Spot on Wake est l’un des parks de wake les plus innovants du Royaume-Uni et l’un des deux seuls parks à avoir de multiples lagunes artificielles. Ce park a beaucoup à offrir, mais pour nous, l’une des principales raisons pour lesquelles nous l’avons choisi, ce n’est pas seulement le cadre, le personnel et les installations exceptionnelles, mais également la possibilité de créer quelque chose de totalement sur mesure. Pete, le propriétaire de Spot On Wake, n’a pas seulement construit l’un des meilleurs parks du Royaume-Uni, mais le park pour se distinguer avec tout ce que vous pourriez trouver dans le monde.

Ce park se doit d’être totalement différent. Nous avons commencé par concevoir et créer un module que nous pourrions tous prendre en même temps. Quelque chose d’exceptionnel, digne de faire la couverture d’Unleashed wake mag ! Nous nous sommes réveillés un matin et nous avons rencontré les gars de Mantis Pro Media pour discuter de l’élaboration d’un plan pour mettre en place ce projet. Nous avions besoin d’un angle idéal pour être tous les deux sur la photo, car c’est l’une des premières fois que nous travaillions ensemble sur un projet, en dehors de notre nouvelle chaîne YouTube, depuis la blessure de Ryan il y a 13 mois.

Les gars de Spot étaient sur le coup. Nous voulions plusieurs rails… Notre première idée est d’être côte à côte sur le ledge supérieur de la piscine et d’utiliser le système 2 avec plusieurs palonniers pour nous tirer vers les modules. Cela n’a pas semblé suffisamment impressionnant, pour les gars de Mantis, ils ont voulu me pousser, Ryan et moi, à faire quelque chose de totalement diffèrent. Nous avons donc décidé d’intégrer un treuil, en plus du système 2, pour que ce cliché soit vraiment époustouflant. Comme nous nous y attendions, Pete et Alec (le bras droit de Pete) ont disparu. Tels deux scientifiques fous, nous les avons vus ensuite descendre le long du lac dans un chariot élévateur, une barrière de sécurité routière galvanisée des tapis de sécurité, le tout fixé à l’aide de sangles à cliquet.

Destination… la couv !
Nous avons décidé de placer ce montage improbable par-dessus une rampe inclinée sur le pool gap et d’installer le treuil qui va nous permettre de tirer Ryan simultanément. Nous avons déployé le bras du Manitou et le rail en acier directement au-dessus. Une fois tout mis en place, nous savions que si nous pouvions le faire, le shoot serait dingue.

On the July 15, 2017 the world’s best wakepark riders descended on the plastic wonderland that is Liquid Leisure. This park is literally full to the brim with almost every UNIT obstacle imaginable, and at just a stone’s throw from London. You would be hard pushed to find a better location for a wake event.

The competition setup at Plastic Playground has been getting bigger, better and more progressive every year, and this year was certainly no different. Not content with their already feature-packed lake, the Liquid Leisure crew hacked their plethora of UNIT features together to create some truly awe- inspiring combinations, which allowed for some seriously creative lines and a veritable toolbox full of hammers to be thrown down by the best wakepark riders in the world.

At the end of an absolutely insane weekend of riding, it was the Australian wonder boy, Aaron Gunn, who took the crown for the second year running, followed by Ariano Blanik in second, Daniel Grant in third and our very own Matty Muncey in fourth position – an incredible performance from the young gun who is fast proving himself to be one of the most creative features riders not just in the UK, but also on the world stage.

Conveniently, Matty also rides for us here at bro! and has for quite a few years now. We’ve watched him grow from a talented grom into the powerhouse of wakepark riding that he is today. When you watch Matty ride, he literally blows your mind with his tech lines and unique style. He has some of the most ridiculous rail skills around, charges the kickers, and blends double flip hammers with insane spin variations, oh and he can hold his own behind the boat too!

Given Matty’s recent success, I thought we should jump on the opportunity to catch up with him and a couple of our other riders who were down at the Plastic Playground Wakepark Championship representing for bro! out on the water.

Over the coming pages we’ll be chatting with Matty Muncey, Freddie Carter and Bobby (Le Boobie) Carne, three of our biggest hitters from the bro! wakeboard team.

Our brand – bro! clothing – is all about having fun and riding with your buddies. We don’t take life too seriously and the focus has always been on keeping it fun since day one.

Which is why when the opportunity to pen this article came about, myself and Jon Shrimpton (Mantis Pro Media / Unleashed) decided to catch up with the boys for a shred and a chat down at the UK’s premier wake facility and the venue for the Plastic Playground Wakepark Championship itself – Liquid Leisure. (Matty joins us over the magic of the interweb from Atlanta).

More about BRO!

PLASTIC BRO
FREDDIE, BOBBY & MATTY

Day 2: We hit Valdosta Wake Compound; Valdosta has to be my favorite park in the US. Quinn and Luke have set up one of the most relaxed feeling wake parks I have ever been to. It was also one for Jon to tick off his bucket list and he was super excited to shoot the unique rails and setups that you don’t normally see.

Jon was in his element, in and out of the pool gap more times than a kid at his local swimming pool, he must have ran a marathon around the lake shooting everything he could. He’s the most active photographer I have ever seen, trying to get everything he needed all in one day.

Day 3: We really wanted a chill after the first couple of days being so heavy. We were being joined in the afternoon by my best half Mel and a few of the guys from the UK who were over in the US working and riding, with a few days spare to hang out before they left for home.

We woke up, had breakfast, and couldn’t help ourselves; Jon being a system 2 rider really wanted to hit OWC and I decided to have a few laps while we were there, so Jon could get the water housing out and get some shots from in the water.