More than 150 spectators witnessed wakeboarders and wakesurfers competing for top honors on the 185-acre lake.
The weekend-long event finished with six competitors taking home the gold in the major divisions. Taylor Ewing, a native of Virginia Beach, Va., won the Open Men’s division in the Wakeboard Nationals.
“One of my sponsors bought me a ticket and I was lucky enough to get off work from my regular job,” said Ewing.
Dominic Lagace’, 32, from Quebec, Canada, won the Open Men’s Skim after traveling almost 14 hours to compete in the Wakesurf Nationals.
“Training every day, I try to go down south in the winter to keep training,” Lagace’ said. “You have to love the sport first, to do all that training ... you have to be self-motivated.”
Billy and Sandy Anderson, of Clayton, were among those enjoying the spectacle. “As seniors, it’s fun to watch,” said Billy, 59.
Sandy said she read about the event in the Dayton Daily News and thought it would be exciting to see in person. “It’s nice free entertainment,” she said.
Both competitions were on separate areas of the lakes. Spectators of the Wakesurf Nationals were able to see the action up-close, with the live video feed from cameras that were rigged to the boats.
Trey Sherman, a distributor for Shred Stixx, a sponsor for some of the riders, explained the difference between wakeboarding and wakesurfing.
Wakesurfers use a smaller version of a surfboard. Unlike wakeboarding, wakesurfers don’t use ropes to hold onto, they ride from the wakes from the boats. Sherman described the sport as low-impact, with the speeds of the boats reaching up to 11 mph, whereas boats for wakeboarding can be more than 20 mph.
Chris Walker, tournament director of the Wakeboard Nationals, said one of the tricks is affectionately called the “Pete Rose,” named after baseball’s all-time hit king.
“It’s a toe-side back roll, with a blind 360 (spin),” Walker said. “They call it ‘Pete Rose’ because most people that try it usually slide on their butt, like ol’ Pete did.”
Walker said he would like the event to return to Eastwood next year.
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