about an hour drive out to the countryside. It was gorgeous out there. We drove past all of these little farms and saw more of the traditional side of Japan. We could also see the mountains in the background. What a setting for our day of riding.

Everything about the day was going great. Perfect weather and talented riders that were landing new tricks. Then at the end of the day I was blown away. We had two kids come out who were 9 and 11 y.o. and had only been riding for 11 months. These kids were charging it. The 9 y.o. was getting booted off the wake was was going just as high as everyone else. He then decided to start trying backrolls and ended up getting really close. The 11 y.o. was pulling of some big grabs and 180s and ended up trying some 360s. There is something in the water over here. Everyone kills it.

At the end of the day, everyone met at the local wakeboard shop and then we all went out for a big group dinner. We must have had 15-20 people and we fully took over an entire restaurant. They served us a ton of great food and it was a really nice relaxing end to a fun day on the water.

I made it to Japan!!!

So I arrived on Friday night after about 26 hours of travel time along with incredible amounts of sleep deprivation. This actually worked out great since Yuki picked me up at the airport in Osaka, took me to dinner, and then pointed me to a bed... only to wake me up in the morning and take me to my first clinic.

The first day turned out great. Tetsuya, from O'Brien Japan, came out to the clinic and hung out on the boat with me for the day. He was incredibly helpful with translations and I had a lot of fun hangin' out with him. Throughout the day, we had about 8 riders and they each rode twice. On top of that, I ended up doing 4 exhibitions. It was an awesome. I've never seen so many people excited about wakeboarding.

So after spending the entire day on the water, we ended up grabbing dinner at a Japanese BBQ restaurant. They brought out a small round grill for the table and supplied us with plenty of food which we cooked ourselves. Everything that I ate was great although I did avoid a few things. There was a plate on the table that had chicken on it, but it wasn't your normal strips of chicken breast. It was everything. I'm talking about the stomach, intestines, liver, etc. and it was all just a jumbled mess. I decided to play it safe with that plate.

Anyways, day 1 was amazing. I love the people and the culture. This trip is going to be an incredible experience.

Top 16 O'Brien Big Dawg

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O'Brien Big Dawg Finals

The final 16 skiers getting ready to take the water for the Big Dawg finals. Be sure to check out the webcast.


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Location:Isleview Dr,Windermere,United States

O'Brien Big Dawg Webcast

Don't miss all the action as the best 34mph slalom skiers in the world battle it out head to head today! The Webcast begins at 11AM EST today!

Video from Scotland

Hey guys,

I was in Scotland last month and my friend Ali Snowie made this short vid of me. He is only 15 and it is such a sick edit!!

Hope you all like it: http://vimeo.com/14756107

David

Lachlan Burges and Jon Bemis

Lachlan and I got a chance after surf expo to get out and shoot on some new product with Dave Sandford.

Dallas

A few pics of what Dallas has been doing lately.

Sean Obrien

O'Brien team rider Sean O'Brien explaining his new board design.

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Relentless UK Boat Pro tour Final Results

Hi guys,

Just got the great news that I came 4th overall in the Relentless British Pro Wakeboard Tour - boat. I'm really stoked and can't wait for next year when I'll try to make the podium. Sian Hurst, Irish Pro Women Champion also came 4th in Women, despite the fact that she was out of action for a year with her ACL reconstruction.

Here's a link to the video of the 4th stop on the tour.

http://video.mpora.com/watch/8jnzumepV/

David

More New Hotness!!

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Location:International Dr,Orlando,United States