We arrived at sydney airport on sunday afternoon after picking up the boys and blasting some american tunes on the way in. Little bit of time so we mannaged to fit in a few cheeky beers at the bar before heading to our gate.
Lucky enough for us the plane wasn't too full and we all got some spare seats which helped us catch a few Z's on the 13hr flight to San Fran.
Quick stop over at San Fran (not too quick as we did get to find another bar..) Now onto the last leg of the trip to seattle the home of Radar Lake.
Yeww the boys have landed and who better to pick us up from Seattle airport than the Radar/Ronix Australian rep and our good friend Stu. A quick warm welcome and away we went on the wrong side of the road in an oversized Dodge ram pick up truck.... classic Americans.
Roy and Dylan have been here before but the enterance to Radar Lake puts a huge smile of excitment on our face everytime. Greeted at the main house by the Radar and Ronix family is awesome aswell as to see some new and familiar faces. Quickly settled in we wrestled for some prime land within tent city some chose to catch a little morning sun others moved there tent into the forest. Once we were organised we headed to the campfire to catch up with some friends and not long after making new ones. A little bit of wakeboard talk with tyler higham and danny harf before heading to bed.
Monday:
Waking up the boys by shaking their tent we were all quickly up and having breakfast at the main house. Cheesy baked potato, coffee, fruit, toast and ceral. A quad bike tour was first up to show Michael around Radar Lake riding past skiers before heading offroad into the forest on some trails. Many squirrels were spotted before heading past the barn where the 2020 Radar Vapor range is made, Hopefully get to check that out and watch one being made later in the week. Back to the house now and a change of clothes before heading down to the dock and getting ready to ski.
Roy first up for skiing picking up a 2020 Radar Senate Lithium and setting it up with a Vector Boa front boot and following that with a HRT on a slight off-set. While Roy is out skiing Dylan set up the 2020 Radar union with a Vector boa front boot followed with a Boa rtp. 28 degrees sun shinning and little to no wind was a perfect way to kick off the week skiing.
Lunch break then a few more sets of skiing and resting.
Tuesday:
Wakeboarding today, Picked up the 2020 RXT, Supreme Sandwich ATR and Parks to try. A short car ride over to lake Samamish where the 2019 Malibu 23LSV is on the automatic dock lift ready to drop in. Quick warm up and time to fill the ballist tanks and michael was in the water to give the 2020 Parks a ride.
Before we knew it, it was lunch time back to the dock for some delivered pizza. Everyone got a ride on all the boards then some of us drove back to Radar Lake except for Dylan he was offered a helicopter ride over seattle back to the Lake.
A few afternoon beers and dinner then headed to the campfire for a few more drinks and chit chat with the rest of the crew!
Wednesday:
Started the day off with some Skiing before breakfast then hit a few golf balls, the aim is to hit the totem pole in the middle island however ours ended up swimming.
Now today was a super exciting day as we were expecting 2 special guests. At the begining of the 2019 season we ran a competition to win a trip Radar Lake and our lucky winner and her partner were flying in this afternoon.
Emily and Todd arrived! Todd already settled in with a beer in his hand. Was great to finally meet them after a few phone calls and to put names to faces. We started their Radar lake visit the same way we started ours, with a 4 wheeler tour of the place. Emily took a quad and Todd teared it up on the 2 wheelers with Dylan. Wasn't long after they located a spot in tent city to call home for the next few days.
We watched Chris Rossi and other competitors ski the course in practise for herbs cup over the next 2 days.
Thursday:
The begining of Herbs Cup day
Herbs cup is one of the most unique competitions in the world. Each rider is given 6 and half minutes to throw down. They can do what they want start at 32, 39 or skip and miss passes the only thing that matters is a highscore. As loose and fun as each pro skier is they are all super serious when it comes to posting that high score.
So we got a few skis in, in the morning and relaxed on the aqua park while we watched the competitors get a few practise turns in before they compete in the afternoon.
In the meantime a quick game of frisbee between Dylan and Michael got competetive and ended in a tie and both shotgunning a beer.
Herbs Cup is kicking off so everyone heads to the other side of the lake for the perfect view infront of a bouy.
Before the first skier even started brand manager Brooks Wilson told the crowd to look up to the skys as the Ronix Chopper flew over and out jumped Bo Mccallum gracefully falling from 700ft and parachuting in then the competition kicked off. Loud cheers from friends and family as competitors skied passed and the rope shortening. The competition wrapped up the same way it started with Bo flying in but this time from 1200ft.
Todays part of the competition determins who goes first and who goes last in the finals tomorrow. Now everyone heads to the fire for some drinks and relax for a big day tomorrow.
Friday:
Had a little sleep in on friday morning may have had a few to many between us. Once we were up and organised Emily and Todd got to join the crew heading down to the barn and watch as a brand new 2020 Radar Pro Build was being made. We got to see the carbonfibre being layed up ontop of the pvc core followed by the graphic and into the press. Was just increbilbe to see the amount of work and time that goes into these hand finished high end skis.
Once we wrapped up at the barn we grabbed a bunch of wakesurfers and headed over to Lake Samamish for the day. We had a few first time wakesurfers on the boat that absolutely crushed it! We had the Radar and Ronix Rep Stu out there helping and coaching.
Brought the boat back to the dock around 4pm allowing us enough time to have some dinner and a change of clothes ready for the final Herbs Cup throw down!
Families are coming in from all directions. The sides of the lake are filling up with huge support for the skiers tonight! The chopper is flying low closely behind the skiers for the camera man to capture everything.
The first skier sets the goal to beat and then shotguns a beer in celebration followed by the rest of the skiers but this year Corey Vaughn brings home the trophy and what better way to celebrate then filling it with beer and finishing it around the campfire. With the competition over the night goes on with music, drinks and laughter.
Sunday:
We were lucky enough to get out behind Bill's 60ft Yacht wakesurfing. This required us to be up early and on the boat by 6:30am. We rounded up a bunch of 2020 Ronix wakesurfers as well as a great bunch of people and headed out. We had 2 people surfing at a time switch and testing different boards behind a HUGE wake. Not far behind us was the jetski for when you fell to bring you safely back to the boat.
This happened to fall on the same day as a boat festival called seafair in seattle out on Lake Washington. We headed out to watch the Blue Angels (Fighter Jets) perform a show right above us. Such an awesome day cruising around and meeting new people from around the world. Got back to the dock on dark and headed back to Radar Lake for our last night.
