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Update: Day Two - January 22, 2004

All in the Family, and all of the family in...

The second generation of the Jacksons are here. Dane Jackson shocked a crowd with clean cartwheels, loops, and a split wheel, advancing himself to the next round of the semis here in Australia. Emily Jackson earned first place in the women's junior division as she tied with Anita from Australia. Ali Wade of the USA advanced in the third position. EJ won the prelims the day before, and the dynasty begins.

We all knew it was going to happen, we all know the Jacksons would cause all sorts of trouble in the kayaking freestyle world. We just didn't know how soon.

Juniors

The juniors took their prelims rides and Mike Quinif from Huge Experiances came out on top. Adam Johnson placed second. The juniors paddled really well and through the intense heat of the day managed to keep their composure and stay on the wave at the same time. The beautiful thing about the junior class is that they paddle so recklessly. This, in many ways, makes them more exciting versus the men to watch. The concrete is so hot here you can't walk on it and the water is just refreshing enough to continually take a cool off dip.

C1

The C1 event saw the best score of the competition. Stephan from Germany paddled the red Fred to victory. Stephan executed loops, clean blunts, and backstabs on the touchy feature. He was amazing. Vince Dupont of Canada claimed second via a massive loop as he hucked his paddle in the air and landed with clean hands in the air, pumping them like he took the title of the "worlds most handsome man." He was a happy little Frenchman.

It was a blast from the past took as Paul Danks earned the third place position. Banks at 200 pounds paddled an Air Head as he landed clean blunts and backstabs. Paul invented the Groove in 1996 and was disqualifyed in the 1997 world prelims because his boat was too small. He then took his "too small boat" to squirt and won prelims. Next, he was disqualified from that event for having a boat that was too big. Not a peep from him since, and all of a sudden six years later he comes stomping back. It's nice to see his grin in a boat again.

He promises me he won't get disqualifyed this year.

Pro-Women

The ladies paddled great. Devon Barker from Huge X made the cut with cartwheels at a furious rate. But, it was Tanya Faux from OZ that took first with clean backstabs, splitters, and you name it the girl hit it.

Today, while the world in N-America sleeps men take to the water to find out who will be the top ten men advancing to Sunday's finals. Great news to add, I was robbed on the 25th of December, and I am now going on a shopping spree care of the good folks at the insurance company. Yippie, anyone know what I am going to do with a video camara that records in PAL format or a lap top that has three prongs????

Wish me luck and I will keep you all posted.

Billy Harris
Brought to you by Huge Experiences

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Update: Day One - January 21, 2004

HOT!HOT! HOT! Rounds one, two, and three were nuts and the temperature was about 38 to 40 degrees celsius. Spanline, the big sponsor, built a couple of viewing huts and everyone was hiding from the intense sun under their big sails.

Round five saw a massive flash of lightning and rain hit the whitewater stadium like a hammer. Evidently, this charged EJ and he paddled to first place. He nailed back to back loops and solidified the top position of the day. Kai, the man from Japan or the Yakuza as I like to call him, cartwheeled a split and looped his way to second place. Billy Harris utilized backstabs and no loops to claim the third position.

The talk of the day was Anthony Yapp from OZ. Yapp stuck a HUGE loop that everyone agreed was the biggest yet to be seen two seconds after the forty-five second buzzer. It was so big he fell about 3 feet to the top of the pile which was another three feet above the trough where he initiated. Chris Stafford at 145 lbs looped like a mad man to make his way into the next round and re-kindled my beliefs that the Vibe loops like a champ.

Today is a day ahead of North America, and it is the junior's turn to shine. Volvo sponsored the Junior Women's event and they have a VIP tent with all sorts of good stuff to keep them happy. Ali Wade in training managed to clip her face on the concrete apron behind the wave and hasn't paddled better since. Her Oakley glasses saved her from stitches. While she lost a lense and gained a black eye she has not slowed. Ali is one of our future tough girls, my bet is we will see a lot of her in the future.

The wave hole is tough as it breaks hard and goes green. The saying goes, "people whom rush flush. Those that bide their time end up with no score."

The talents that can really read the water well are consistently advancing. After five more days of competition I will be off to New Zealand to coach the Huge X kids for 51 days on the Kaituna and Full James features and throughout the paddling dynastic country. I can't wait.

All is well in the land of OZ and as it turns out we are going to get another scorcher.

Wish Us luck,
Billy Harris OZ

Update: January 18, 2004

Welcome to the International Championships. The weather is hot, the lines are long, and the rides are short. I hope to keep all of you in touch with the event. The word on the river is that this wave hole is touchy feely. You can loop, blunt, backstab and cartwheel. Boaters who are late or slow are looking at the back of the line from down stream. DR. DRE is in the house as he makes quick work with his smooth style and sweet retentive moves. The muscle boys are consistently flushing, no names mentioned. The Jackson family showed up today and Emily, Eric, and Dane are intending to paddle.

The juniors are paddling well. Adam Johnson landed the biggest loops of the day and Dustin Urban is plotting to lay out the biggest blunts of the competition. "Consistency" is the word of the day, but everyone flushes. The Generators on the man-made course have a steady pulse, and unless you know when the wave breaks at it's peak, then you can't rack up techinical points, only variety. When the wave breaks the cartwheels are there for the keen boaters. That is the word from down under.

Billy Harris
Brought to you by Huge Experiences

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