WaterSki Magazine

WATERSKI Magazine
2001-06-14 15:00:00 | 163 views | 1 Comments

The first annual Cable Wakeboard World Championships took place at OWC in Orlando on Oct. 12 & 13, and the pros were there to show just how much this sport of wakeboarding has evolved. We're talking double back rolls, S-bends with FIVE revolutions and Air Raleys over 30 feet above the water!



American Rob Mapp won the pro men's division at night under the lights, scoring a 68.52.



Already a rage in Europe, the popularity of cable wakeboarding is just growing in the states, but that didn't stop Mapp of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from dominating the professional field. Mapp won all of his heats over the past two days including his finals, semifinals and seeding heats.



“I knew coming in, it would be difficult. But after I did my runs, I was pretty confident I had a shot. I'm really happy to be the first person ever to win a cable championship,” said Mapp.



Germany's Bernhard Hinterberge took second with Australia's “Cable Technician” Shannon Best finishing third.



Pro rider Parks Bonifay won the best trick Indian Line competition.

(full results at end of article)



For those of you that haven't been to a cable park before, you might be wondering … Where's the wake? What is it that launches a guy like Parks Bonifay 30 feet skyward when the water looks as flat as an indoor pool?



Here's how cable skiing (wakeboarding in particular) works. The rider's handle is attached to a rope that stretches up to a cable that moves in a continuous motion 30 feet above the water. The height of that attachment point alone produces so much upward pull that riders can easily do “air rolls” or inverts without the aid of a wake. At the Orlando Watersports Center, the cable track is shaped like a rectangle, with the cable rotation running counter-clockwise with four separate 90-degree turns. These corners are where the big air occurs.



Just before the cable whips around a corner, the rider hangs out on the inside of the turn. At a decided moment he or she edges like a banshee to the right as the cable cuts left. Done correctly, this creates a pendulum effect, which lifts the rider to unbelievable heights. Timing and edging are everything. Wakes are nothing - literally.



At the Cable Worlds, finals were held for all divisions except one reserved exclusively for the bad boys. This was the crowd pleasing “Indian Line” finals. This rope is much shorter than the standard length and hangs 2-3 feet above the water surface when at a stand still. The Indian rope enables the rider to launch much higher, so air is the name of the game for the Indian rope competition. With a 35-foot Air Raley, S-Bend with five revolutions and S-Bend/direction change S-Bend, Parks Bonifay dominated the competition and won the competition for the best trick.



The crew at World Sports & Marketing did a great job in pulling off a solid first-time event. A good representation of different countries and age groups were on hand and conditions were excellent. OWC plans on hosting many more events in the future, so stay tuned to www.waterskimag.com for the latest info.



The following are the ones who made this event happen and be such a success:

Vans, Nautiques, OWC, HO/Hyperlite, Performance Ski & Surf, World Sports & Marketing and Wake Boarding magazine. Thanks go out to OWC for hosting this event and congrats to World Sports & Marketing on completing another great season!



Pro Men Finals

1. Rob Mapp, USA 68.52

2. Bernhard Hinterberge, GER, 63.07

3. Shannon Best, AUS, 61.89

4. Benjamin Suess, GER, 57.17

5. Parks Bonifay, USA, 52.97

6. Suskan Ngsriwongse, THAI, 52.79

7. Evan Kennedy, USA, 52.28

8. Jozsef Szucs, HUG, 46.35

9. Dean Lavelle, USA, 44.23

10. Bunyalo Jumruang, THAI, 44.12



Indian Line Final

1. Parks Bonifay, USA, 21.80

2. Evan Kennedy, USA, 16.90

3. Dean Lavelle, USA 16.60

4. Danny Harf, USA, 16.40

5. Bryan Kennedy, USA, 15.40



Pro Women Finals

1. Sabine Schmitt, GER, 47.07

2. Mero Narita, JPN, 39.96

3. Emily Copeland, USA, 32.85

4. Sonja Scheffler, USA, 31.29

5. Cathy Williams, USA, 30.34



Jr. Men Finals

1. Tanathorn Rattanachai,THAI, 57.46

2. Shane Bonifay, USA, 54.68

3. Brad Federspeil, USA, 48.40

4. Bryan Kennedy, USA, 47.33

5. Danny Harf USA, 46.02

6. Francois Roy FRA, 25.65

7. Partrick Viererbe, GER, injured



Boys Finals

1. Trevor Hansen, USA, 58.62

2. JD Webb, USA 54.23

3. Domu Narita, JPN, 46.67

4. Steven Paul, USA, 41.00

5. Stephen Ingrolostad, USA, 34.38

6. Justin Ingrolostad, USA, 27.40



Jr. Boys Finals

1. Froggy Soven, USA, 49.52

2. Tadpole Soven, USA, 40.02

3. Reed Hansen, USA, 40.01

4. Mason Dorner, USA, 39.12

5. Grim Narita, JPN, 30.11



Amateur Men/Men I Finals

1. Bart Copeland, USA, 52.79

2. Kevin Dry, RSA, 49.57

3. Michael Muehlhoff, GER, 43.29

4. Joseph Wortham, USA, 40.29

5. Volker Hampel, GER, 40.23

6. Joshua Rice, USA, 25.51



Veterans Finals

1. Mike Ferraro, USA, 34.50

2. Norbert Burger, GER, 19.78

3. Takashi Narita, JPN, 11.39



Masters Finals

1. Steffen Wild, GER, 46.40

2. CJ Kelly,USA, 44.68

3. Marcus Freidrich, GER, 31.61



Amateur Women's/Jr. Women's Finals

1. Samantha Knott, SING, 31.01

2. Amber Hansen, USA, 30.85

3. Dallas Friday, USA, 29.52



Girls Finals

1. Carly Ferraro, USA, 40.28

2. Tess Fusser, GER, 30.17



Pro Men Semifinals (top five in each heat advance to finals)

Heat #1

1. Rob Mapp, USA, 62.87

2. Bernhard Hinterberge, GER, 60.12

3. Shannon Best, AUS, 54.44

4. Suskan Ngsriwongse, THAI, 53.57

5. Evan Kennedy, USA, 52.78

6. Toon Amornkiat, THAI, 50.97

7. Verayot Petchsuwan, THAI, 49.40



Heat #2

1. Bunyalo Jumruang, THAI, 57.19

2. Benjamin Suess, GER, 55.07

3. Parks Bonifay, USA, 54.88

4. Jozsef Szucs, HUG, 44.24

5. Dean Lavelle, USA, 43.01

6. Shaun Murray, USA, 27.52

7. Chad Sharpe, CAN, 17.06



Indian Line Semifinals (top 5 move into finals)

1. Parks Bonifay, USA, 18.40

2. Evan Kennedy, USA, 17.20

3. Danny Harf, USA, 15.90

4. Bryan Kennedy, USA, 15.80

5. Dean Lavelle, USA, 15.50

6. Shaun Murray, USA, 15.45

7. Patrick Viererbe, GER, 15.30

8. Shane Bonifay, USA, 15.20

9. Chad Sharpe, CAN, 11.90

10. Mike Ferraro, USA, 11.00



Amateur/Men I Semifinals (top 3 in each heat move to finals)

Heat #1

1. Joshua Rice, USA, 36.06

2. Volker Hampel, GER, 30.51

3. Joseph Wortham, USA, 28.51

4. Collin Wright, USA, 27.67

5. Brandon Bergeman, USA, 20.29



Heat #2

1. Kevin Dry, RSA, 39.68

2. Bart Copeland, USA, 38.57

3. Michael Muehlohoff,GER, 36.11

4. Brian Grubb, USA, 35.99

5. Scott Jobe, USA, 10.61