Thursday, November 29, 2007

Australia



I have been in Australia for about a week so far. Adam Errington and myself are traveling around the country with Stu from Ronix aus doing a demo tour. We started on the Gold Coast for a couple days. The first day I arrived we went to an in store evening and then checked in to our hotel that was right in surfers paradise. We checked out the town that night by going to a couple bars and ended up at the casino. The next day we did a clinic on the water in Brisbane.
clinic and demo. Adam and I rode in this sick river but as we finished it started pissing rain our day was cut short. We stayed the night there and drove to Sidney the next morning.
When we got to Sidney we went to the Harris’s river house for a clinic. The river is about 45 min out side of Sidney and is really sick to ride. Adam and I had a couple of rides. We stayed the night there and in the morning the Neil and Brenda had set up a bridge climb in Sidney harbor. It was sick, we went up with a guide and got to climb to the top of the harbor bridge. It’s amazing up there, its right above the opera house and has a great view of all of Sidney. Later that night we met up with Dean Smith and hit the town. Monday night in Sidney is pretty quiet, but we found a few things to do.

I’m on the road right now driving to Canberra, where we have a rail jam in a pool tomorrow. I am looking forward to Canberra because we will meet up with all the boys, Dean, Watkins, Chris O, Ect.

philippines








The second half of our Philippines trip was great. First we caught a plane up to Naga from Manila to go the CWC. The CWC is the cable park in Camsur that Gov L Ray owns. CWC is sick, they have built such a beautiful facility. We would get up early before the cable was open and get laps with no crowds. There are a lot of really fun rails, ramps, and a really fun box. At CWC we had great accommodations, each of us had our own cabanas. While we were in Camsur we decided to travel to Daiet, where there was this unreal spillway to shoot on. It had these huge wall rides with water flowing down that we all were hitting from different directions. Wats and I were hitting them from the bottom and wiping up, doing really fun turns on the wall. Danny and Ruck were hitting it from the top and riding the whole way to the bottom doing tail presses all the way down. The spill way was one of the most fun natural terrain things I have ever hit. Right before we left that spot I ollied off a 15-foot flowing waterfall.

All week we were fighting the weather but got a few more good days. One of the last days we were there Grubby was hitting this spillway waterfall and got a really sick pop shuvit off it.

Overall the Philippines was one of the best trips I have been on. Thanks a lot to L Ray, Ana and crew for showing us such a good time. They went above and beyond. Thanks

There will be some great video footage for the new Billabong team movie that came out of this trip.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Looking back and forward

To me early on in my wakeboard days my main goal was having fun, but mostly being the best or catching up with the best. Weather it was winning contests or getting video sections, magazine shots. It was whatever the top guys were doing. To me that was the most pure wakeboarding there is, it was all I lived for and it sure makes the days, months, and years fly by so fast. I have sat around with some of the guys that came up with me and we all have the same opinion of, Wow that was fast. Story’s from 5 or 6 years ago still feel like they were last summer. Memories that I have not even had time to really look back on yet that have shaped our lives and made us what we are today. Wakeboarding is a beautiful thing. It’s not just a sport it’s a lifestyle that I would not trade for the world.

Now being a bit older with a few goals completed in the sport and looking forward it really has me thinking of what my place is and what I want to have accomplished by the time I leave. I know I have met some of the most amazing and interesting people along the way. Including some of my best friends, and friends I know I will still turn to long after the last time I hit a wake. I think most of all for my riding I just want to leave a mark that will not just fade away after its over. A lasting mark like Parks, Darin, Shaun, and Scott have left or are still writing. I know it’s a huge goal but you need to aim high. Its funny I never thought I would be where I’m at now but I always want more for myself. Don’t get me wrong I still ride because I absolutely fucking love wakeboarding but some times I just need some time to look back to look forward.

Sorry if these are boring I am on a 13-hour flight and just writing what’s in this head of mine.

Chad Sharpe

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Philippines, Week 1




The last couple days it the Philippines have been great. Monday and Tuesday we stayed at LRay’s beach house. He is the governor of the Camsur province, where the CWC cable park is. The hospitality he and his crew have shown us is unreal. Monday we came out to the lake and had a pretty good day shooting, it was a little windy but we found a cove with perfect double ups on both ends. Danny hit a sick late grab ts BS 5, Grubby stuck a sick ts wake-to-wake big spin. All the boys were firing pretty sick.
The weather was calling for clouds all day Tuesday so we decided to take the day off for some R&R. In the morning we headed out to the golf course in LRay’s neighborhood with a group of 8. After 9 holes it was Grubb taking down Danny by one stroke on the 9th. I was in the lead after 3 but I was playing with right-handed clubs and could not keep up the pace. I am left handed but there were only right clubs. A couple highlights from the course were Ruck hitting two 40 something foot puts, I rolled the golf cart down a hill backwards not realizing there were no breaks and crashed in to the other golf cart really hard. Our axle was suck on their tire but not much damage. We all had our own female caddies and you could tell they were freaking out a little. Lidberg also bombed this really step hill in a 4-person cart with a cliff in the run out and barley stopped in time, but he stuck it. I don’t think the caddy’s see a round like that very often.
Later that day we chartered a boat to find some surf, and surf we found. There was this fun wave that you could go left or right. We were told we were the first to surf it so it sounds like we get to name the break. Out was Wats, Danny, Grubb, Ruck, Heff, and myself. It was one of the best days I have had surfing. Everyone got waves. The water temp in the ocean here is perfect. What an amazing day.
After surf we headed back to the house and hit the pool. At the gov’s house there is a perfect 15 food high balcony to jump off into the pool. You have to jump shallow because the pool is only 4 feet deep. It was a perfect day. Wednesday we stayed out at these cabins at the volcano lake right on the water. This volcano lake is famous for having an island on a lake on an island on a lake on an island. Confused yet? So were we until we saw it. We got up at early but the weather was not very good, we tried to ride but it wasn’t great.
Thursday we got up at 5am to perfect skies and a helicopter. It was our most productive day on the water. Everyone was killing it with the chopper in the air. This lake is amazing; it’s big like the ocean but calm shorelines and islands. After we rode BT and Keith rode. It was sick to see BT ride, I had not seen him ride in a while and he killed it as well as Keith. Pat Panokos has become quite the photographer. It got cloudy in the afternoon so we have been playing doubles golf with pitching wedges around the cabins until I sprayed one off into a car. No damage but brought our game to a screeching halt. I had a really fun doubles set with Ruck while the chopper was up. We were matching tricks being the same foot forward.
Friday is our last day here and we have the helicopter for the morning. Its looking like it’s going to be another sunny day. In the afternoon we get on the bus for a 3hr ride to Manila for a rail contest at the Mall of Asia, the biggest mall in the Philippines on Saturday.
That’s all for now but I will be here for a couple more weeks and then off to Australia. I will keep updated on some travels. Thanks for stopping by.
Chad
One last thing, most of the time when we are overseas the food is not so hot, but it has been amazing this trip. LRay’s cooks are bomb.
This one has been edited by college grad Brian Grubb.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Qatar to Philippines








I just got to Manila yesterday from Qatar. We just finished the last stop of the world cup. I ended up 3rd with Andrew in 2nd and Phil won. It was a pretty good event. We traveled around the city a bit and saw some sights. It’s crazy there because there is so much reclaimed land with big buildings. It’s pretty desert over there.
Now we are at a lake 2hrs outside Manila, getting ready to ride, waiting for the rain to stop. The lake we are riding on is a fresh water lake and we have two good boats and a ski to ride. The whole Billabong crew and friends are with, Grubb, Watson, Ruck, Harf, Heff, BT, Pat Panokos, Shawn Perry, and Lidberg. There should be some sick shredding over the next few weeks.
We will be staying in this area until Sunday. There is a rail contest in Manila on Saturday, and then we will be flying over to the CWC, Cable Park for a week or so.
It is so crazy driving around this place, it seems like there are not many laws. Last night we would be going around sharp corners and other drivers would be passing 3 wide. A little scary. Once this rain clears riding will be sick. The landscape around here is Jungle, it will make for some pretty cool video and picts.
I will update some picts later this week, these are some from Qatar
Come back again soon.
Chad