Loch Lomond road trip – Loch Stock Tour Stop 1
To celebrate Scottish Wakeboarding and put the family of riders up there firmly on the British map, the Loch Stock crew hosted the first of their 3 stop comp tour at Loch Lomond. With the amazing scenery that Scotland has to offer, this tour was one not to be missed. The near 9 hour Bank Holiday drive from London to Scotland was eased and very much rewarded by the first glimpse of sunset over the stunning Loch Lomond, silhouetting the hills and casting a million shades of pink across the vast glassy 24 mile waters ahead - enough to banish the fatigue and get the excitement pumping for the weekend ahead.
© Akass
The new found local celebrity that is Scottish Stu, April Hottie of the Month winner, greeted me on arrival complete with can of T! There was no mistaking this was the proud home of incredible scenery and great lager! Then to meet up with the rest of the Loch Stock crew Sammy and James, set up camp on the beach of the Loch and wrap a few bananas in bacon for the bonfire (not a practice to be questioned, this was the land of the ‘deep fried mars bar’ after all!). Time then for a cheeky half in the Inverbeg Inn and catch up with Gordy, before snuggling down on a double, wall-to-wall tent capacity airbed, ready for training day in the morning.
The Loch Stock crew had managed to negotiate a lapsing of the speed restrictions on the Loch for the weekend, so this was really quite a treat for all to be able to ride at this stunning location. However, the red sky the previous night, had given false promise of good weather for the training day that became more of an endurance test! The beautiful Mastercraft X2 and the pretty Matt Crowhurst and Dave Coates coaching was great compensation for the torrential rain and gusty winds that made the conditions a little more than ‘testing’! Very competent riders were struggling with wake to wakes, but at the very least it was universally challenging and charging through the chop gave the knees and thighs a good work out!
It’s hard to express the total joy of discovering a Legoland golf umbrella buried deep in the back of the pit known as the car boot on a day like that! Every public hand dryer in the vicinity had its sensor re-activation time calculated with split second precision as trouser legs and socks were frantically dried. Cosy little huddles emerged under the gazebos, but one boat set gang refused to accept that it was bad weather “It’s Scotland”, and rapidly descended into a shameless ‘Vitamin T’ promo shoot, but when even these hardened local riders were struggling with the conditions to the point of comment being passed, “I’ve NEVER seen him bail that much before” it was time to seek solitude and comfort…
Obviously the best way to revive from a day out braving the elements was to hibernate in the pub…all night. Scotland showed off it’s hospitality as ‘Buffalo law’ was enforced early into the evening and needless to say, all too many were caught out drinking from the wrong hand, and after being finally ejected from the premises, staggered back to the campsite to watch the sun rise!
Despite the rude awakening by jet ski cowboys at 7.30am, there was relief to awake and find flat glassy water and a funny hot orange thing in the sky! Time to drape everything still sodden from the previous day all over car bonnets and shrink back the webbed feet, it was competition day!
Down at Firkin Point by 10am the tunes were blaring and the BBQ was being stoked! Lots of riders had emerged for the day and once the improvised dock was in place (a heavy duty picnic bench) and the kilt clad rescue boat driver ready (no doubt praying for no sudden gusts of wind) the comp kicked off! Thankfully it was warm, clear and most importantly, flat. We were in for some good riding.
Matt Crowhurst took to the mic and found it very amusing to announce the forthcoming division ‘Open Women’, and immediately followed it with a shameless plea for votes to support his flagging HOTM May position! These boys take Hottie accolade very seriously it would seem!! Or possibly this merely reflected his nerves in the presence of a real champion Hottie, Scottish Stu, who’s to say? Couldn’t possibly speculate!
Anyway, there was a two pass course, no obstacles, 2 falls and a wild card trick. I was up first, veteran Sarah Kingdom, who despite the previous day’s riding challenges, and being teased with a knotted handle 3 minute disqualification warning – NOT MY FAULT! I managed to lay down a tantrum, a few heel side and toe side indy grabs, fell on a backroll and went for a toe side backroll as wildcard. Sammy Filsell, the Scottish female wakeboarder had a good run with a backroll, frontroll, steezie stalefish grabs and came so close to landing a tantrum for her wild card! New girl to the competition scene Jenny Parker, got in wake to wakes, heel side 180’s, surface 360’s. Then fresh from a broken metatarsal (the fancy broken foot footballers get!) Becky Hall stepped up and challenged Sammy with a backroll, h/s Indy shifty, slob 180 and a 360 for her wildcard.
The girls came in
1) Sammy Filsell
2) Becky Hall
3) Sarah Kingdom
4) Jenny Parker
© Akass
The competition overall saw a few hangovers beating the wake, some good solid riding and a couple of little gems! Kite surfer Ally Beaven who had been riding at the Loch Lomond Wakeboard school for the previous week impressed us all with his huge new found raley, and Midlands rider Kurt Graham with an impressive run of front side and backside spins, scarecrow, frontroll, backroll and roll to revert to take the top spot.
But the real honour came after prize giving, the most prestigious award of them all. With a rapturous applause, April 2009 HOTM winner Scottish Stu was presented with his certificate! Stu will be available for autographs and photos at the next tour stop! It was great to see so many people getting involved with the Loch Stock tour and with such a great family of riders up in Scotland, the atmosphere was second to none for a great competition event. I have not had a giggle quite like it in a long time! Make sure you get to the next stops
20-21 June Auchenreoch Loch, Dumfries
22-23 August Townhill Loch, Dunfermline
For further details see www.loch-stock.com
Friday 05 June 2009 | Permalink
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