Westbeach Interview

Thanks Sue for doing this cool interview with me about Wakeboarding vs. Snowboarding!! If you're thinking about giving it a go have a read and check out my short clip I put together!! :)

https://vimeo.com/71433704

Westbeach Bloggage

So, after back to back winter seasons our UK rider Sabrina Burnham decided it was time to get a summer under her belt. It could have all gone wrong staying in the UK, but as it is, she has bagged herself a job at liquid leisure, a cable wakeboarding lake in Datchet and the sun has been out to help her progress! Check out this little interview below, along with some photos and a wee edit of Sabrina in action!

Sabrina, when did you first get into wakeboarding?

I started, like snowboarding, at university. It was the middle of January so not the best time to learn! But by spring I loved it and was going several times a week. After uni I started doing back to back winters which meant up until this summer I hadn’t been in 3 years!

Where is your home… er lake???

This summer I started working at a cable park “Liquid Leisure”, in Datchet (near Windsor). I’m from Cornwall but wanted to be able to wakeboard, and get to the snowdomes through summer, so this was the perfect place! It’s only a 30minute drive to Hemel who sponsor me too so that’s handy! 

Rail fun!

How different is wakeboarding on a cable to a boat on the sea?

The sport has really changed, on cable there is no actual ‘wake’. Instead there are obstacles – kickers and rails – to keep you entertained. On a lake the water is a lot calmer than the sea, and most cables have an island running down the middle to help keep the water flat.

So you’re pretty good on a snowboard too, how similar/different is it?

I find the two sports very similar, even having not riden my wakeobard for 3 years, within the first session it felt like I hadn’t stopped! The only thing was my arms! You need to be strong wakeboarding, I felt like my arms were going to fall off after 3 laps! The rail tricks are very similar, and the wakeboad obstacles are a lot wider so you don’t have to be quite as precise. It’s a good chance to try out new tricks that you aren’t quite ready to go for on a snowboard. Kickers are a bit different, as spinning past 180 involves a handle pass, but it’s still good practise. I’ve got cab 5′s now on my wakeboard so i’m oping to take that onto the snow this winter.

Is it the same feeling when you’re heading into a kicker or a ‘rail’ as when you’re on the mountain?

No, heading towards obstacles is different, as you have to cut out away from the cable on an edge, and then you flatten off. So you can’t line yourself up like on a snowboard. Working out the cut, to make sure you make it to the end of the rail can be tricky at first, but once you’re on, it’s like being on your snowboard!

Does wakeboarding help your snowboarding?

Yes, i think so, even just going up to Hemel after a few weeks riding on the cable i felt my front blunts had improved. For the rest of it – we’ll see this winter! It’s much less intimadating trying things on a wakeboard as the water is much more foregiving than icy snow!

Intense look on concentration!

What tricks relate across the two sports?

Rail tricks convert across the best, getting used to moving your body into certain presses/tweaks. The rails are also pretty long wakeboarding so theres time to play around and get creative, and then condense it down to a snowboard rail!

What new tricks or improvements have you seen this summer?

Lots actually! I’ve learnt to spin 360s both ways and now 5s. I’m working on backside spins but it’s a bit more tricky on the cable. On the rails generaly playing around, trying to make up some creative switch ups that I wanna start trying on my snowboard.

Sabrina wakes up over the kickers, pa ha ha ha!

What advice do you have for someone who wants to start wakeboarding?

Do it! It’s so much fun, and it’s a nice change from snowboarding whilst still getting to hit rails and kickers! We get lots of beginners here at the lake, my advice is to go on a kneeboard first to get the hang of the corners! They can be tricky and it involes lots of crashing and walking back from the first corner, so have a go on a kneeboard to get the hang of it first and then you’ll be sweet! I wish someone had told me that, as i spent lots of time crashing at the first corner!

Do you intend to take the wakeboarding world by storm like the snowboarding world ha ha? Domination on the cards???

Haha, nope, not quite. I do want to keep doing both sports now I’ve got back into it! I realise how much fun it is, and it’s nice to get some sun and warmth! And i think it’s good to have a break between the sports else you lose some motivation! As much as i’m enjoying wakeboarding now, I’m going to be really excited to get back to Mayrhofen! I do want to keep pushing myself in both sports though, and maybe do the odd competition if i can on a wakeboard, just to give it a go!

Check out Sabrina’s last snowboard edit here!

If you fancy giving wakeboarding a go, go and hit up Sabrina at LiquidLeisure

Summertime! Update

Well, it's been an awesome summer so far!!! I feel very lucky to have had so much sunshine and warmth after so much winter :) The lake has been very busy since it got warmer, which means I have been working long hours, and only really getting to go wakeboarding on my days off. The water is up at around 25 degrees though so no more wetsuits! yipeeee

It's been awesome wakeboarding again, I had forgotten how fun it is, and it's so nice being on the water on a hot sunny day! It's also been a nice change from snowboarding everyday, but its still a very similar sort with the same buzz of trying new tricks and landing things for the first time. I got some pictures and things taken a few weeks ago, by Stephan Beaumontski, a photographer who wanted to get some different shots....waterskiing and wakeboarding was ideal :) 

We've just had the Wakeboard Nationals on too, which is a big British event, so loads of relaly good riders have all been coming down to practice, which has been really fun. I got to watch a bit of the Qualifiers on Saturday but then was off to York for a wedding! :) Nathan's mum has just got married, so we've been up here in York celebrating. It also meant Nathan flew back from New Zealand so double win :) It was a loely wedding and I got to meet more of Nathans family which was nice. Congratulations Janet and Graham!!

I've been having fun going up to Hemel Snowdome some weeks to still get a shred in! The set ups there have been really fun, and i've been trying some new tricks that I've been doing on my wakeboard :) Although, the last few weeks I haven't been able to drag myself from 30 degrees sunny lake to go up and put my snowboard gear on!!! But, make the most of it while it lasts....it is England! Gonzilla.tv made a nice edit for me from a few days riding up in Kaurnetal for the Snowboard Test...thanks very much for that :) Here's the link... 

 Sabrina Burnham Spring Edit

New Sponsor! Rocket Dog Shoes

I've just got some lovely new shoes in the post from my new sponsors Rocket Dog :) They are perfect for down at the cable, nice and comfy for a long days work, and i've received loads of compliments already :) Happy Feet!

Lake life - The Gym

This morning I had my first session in the gym for a long time! I booked myself in for 9am before work, and had a training session with James. We're really lucky here at Liquid Leisure as the gym is on site, Lakeside Health & Fitness. I did a run around the lake and then we worked on leg strength as my main priority, some core and some upper body.

Getting back into wakeboarding recently has been a workout in itself, getting my arms strong enough to do more than 5 laps on the cable! So I'm going to try and get into the gym once or twice a week in between wakeboarding and riding up at Hemel to keep strong for the next winter season in Austria!

Wakeboarding has been going really well, as I say i'm getting stronger so i can ride for longer which is nice :) I've learnt lots of new tricks, and tried some of the rail tricks up at the snow dome last week which went pretty well! The movements are very similar so it's nice to try things out on a wakeboard that I wouldn't be as comfortable trying first time and falling onto hard snow! The water is nice to cushion your landing! I'm actually finding it a lot easier to spin cab on the wakeboard, so have my switch 360s dialled...but seem to have lots my regular ones...oops.

I'm going to try and make a short edit over the next few weeks :) Here's a nice shot of this evenings sunset!

Liquid Leisure!

So, I'm back in England!! Woohooo....my first summer in quite a few years...although so far i've only seen the sun twice!!!

I've got myself a job down at Liquid Leisure Wakeboard park, i'm working in the shop over summer,which will be a nice change from being in the snow. There is an awesome cable here, with lots of fun obstacles, large and small. It's been three years since I've been riding, but after one session back on the water it's like I never left! Now its time to start trying some new scary tricks on the water that I can then start to do on my snowboard!!

It's really cool here, we have a Hot Tub, Table Tennis, Sauna, Volleyball and obviously all the Watersports! So I think i'm gonna be having a lot of fun! I've got myself set up in a nice little caravan, which i've gradually been making more homely. 

I'm still going to be snowboarding over summer though, thanks to Hemel Snowdome i'll be joining their team and riding on their Freestyle nights! I went up last week and met everybody, and had a little shred! It only took 30 minutes from here so that's perfect, I'm going to try and get up there most Fridays after work!

So if anyone wants to come down and try out Wakeboarding let me know!!

The Board Test/Spring Break!

After finishing up the season in the Zillertal valley, and leaving our lovely little apartment, we headed over to Kaunertal (also in Austria) for the Snowboard Test, this year also known as Spring Break! I had never been before so i was really excited to check out all the new stuff and see friends that have been in various places around the world!

Luckily my Tirol Snowcard that I've been using for the season also covers Kaunertal, as it's just on the edge of Tirol. Westbeach sorted us out with a nice apartment for the week, and also let Nathan come and join us for the week....he must have been the only skier there! The weather followed on from what it had been like over in Hintertux, a bit grey and rainy, but we were lucky to get a few days of sunshine!

I met Matt, from GNU snowboards and got hold of two lovely new snowboards for next season. I tried out a few, and decided on a Velvet Guru in 143 - this is slightly longer than the B street i've been on for the past few years, as I want to try something a bit longer and stiffer for hitting the jumps next season. I also got a Girls Park Pickle in 140 which i'm going to use in the snowdomes over summer. It's soooo soft and fun to jib around on, so should be perfect in the snowdomes! So thanks very much for that!

The highlight of the week for me was going up to the glacier at about 8pm for a night shoot with Westbeach. Once we got up there the piste basher came to meet us, and took us to the top of a park to session a rail.....but not just any rail. But unfortunately that is all top secret for now!! Watch this space!

There were lots of events going on through the week, on  the first day was the Whitelines Rail Jam, which was a stairset with the choice of a Down Rail or a Down Flat Down. The atmosphere was really good, and the finals were in teams rather than individual which made it a bit different. They did a method competition on the Hip, and also a Big Air another day..but the weather wasn't on our side for the big air.

We got a little bit of filming done in the week, so i'll have a little edit coming up from that shortly, thanks to James at Gonzilla.

On the last night was the Quiz...which I had been warned, wasn't any old quiz! It involved putting on, and taking off lots of clothes and even some semi-nude pictures!!! But it was a lot of fun, and nobody really knows how they got home!! A good end to an awesome week! Can't wait til next year!

VVVRRRR Tubing

In our last few weeks in the Zillertal Valley, we were hoping to ride Hintertux Glaciers sunny park everyday.....this was not the case! The park sits right on top of the glacier, which means it tends to hold the cloud. We've had a bit of a grey and miserable April...so most days the park sat in the middle of a nice bit fat grey cloud!! So we started to watch a new series to keep ourselves entertained; Game of Thrones... but in under a week we got hooked and managed to get up to date! 

So then we needed a new activity...Nathan drove up to Hochfugen one day, which is one of the resorts near us that has now closed, to see if he could find any snow to play on. He managed to find an awesome vvrrrrr tube (a corrigated tube) which we built into a jib and sessioned almost everyday for a week!! At first it was only a few of us, but one day pretty much all the left over seasonaires came and we had about 15 of us! The shaping got better everyday, when Si Cudlip came along he made it his masterpeice, and kept closing it for 're-shapes'...it was turning into a real park!! haha

Rowan's cork onto the tube!

 I think everybody learnt some new tricks, and as it was a nice mellow tube, tried things they hadn't done before. Rowan even went for a switch backslide cork 270 off the heels!! Which didn't turn out so well....once he removed the cork though, he nailed it! :) It all turned out to be a lot of fun! Now...back to Game of Thrones...

Back Lip / Front Lip